The sourdough Starter Thread

[Creemteez]

Made another one today! "Sponged" over night. Got up for work at five. Added flour and mixed on Kitchen Aid while it was getting ready for work. Left to prove while I was at work. (6 till 9 am). Knocked back and shaped when I got in from work and had a beautiful loaf for lunchtime.
Fabulous bread - really easy - best I've ever made! Thanks guys!!!
(Fed the starter ready for another one on Sunday!)

[Bren In Pots]

Thats the best way to do it CT's fitting making the bread around you then it doesn't seem a chore

[Jeanied]

Who could have imagined that home made bread could have been so tasty and so accommodating - after all the rules and instructions around yeast made bread!

[BarleySugar]

I tried baking mine in loaf tins lined with the greasproof liners today. I didn't know how well it would work, what with the metal prohibition, but they came out really well. The crust was crunchy, but not as thick as when I use a baking sheet. Mind you I forgot to turn the oven down after 10 mins, so it had 20 at 220C, then another 10 at 200C. It was done, so I didn't want to dry it out.
On another note, I ran into a friend up at the allotment site this afternoon. I'd passed on some of my starter to her, she's just making her second loaf. Her husband loved it

[Bren In Pots]

Who could have imagined that home made bread could have been so tasty and so accommodating - after all the rules and instructions around yeast made bread!

I was just going to ask how your loaf turned out Jeanie

[Jeanied]

Well the final kneading of the dough went into the airing cupboard at around 4pm and it still hasn't risen as much as I wanted but I reckon that is going to be it for now so I have turned the oven on and it will go in as soon as it is up to temperature. I think my local yeast strain is a particularly lazy one - surprise surprise

[BroadRipple]

hello - just to say hooray re: new loaves and just so you know how flexible sourdough can be, the other day i made the sponge, knocked it back a couple of times before work on Monday morning, THEN big crisis, couldn't do a thing to it until the following morning so left it in the fridge, knocked it back and left it out all Tues and in the evening baked a spectacularly yummy, sour loaf - not the most risey, but fantastic. sooo much easier than other loaves. hooray for naturally occurring yeast. er...

[Jeanied]

Wow - just checked the oven after 15 minutes at 250 - or rather the top setting for my oven - and it has risen a bit more in the oven Sprayed it again with water and turned the oven down to 200 for another 25 minutes It may be ready sooner though!
Out of the oven now - really crispy crust - haven't cut it yet, waiting for 20 minutes.

[Bren In Pots]

Any photos Jeanie or have you eaten it all

Just wondering what flour everyone uses, I use bread flour from the local corn merchant mixed with ¼ Doves spelt flour. I've read Canadian is supposed to be good when your loaf has a long fermentation time has anyone else tried using it.

[Jeanied]

I would have posted photos but I can't for the life of me find where I hid my camera

I think I need to do a bit more experimentation with mine - this is only the second loaf I made and the first one was more successful than this one. However both of them had the same fault - too dense a loaf in texture and the crust is tooth- breakingly hard!

I may be over-prooving it and also the starter may be getting a bit tired now and over-sour so I am going to chuck most of it away and start again with only a little bit of it.

I have been using Tescos strong wholemeal and strong white flours. I thought the white flour would be a lot lighter but it wasn't.

The flavour is still great, though

[Bren In Pots]

jeanie i make my sponge in the evening then first thing next morning add the rest of the flour leave to prove till 3ish shape and bake at around 6ish.

no caps because i've burnt my finger and i've got it in a jug of cold water

[Jeanied]

Hmmm - those are about the timings I used as well Bren.
Sorry to hear about your burned finger - I hate burns. Change the water as soon as it gets comfortable!

I'm wondering if I should get a Dutch oven now!

[Bren In Pots]

i love my dutch oven its got a pheasant in it today.
i'm such a baby. my fingers been in water for 30 mins and has stopped stinging.

[BarleySugar]

Sorry to hear about your burn, the cold water really does the trick though. I made some jam tarts once, and dropped one, spilling literally bubbling jam over 2 fingers. I sat in the kitchen with my hand in cold water in the sink for about 45 mins. It didn't even blister! Did still hurt

When I did my loaves in the tins I sprayed the tops with olive oil so the dough didn't stick and covered with cling film to prove. OH preferred the crust, crunchy but not too thick, so I'm doing today's in the same way, but when I came to add the white bread flour I didn't have enough. As I'd already used all the wholemeal for the sponge I had to use ordinary plain flour. Watch this space to see how well (or not) it works.

I'm finding my starter seems to be getting even more frisky. The kitchen seemed quite chilly today, with no sun to warm it, but once I'd taken out what I needed for the sponge and re-fuelled the little bit that was left (usually about 50g with 50g rye, 50g wholemeal, 100g water) it doubled in size in 2 hours, then it went into the fridge until next baking day, usually only a couple of days at most though.

Did anyone try the scones? What did you think?

[Bren In Pots]

I baked the scones and they turned out well, i did mean to post and say so.