The sourdough Starter Thread

[Bren In Pots]

Tinkerbell i used this recipe to make my starter the only thing different I did was to replace the wholemeal with Doves spelt flour :-
Sourdough loaf recipe - Channel4 - 4Food

then I made my first sponge on day 6 and baked the loaf in my Dutch Oven.

[Rabidbun]

Thanks Bren, will read up on care of the critter now I have it then. It's having a nice rest in the fridge atm.

[BroadRipple]

hello me lovelies - have been flat out and not had time to go on here for a while but just wanted to say that i'm so glad this is still going. how are you all doing? i'm still making it, and it tastes great but i'm finding it difficult to get it into the oven (on to my big quarry tile which am VERY proud of) without it sinking, so it's generally flattish...damn. but recent research suggests that i've been overproving, which i think is easily done with sourdough, so am going to try one long prove, shaping, one short prove and then baking. anyone got any tips?

[Bren In Pots]

BR this is what works for me I add my flour and kneed around 8 ish leaving it to prove until 3 - 4 ish folding it envelpe style a couple of times inbetween, then my loaf goes in the dutch oven at 6 ish.

How are you slashing your loaf my favourite way is making a big X I'd like to have a go at a fancier pattern but there's not much space once the loafs in the dutch oven.

[Creemteez]

Hi BR, I was having a similar problem juggling hot tins and raw sourdough, so decided to do away with the turning out thing completely. I now prove my loaf in a 2lb loaf tin - lined with baking parchment as I've read somewhere that it doesn't like direct prolonged contact with tin. - I wait until it is just higher than the rim then put the whole thing into the oven - sat on my preheated baking tray and bake in the usual way.
I'm churning out one decent loaf every other day. You don't get the all-over crispy crust but I find that only lasts for the first day anyway - and the keeping/slicing qualities of a loaf cooked this way are better than the turning out method -I find.
Have a go and see what you think!

[Tinkerbell86]

Tinkerbell i used this recipe to make my starter the only thing different I did was to replace the wholemeal with Doves spelt flour :-
Sourdough loaf recipe - Channel4 - 4Food

then I made my first sponge on day 6 and baked the loaf in my Dutch Oven.

Thanks for the recipe link

[BarleySugar]

I finally made a 'light' white loaf, but almost by accident! I was making my chilli/garlic white loaf, starting as before with the sponge. Then I added the chopped chilli and garlic before kneading for the 10 minutes, so son No2 didn't get a huge cluster of chilli this time. I left it to rise while we were putting the chicken coop together, but forgot to come in to shape it. We finally came in about 4.50, when I realised the bread was still rising and I needed it for dinner. I couldn't be bothered to find an alternative, so I tipped the risen bread straight onto the baking tray, no knocking back or proving.
Both loaves rose well and the bread was light and a little bit chewy, the sort of result I've been looking for in my white loaves over the past weveral weeks. I'd even forgot the baking tin of water, so sloshed in a cup on the base of the oven, but only twice.
Not that I necessarily advise taking this shortcut, I'd want to try it a couple of times to make sure it wasn't a fluke, but I thought I'd share to see whether other people have ever missed out the shaping and proving steps.

[Bren In Pots]

I found this the other day its about drying then freezing some of your sourdough starter as back-up, I did this yesterday and its nearly dry enough to bag up and freeze.

Drying Sourdough Starter For Long Term Storage

and more info here :-

Can you dry sourdough starter to preserve it? | The Fresh Loaf

[BarleySugar]

Thanks for the links Bren, it sounds a very good idea even if bread is made on a regular basis. If a catastrophy happened to the starter, it would save having to go back to the beginning.

[Bren In Pots]

BS I know what you mean I feel my starter is a bit like a pet

[Creemteez]

Found myself apologising to my starter for forgetting to feed it till lunchtime - I usually do it while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil, first thing.
Have started "playing" with the recipe now. Made a half wholemeal, half white walnut loaf today. Added two tablespoons of Walnut oil, a teaspoon or so of dark muscovado sugar and two ounces of chopped walnuts to the mix. I also added 300ml of water to the sponge instead of the usual 250ml.
It proved a lot more quickly than usually and rose like billy-o in the oven. Am looking forward to trying it so much.....

[BroadRipple]

Creemteez, loving your free range sourdough...weirdly i haven't dared muck around much with mine, apart from laboriously sprouting some wheat grains (i love those kibbly bits in shop bread) and mixing them in - didn't do enough but they were good.
and LOVE your radical in-tin proving. so, just to get this right, what's your timing until that point? and what do we all think about my new knead, long ferment, shape, short prove, timetable? couple of friends seem to have hit on this and i think it might be the answer (i.e. rather than a long prove).
anyone use a peel? i dream of one, but am using a funny thin plank - good and long but bit narrow for my loaf. haven't used a bread tin, does anyone else? i think i've been a bit conventional about the difference between 'normal' bread - bread tin - and sourdough.
Bren, what IS a dutch oven? is it a heavy casserole with lid? i have one i could try - why better do you think?
and about slashing it, my fave way is 3 vertical slashes, one right across and then smaller ones on either side - opens it out in lovely stripes. haven't done cross but might give it a whirl.
what other books do you all like? i bought Dan Lepard's hand made loaf, which is VERY hardcore...bit too much for me as can't quite work out how to do it my way, not using his timetable. i like kneading!

[Creemteez]

Br, usually I go with Brens method of making a sponge of the starter, half the flour and all the water -mixed roughly and left overnight. I usually make it about ten oclock.
Next morning, (I get up at five) I add the rest of the flour and leave it mixing in the kitchen aid for ten minutes while I get dressed. I leave it to prove in the bowl, covered, while I'm at work. (6am -9am) When I get home I knock back and put it into the lined tin for it's final proving - again covered with an oiled plastic bag. If it's a cool day the final proving may take until 3pm, but if I've got the oven on for any reason, I stick the tin on top of the stove and it's usually reached the top of the tin by lunchtime.
Today was a day off, so I mixed my sponge when I got up - at eight am. It had frothed up nicely by 11 oclock, so added the rest of the flour, the walnut oil and gave it a ten minute kneading in the mixer. Had to go out so left it in the cool kitchen for it's first proving. Out till 1.30pm. Found it had doubled in size so knocked it back and added the walnut pieces. It was a very wet mix (I'd added an extra 100ml of water to the initial sponge as I was using wholemeal flour), but by oiling my hands with walnut oil managed to get it into the tin without getting too gunged up.
Set the tin on stove top, covered in the usual way and left till 5pm, when it was very well risen.
Put tin on preheated baking tray and baked in the usual way. It's fab!!!!!

[Bren In Pots]

[QUOTE=BroadRipple;969125]Bren, what IS a dutch oven? is it a heavy casserole with lid? i have one i could try - why better do you think?
QUOTE]


BR I use my Dutch oven because then I don't need to add water to make steam and its good at retaining heat so I can cook other things at the same time without the temp drop affecting the bread when I open the oven door. It get baked for 30 min with the lid on then 10 to 15 with lid removed.

I think with sourdough there's not a fixed way of mixing and baking we just have to find a way that fits in with our lifestyle and use that.

[WeeGarden]

This is a bit embarrassing...

I started my first ever sourdough starter back in September 2011, baked with it once, and forgot about it in the fridge until I just came across this thread.

Erm... do you think it can be saved?



It has a layer of mould on the top too...