sourdough recipes & wild starters! - Page 4

[ashleep]

Carolyn,

From what I have read, it is really hard to get a 2nd rise out of sourdough. I am attempting my 5th loaf today, but this is the 2nd time I have only let it rise once. We'll see how it goes.

If you are using a yeast bread recipe, then you can let it rise twice.


Question:

When I make my sponge, if I don't catch it at the peak of bubbliness, will it still rise adequately?

[OceanMomma]

What I do is very simple. I think I wrote it out earlier in the thread. I definitely wouldn't bother kneading it for all that time. Just until it feels springy & then leave it to rise & bake. Some sourdoughs, such as 100% rye, don't double & some, like my wheat one, climb out of the bowl if you leave them overnight somewhere warm.

With the sponge, I leave it until it gets bubbly & I have time to make the bread. It's quite an inexact method but it always seems to work. I think it comes out a bit sourer if I leave the sponge longer but it still rises well.

[bhawkins]

OK, I'm also a sourdough novice. I've been trying to get a starter going for about 5 days now. I don't see much bubbling. I'm just wondering if it's too cold in my house. It's been cool here and not much sun. Could that be the problem?

[sunnysideup]

Originally Posted by bhawkins

OK, I'm also a sourdough novice. I've been trying to get a starter going for about 5 days now. I don't see much bubbling. I'm just wondering if it's too cold in my house. It's been cool here and not much sun. Could that be the problem?

Try it out! It's probably fine.

Originally Posted by ashleep

Question:

When I make my sponge, if I don't catch it at the peak of bubbliness, will it still rise adequately?

I always make my sponge before going to bed, and then in the morning I replenish my starter and make my bread. You don't need to worry too much about being exact.

[mamadege5]

well my attempts failed. I got a nice bricky dough shape.
My dad has now given me a bowl full of his "old recipe" starter. It contains flour, sugar, salt and MILK. It was on his counter, its kind of grey in color and smells, well, sour! I am sure this is from my mom's collection of recipes but therotten milk factor scares me......

whadda ya think?

[ladywolf]

Go for it. Adding milk is one way to make a starter. The yeasties eat the sugar.

[OceanMomma]

Just bumping this thread coz I made some sourdough croissants & they were really good.

What I did was made my starter with organic white flour instead of WW flour. I then mixed in an egg, some honey & some salt & some more flour & kneaded it till I got a nice springy dough. I had melted together previously some raw butter & some EVCO which had cooled down & was set. I used this as the fat bit to go in the middle. Once I done all the folding & rolling & made them into crescent shapes, I left them to rise overnight in a cool place. Then I baked as per regular sourdough. They were really light & fluffy. yum!!!

[timneh_mom]

Bumping this because I want to see if I can "catch" some wild yeast around here! More later!

[gardenmommy]

Ok, I've been inspired. I made a starter, which has been bubbly on my counter. I've fed it twice, and it seems to be rising quite nicely. I would have liked to have made bread with it today, but things got rather busy. I'm thinking that I could perhaps make a sponge tomorrow night, then bake it on Tuesday.

Please correct me if I'm wrong about making a sponge. My understanding is that I just need to add flour and water to get a nice pancake-batter sort of consistency, and let it sit overnight. Is this all there is to it? It seems too simple!

Oceanmomma, thanks for posting here, it's been heaps of help reading through your posts!

[OceanMomma]

gardenmommy, I tend to make my sponge in the morning & leave it to get bubbly until the evening when dh is bathing the kids. I then add flour, a bit of salt & enuf water to make a bread dough. Knead it until springy & leave it overnight. I bake it the next morning. It never gets very warm where I live, neither does it get extrememly cold so it may work differently for somewhere hot/very cold. One of my friends puts her dough in the fridge overnight to rise to slow it down. I think the idea is for it to rise slowly so it keeps its shape when you cook it maybe?

[gardenmommy]

That is a good idea, it would probabaly work for me. My kitchen is warmer in the day, and cooler at night, since we really turn our heat down (or leave it off completely this time of year).

