SearchUser loginNavigationFavorite Recipes
Active forum topicsRecommended BooksWho's onlineThere are currently 9 users and 70 guests online.
Online users
|
Submitted by richawatt on June 25, 2008 - 5:48pm. I cultvated my sourdough starter....now what?I have successfully cultivated my sourdough starter, it is very lively, smells good, and looks good...I know you can't see, but I'm patting myself on the back right now. My question is..now that I have it, how do I make bread from it. Do I just substitute the commercial yeast with my starter? And can I use just a rustic lean recipe?...flour, salt, starter and water? Maybe 65% hydration???
Terms:
|
Congratulations!
Congratulations on your starter!
The simple answer (in order) would be possibly (with a fair amount of adaptation)...and yes!
Apart from the excellent recipes on this site, please do check out some of the resources maintained by some of our resident sourdough experts. For example:
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/recipes.html (Mike Avery's site)
http://www.wildyeastblog.com (Susan 'Wild Yeast' site )
As for a basic sourdough, I'd recommend anything from a 15 to 30% (baker's percentage) starter component in the recipe. If that's more starter then you can spare, then you might want to consider an 'intermediate build'...this is just like using biga or poolish in a recipe - a preferment you can make the day before, using a small original amount of starter. After it has matured you typically use all of it in the final dough mix.
65% hydration sounds great for a basic white sourdough but maybe a little on the dry side if you're working with high gluten wholegrain flours.
Have fun, and let us know how things go.
Cheers
FP
score: 0
sourdough
richawatt, why don't you try what I call Susan's Loaf because Susan of San Diego told me about it and it is the one I go back to time after time. Refresh your starter the night before and start the bread late morning or early afternoon. To 3/4c starter add 3/4c water and whisk together. Add 2 1/2c bread flour, 2 tspns oil and 1 1/4 tspns salt. mix well and let sit covered for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold 3-4 times at 30 minute intervals. Let double. Shape boule, place in well floured (I use rice flour) banneton and place in the refrigerator overnight. Let warm up for 2 hours, preheat the oven to 500* either with a stone or a heavy baking sheet. Gently turn the loaf onto parchment paper, slash and slide it onto the heated stone. Cover with a large stainless steel bowl rinsed in hot water and reduce the heat to 450*. Remove the bowl after 20 minutes, bake until brown (usually 15 minutes), give it another 5 minutes until dark brown and internal temp. is 205*. As so many of the more expert bakers on TFL say, make the same loaf over and over until you know how the dough should feel and then move on to other breads. Hope you will try this - it's a winner! A.
score: 0
"Susan's Loaf" - sourdough
AnnieT, Thanks for the suggestion. I made it yesterday and it is the niceset looking loaf of sourdough I've made yet. It smells great, sweet when it came out of the oven and tangy now - we'll taste it later today.
I don't have a stainless bowl, so I used a Pyrex dish. The fun part is you can watch it rise through the glass. I've never used a cloche, this worked well, I like not trying to get steam.
Marni
score: 0
Susan's bread
Marni, I'm so glad you tried the loaf and had such success with it! I have made it so many times and still get a thrill when I remove the bowl and see the lovely loaf. There was a discussion recently about using a glass bowl - do be careful! I am so clumsy I would be sure to drop a glass one so I use a huge ss bowl. I also found an aluminum roaster at one of the thrift stores to use for batards but found that it is too long to fit on my stone - I should remember to take the measurements with me. Enjoy the loaf, A.
score: 0