Deb
New member
BP asked about breadmaking and said he was threatening to make his own sourdough starter the other day..... it prompted me to pull my starter out of the fridge and give it some love.......
I was terrified of sourdough at first, I read things that made it sound like you should be prepping it in a sterile lab and on a strict schedule, don't use this, only use a glass jar, stainless spoons, etc, etc ....... I have learned you can relax a little, you do need to make sure you work with clean equipment but it's not all that scary........
I purchased the starter I'm using from sourdo.com , it's the Camoldi starter which is an italian starter. It's pretty mellow (not super sour, it really just enhances the flavor and makes bread rise) and I bought it originally for pizza but use it for bread too. It's a hearty starter, I have had it going for at least four years and there have been 3-4 month stretches where it has sat in the back of the fridge.
So Friday (1:30pm) I reached far back into the fridge and took the starter out (it had only been about a month since i fed it last). It looked like this (not very pretty):
Friday 5:30 I took 4 oz of the starter, 4 oz of water and 4 oz of all purpose flour (I only use king arthur flours) and mixed it together
Saturday 6:45 am it's looking happy and pretty close to peak (I have seen it get between the crease in the container and the 1qt line when it's been fed on a more frequent schedule)
I fed it again (the excess which was just about 1 cup went into the sourdough waffles that I posted in the contest thread)
At 10:15 I checked it and it was a little over double in volume so I decided it was happy enough to start bread
all the ingredients on the top (see the starter and there is no yeast because we are using the starter)
a little time in the mixer (the dough is dark because it's about 1/2 whole wheat and there is a bunch of cinnamon)
after mixing & kneading looks like (note the volume in the bowl):
5:45pm Saturday (7 hour rise, it takes longer to rise because of the cinnamon)
Into the fridge overnight , to be continued.........
I was terrified of sourdough at first, I read things that made it sound like you should be prepping it in a sterile lab and on a strict schedule, don't use this, only use a glass jar, stainless spoons, etc, etc ....... I have learned you can relax a little, you do need to make sure you work with clean equipment but it's not all that scary........
I purchased the starter I'm using from sourdo.com , it's the Camoldi starter which is an italian starter. It's pretty mellow (not super sour, it really just enhances the flavor and makes bread rise) and I bought it originally for pizza but use it for bread too. It's a hearty starter, I have had it going for at least four years and there have been 3-4 month stretches where it has sat in the back of the fridge.
So Friday (1:30pm) I reached far back into the fridge and took the starter out (it had only been about a month since i fed it last). It looked like this (not very pretty):
Friday 5:30 I took 4 oz of the starter, 4 oz of water and 4 oz of all purpose flour (I only use king arthur flours) and mixed it together
Saturday 6:45 am it's looking happy and pretty close to peak (I have seen it get between the crease in the container and the 1qt line when it's been fed on a more frequent schedule)
I fed it again (the excess which was just about 1 cup went into the sourdough waffles that I posted in the contest thread)
At 10:15 I checked it and it was a little over double in volume so I decided it was happy enough to start bread
all the ingredients on the top (see the starter and there is no yeast because we are using the starter)
a little time in the mixer (the dough is dark because it's about 1/2 whole wheat and there is a bunch of cinnamon)
after mixing & kneading looks like (note the volume in the bowl):
5:45pm Saturday (7 hour rise, it takes longer to rise because of the cinnamon)
Into the fridge overnight , to be continued.........