My question still remains, however. When I'm making a sponge, am I just adding enough flour and water to make a rather pancake-like consistency? Or is there more to it that I'm not getting?

Thanks!

[sunnysideup]

Originally Posted by gardenmommy

My question still remains, however. When I'm making a sponge, am I just adding enough flour and water to make a rather pancake-like consistency? Or is there more to it that I'm not getting?

Yeah, just flour and water. I add about 1 1/2 cup of starter to 5 cups flour and 4 cups water. I leave it overnight, and in the morning replenish my starter and add salt, oil, and more flour, knead, split into two leaves, and set to rise about 4 hours or so. I always get great bread this way.

[OceanMomma]

gardenmommy what I like about sourdough is it is so simple to make! Slightly OT but where do you live that you have the heat on at this time of year - eek! It's supposed to be almost winter here & we live in the colder end of the country & we still only have a fire occasionally.

[gardenmommy]

Ok, thanks! I am going to try making a sponge this morning, let it set all day, and then finish it tonight, as per Oceanmomma's method (mainly because I didn't start it last night!).

Oceanmomma, we live in Michigan. We've had lovely weather here for about, oh, 6 weeks. So nice, in fact, that people are getting in their gardens and whatnot. Then, we had this cold, rainy spell last week; at the end of that, we had a cold snap with the overnight lows nearly at freezing. This morning will hopefully be the end of all that, and then we'll just close up our windows at night until our lows come up sufficiently to leave them open all the time. Aaahhhh, the joys of living in the north!

[bluets]

i'm hoping to start doing sourdough this summer - now that i'm getting into a routine with my kefir (one thing at a time!).

any tips for doing sourdough in a breadmachine? i don't have time or talent to make bread by hand but i do have a bread machine...

[OceanMomma]

gardenmommy yikes! From what ppl have told me places like that have very very nice weather for those 6 weeks. We don't really get any very hot weather or any very very cold weather where we are. I can't grow tomatoes outside where I am for example. Nor would I ever get any sap out of a sugar maple. Being coastal, it gets very windy too. Still it is beautiful so I don't mind.

bluets I used to make my sourdough in a breadmaker but I think it comes out nasty. I also think there are some issues with breadmakers & teflon maybe? I get a much better bread & it is a whole heap easier to do by hand & bake in the oven. If you do want to make it in the breadmaker, I used to run it thru the dough cycle & then turn it off & leave it to rise overnight & then run it thru the bake cycle. When I say it turned out nasty, I found it was not a flavourful or crusty as it is when I bake it in the oven.

[timneh_mom]

OK I've got a bowl of flour/water sitting on my counter, it's kinda warm here now (Michigan) and it's got very small bubbles in it. This morning it had some tan colored liquid on it that I drained off. It doesn't smell like much of anything... just like flour really. Do I need to let it brew a while yet before I make bread?

[OceanMomma]

it sounds like it's ready to make bread with except I would expect it to smell different. All you can really do is give it a go. I'd feed the starter with more flour & water to make a sponge & see what happens. If it gets all bubbly, make some bread. If it doesn't leave it a bit longer until it does.

[carnelian]

I just found a recipe for a sprouted sourdough Essene bread. I'm keen to try this and perhaps dry it in the dehydrator rather than baking it in the oven. The author suggests 'baking' it in the sun if it's a particularly hot and sunny day.

I seem to be baking about once a week. My spelt/rye sourdough is rising right now awaiting baking in the morning.

[gardenmommy]

I made a sponge and let it go for about 12 hrs. (it was that long till I got round to doing anything with it). Then I added some salt, small amount of oil, more flour and water, and kneaded it until it was sort of springy. It was still sticky, but I didn't want to add too much flour, so I left it to rise. Well, I think it's finally doubled after about 48 hrs. I'm going to make some loaves and bake it tonight after I get the dc in bed. I have very low expectations, so anything that is reasonably edible is a success in my book!