The sourdough Starter Thread

[mothhawk]

Ive just had a look at the Herman cake recipe, and as far as I can see, it would bake fine without the Herman bit anyway, so the only reason for adding him must be for the sourdough flavour, and you could get that by slopping in a bit of sourdough starter instead, but who wants yeasty cake in this day and age?

[veggiechicken]

I wasn't convinced that Herman deserved daily attention. I never make cake anyway - because I'd eat the lot and that's not good for my waistline (wherever it is). Herman and I will never be good friends

[mothhawk]

You say he's crossed the county border into Leicestershire - hair standing on end here! - we'll have to defend ourselves with Bosworth jumbles and send him packing!

[veggiechicken]

You're safe for a while mothhawk - he's a slow mover Hermann tortoise , Information, Care , Hibernation, Hatchlings for sale

[BarleySugar]

As I prepared the sponge for our bread this morning I realised it is almost a year since I began my starter. Although still not perfect (I sometimes forget to turn my oven down, or forget I've bread on the go) we are still enjoying our bread.
I was wondering how many of you are still making sourdough bread.

[Bren In Pots]

I'm still baking I've got a sponge in the kitchen that I'm going to add flour to once I've caught up with the vine.
I'll take a photo because I've not took a sourdough photo for ages its using Canadian flour from my local merchant.

[smallblueplanet]

I'm sure I found a link to this website (with it's how-to vids and yummy recipes) on here. Anyway has anyone made a sourdough culture using these instructions?

Rye Sourdough Starter in Easy Steps | Weekend Bakery

We fancy having a go but lots of the 'recipes' sound like lots of messing about, this sounds quite straightforward?

[BroadRipple]

Me too ( I think...need to look it up!) I seem to have given up on sourdough only, and just add a blog of starter to my normal, yeast-including favourite recipe, played about with depending on mood/flour: Picnic loaves | Dan Lepard | Life and style | The Guardian
BUT are any of you still managing pure sourdough that looks a bit less like a cowpat than mine tended to, and which people other than you will eat? Go on, inspire me to start again...

[Feral007]

Well I was at a friends on the w/e and she was interested in sourdough bread, and scones. She's a brilliant cook (unlike me, who can take it, or pref. leave it ) So I showed her the recipe for the starter, because she didn't know you 'made' the starter.

I'm going to try and get another starter going. Got out of the habit when I got back to work, and couldn't get the flour I wanted for ages.....it's turned up now, so I'd best get cracking!

Going to try and win that concrete sourdough crust competition this time

[smallblueplanet]

I'm sure I found a link to this website (with it's how-to vids and yummy recipes) on here. Anyway has anyone made a sourdough culture using these instructions?

Rye Sourdough Starter in Easy Steps | Weekend Bakery

We fancy having a go but lots of the 'recipes' sound like lots of messing about, this sounds quite straightforward?

" The only thing I did is mix some whole grain rye flour with some water and wait…Normally I only feed it once a week, after my weekend baking, I just give it a few table spoons of water and rye flour, stir, ready."

So has anyone done it like this? Also sounds useful as because they are 'weekend bakers' the routine fits nicely with us weekend bakers, lol!

[Feral007]

No, but I'm planning to get some sort of easy routine going, because I'm such a lazy cook. I don't think it has to be hard, I think you can make it easy or as complicated as you like.
I don't like complicated! But I do like sourdough bread.

Must be plenty more who do, because I just picked up sourdough bread rolls at the local supermarket!

[Bren In Pots]

My starter lives in the fridge I take it out in the morning give it a feed then again at 3ish, I make my sponge at 9ish keeping back 100ml that goes straight back into the fridge until the following week. The loaf then baked at tea time the next day, this way seems to work for me.

[smallblueplanet]

But if you don't bake that often it's a faff, which is why I liked the look of the 'weekly' one, much easier.

[BarleySugar]

My starter (it's the original from last year), also lives in the fridge until I want to bake, usually twice a week. I'm not into timing that much, I tend to go on looks, if it's showing bubbles and rising, then I move to the next stage. I do cheat on the final rising though. I add the flour to the sponge, knead and put into my pyrex loaf dishes I got from the bootfair. I spray cling film with olive oil cover the pans and leave to rise until the dough touches the film. Then I bake, and I'm getting into the good habit of setting the timer so
a) I remember to turn the oven down
b) I remember to take it out.

For some reason, if I let it rise again and punch down/shape, it doesn't seem to rise enough and the loaf is very dense. We are quite happy with what we get now, so although not perfection, it suits us.
We don't buy shop bought loaves, and only occasionally french bread or wraps.

[smallblueplanet]

Elvis is alive!

Here's Elvis (you have to name your starter, as it's alive, apparently) - doing really well after 2.5 days. Looking forward to using it next weekend, fingers crossed!