Hi,
I have been traveling for the past 2 1/2 weeks for work and I can't wait to get back to my kitchen! Whenever I could spare a moment I have jumped on and you all have made me jealous with your baking!
I want to post a a couple of photos of my very first sourdough that I baked just before I left but I am having trouble getting the images up.
Can someone direct me to any info on the site that explains how to do it?
thx
And I *might* have eaten almost half the pan full of them already (baked about 12 hours ago now)..these were the best things I've had in soooo long and I was TOTALLY craving Cinnabon rolls, so found a recipe online and WOW! Amazing.
Then a little sourdough bread roll action
This is the starter I've been working on the past 2 weeks now, and it's starting to come into it's own.
I made Naan Flatbread and I made it with sourdough! It was very exciting! Although not really true or accurate, because I don't think there's sourdough in Naans. The sourness usually comes from the yoghurt - which I realised at the last minute I forgot to buy so I used sourdough starter instead. I've been scouring through the internet the past week for Naan recipes because it was my Dad's Birthday over the weekend and he loves flat breads, so I thought I'd make him Naan. And I stumbled upon the blog entry of Il Forno and there I learnt how Naan was made with the help of Julia Child. I know, it's not really authentic or Indian made but still I think it's a good start.
The final taste was beautifully sourdoughy. Haha - not quite Naan in flavour but it was very yummy. It was crispy, very nicely chewy on the inside and I loved the texture inside that was created by the sourdough. Most rewarding even if I actually failed to make Naan. Next time I will remember the yoghurt.
Sourdough Flatbread
Makes 11
1½ Cup Lukewarm Water
1 Cup Liquid Sourdough Starter
2 Tbspn of Olive Oil
1 Tbspn of Salt
1 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
900g Bread Flour
Chopped Garlic
Sesame Seeds
Poppy Seeds
Mix all ingredients (half the flour) in a bowl of a sturdy mixer until well combined. Autolyse for 20 minutes. Knead the dough and add in remaining flour a little at a time for about 10 minutes until a smooth elastic dough is formed.
Transfer dough in an oiled bowl and cover, leave for half hour at room temperature and refrigerate overnight (I left it in the fridge for 2 days).
On the day of baking, remove dough from fridge and let it de-chill for an hour. Divide dough into 150g portions. On a well dusted surface, roll the portions out until about 0.5 - 1 cm thick. Sprinkle water over flattened dough and sprinkle desired toppings. Cover and leave to proof for 2 hours.
Preheat oven at 250C and place baking stone on the centre rack one hour before baking.
Gently transfer dough to a well dusted peel or the back of a baking sheet. Gently pull and stretch dough out, and make several pricks with a fork in the dough. This is because, the dough will puff out like a pita and so the pricks allow air to escape.
Bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack to cool for a few minutes. Serve warm.
I am relatively new to artisan bread baking and have been using a Kitchen Aid Pro 600. Following the mixing times in the BBA, I have yet to attain the satin/silky texture on the dough (except for cin. bun dough that came out perfectly, but that had butter). Peter Reinhart states it is exceptionally difficult to over kneed, and I've used slow speeds up to the speed he recommends for basic french bread (medium I think). I am not sure if I am tearing the dough - the surface looks rough. BBA says to kneed until the temp reaches X, and I've attained that temp, but not a smooth mass. Times have gone over ten minutes, but stopping earlier fails the window pane test. I've let it rest a few mins which helped, but still tough. Has happened a few times.
1. Am I overmixing?
2. Window pane: should the dough easily become sheet-thin when stretched, or do I need to work it to translucent thickness?
He does not say to autolyze, but by reading the posts here, seems almost a necessity. Not sure if this will fix the problem comletely. It would seem his recipes are pretty amateur-proof, at least at the mixing stage.
Thanks! Love this site.
Hello!
I'm not sure if I'm on the right track or not. I started a sourdough starter that sourdolady gave directions for two days ago. Today is the second day for feeding. Therewas a little runniness to the mix, but that's all. No bubbles or incredible smell. I proceede to mix in the next two T. of room temp. ornge juice and KA organic whole wheat flour. The mix immidiately tightened up into a ball. Is this normal or did I go wrong somewhere?
I thank you all in advance for your response!
Try as I may I wasn't able to locate a local source of hard, spring, golden wheat at a reasonable price. The freight cost made ordering direct prohibitive. So, I had my nearby health-food-store-pill-pusher try to find any hard, spring wheat for me. I'll give them credit. They will try to find whatever I ask of them. Imagine my surprise when I picked up the wheat today and found that they had obtained a GOLDEN, hard, spring wheat for me - Prairie Gold as grown and sold by Wheat Montana. Here's their web site: http://wheatmontana.com/ I don't know how it compares to Walton's Golden 86, but Wheat Montana's Prairie Gold sounds just as good if not better.
I'll be milling some tonight and letting it age for at least 3 days before I bake some bread with it. I took some Prairie Gold and put it beside the hard, white, winter wheat that I've been using. The Prairie Gold has a slightly "brighter" look to it. I can hardly wait to use it. I'll keep you all posted. Has anyone else out there used any Prairie Gold wheat?
Cliff.
For whatever its worth...
I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a $39.00 steam cleaning machine and combined it with a disposable aluminum roasting pan which I poked a hole in the side.
Worked Great!!!
In the Bread Bible by Levy she takes a whole page to discuss malt, but not really Why one uses it other than to suggest for a bit more crust. Can someone out there tell me the different uses of malt? I have looked all over for it around where I live -Westchester County, NY-and no one has it, so, will have to get it from KA I guess. Thanks...Country Boy
Dinner for drop-in friends: This pizza was quickly made for friends who dropped in for a visit. Well, not that quick because getting toppings together took some time. The pizza dough is from the book NO NEED TO KNEAD. It's her focaccia recipe and it's so good. I added 1 TBL. olive oil to crisp it up some but it didn't need it.
Can anyone tell me if there are brotforms to be found in Toronto? I know there are a few Canadians here. It seems strange that I'd have to order them from the US. I will if I have to, but I'd like to find them locally, if possible.