Messin' With Sourdough

[ness]

I bought a dried sourdough culture a few weeks back. It's supposed to be from Camadoli, Italy and passed down for generations. It comes in an envelope about the size of a yeast packet and in it is a little bit of flour containing the dormant cultures. I set up a proofing box to get it started in (a large pot with a light bulb inside on a dimmer switch). The instructions said to maintain the temperature at 90 degrees for a day, then 70 afterwards. The process is to feed the culture with flour and water to get it activated. The proportions are 1 cup flour to 1/2 cup water, which is like a thick pancake batter. Twice a day you discard all but 1/4 cup, and feed it with another cup flour and 1/2 cup water. You discard just to keep the amount manageable while things get going.

Sourdough cultures consist of wild yeast and lactobacillus (same stuff in yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, etc.) living in a symbiotic relationship. The acid produced by the lactobacillus protects the culture from infection other stuff, but the yeast thrive in the acidic environment. The cultures can be maintained for ... well, forever. Before commercial yeast was available, that's how bread was leavened -- keep a little piece of the dough from the last batch to use as a starter for the next.

It was supposed to take about a week to get the starter going good enough to leaven bread, but mine took about 2. It's ready when there are lots of bubbles and the volume doubles within a couple hours of feeding. Looks like this:

Once it reaches that stage, you incorporate it into the bread recipe and let it rise. It's a considerably slower rise than commercial yeast -- I let it go about 12 hours. I made a round loaf Saturday and it was outstanding. Great flavor, nice big holes, excellent crust. Slightly sour -- just right for my tastes. No pics.

Started over Saturday night, Sunday morning I divided into two long loaves:

...and after rising for about 3 hours:

...and after cooking:

So -- here's one of the long loaves cut in half, with the remnants of the round loaf from the day before in front. The crust and texture were much better on the first loaf. I didn't get the big holes on the long loaf and it's kinda dense. Flavor is good, and it was cooked to the same internal temperature -- just didn't get as dark. I probably should have formed the long loaves sooner, and let it rise longer than the three hours. Probably should have cranked the heat at the end too. There's a little bit of art to all this -- I've got a ways to go.

We're good on bread for a while, so I put the starter to bed in the fridge. It takes a few days to wake it up after that, but I'd rather do that than twice-a-day feedings until I've got time to do it. They keep for a long time in the fridge.

Anyhoo -- just thought I'd share.

[bfishn]

Rob a little starter to get a batch of pancake batter going. Man oh man, mighty good stuff.

[ness]

Yeah -- I was reading about that. Instead of pitching the discard, make pancakes with it. I'm gonna give it a try soon. It sounds outstanding.

Also toying with the idea of incorporating it into my pizza dough recipe.

[mic]

Why are you pitching the discard. You can keep that culture alive for a lifetime. I kept and used one for six months once.

[jpb2187]

Looks good!

I let my starter sit for too long in the fridge and I have yet to replace it.

You may already know this, but I figured I'd put in my two cents...

Try putting in an ice cube or two in the oven at the same time as your dough. The steam from the ice cubes will give you a really crispy, crunchy, crust.

My favorite is making pizza dough with the sourdough. Puts most crust from pizza places to shame.

[BilletHead]

Yes Ness!

The BilletHeads like this. Thanks.

[Feathers and Fins]

Definitely don't throw out my wife has had her starter for 25 years and it came from her grandmothers starter that is at least 50 years older. We use it for all kinds of bread making especially Jalapeno Bread

[ness]

Why are you pitching the discard. You can keep that culture alive for a lifetime. I kept and used one for six months once.

Hey mic -- the discard is simply to manage the total amount you have. You keep feeding it flour and water it will build up. The feeding process keeps the culture growing and multiplying in a fixed volume of starter. As bfishn pointed out, you can use the discard. It does kinda feel wasteful, I'll admit.

Looks good!

I let my starter sit for too long in the fridge and I have yet to replace it.

You may already know this, but I figured I'd put in my two cents...

Try putting in an ice cube or two in the oven at the same time as your dough. The steam from the ice cubes will give you a really crispy, crunchy, crust.

My favorite is making pizza dough with the sourdough. Puts most crust from pizza places to shame.

I did this several years back, and brought back a starter that had been in the fridge for several months. It took a while...may be worth a try.

Yeah -- I know the steam trick. I put a container of water in the oven -- never thought of ice cubes.

[ness]

One of the things that's a little tricky is the timing of it all. You can't really go by the clock -- you've got to go by how it looks, be ready to go when it's time and have a bit of luck too.

By the time I got around to dividing the bulk dough into the two long loaves, it had risen to maybe 3 times the size. It was probably at its peak by then and would have been better to just cook it then. Instead, when I formed the loaves the dough deflated some and it didn't seem to have enough gas left to rise more and get the better texture. Lesson learned.

[Njardar]

The quality of the flour and the ability to incorporate naturally occurring yeast in the air will also make a difference on proof time. With time it should get better.