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Sourdough Starter

NB I don't think the two elements of making the dough in this way and cooking it in a pot are inseparable. Cooking it in a pot does mean it can be quite runny though. I've done it on a pizza stone a few times now but it does collapse if you put too much water in the dough.
 
Nasty Nigella the rye starter began life last Sunday, and here is my first effort using Canadian strong white.

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Its very tasty but not very pretty. I sort of crammed it into a rectangular tin after proving in a round metal bowl, meaning the crust is a bit 'wrinkly' in parts. I wonder if a banneton would improve the aesthetics somewhat...
 
I've never made any kind of bread, but listened to this a couple of nights ago, thought you all might enjoy it.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Sourdough love stories

We meet some very old (bread) mothers and the families that care for them
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

A spongy collection of flour, water, wild yeasts and bacteria may seem an unlikely object of affection, but some sourdough starters are truly cherished, and can even become part of the family.

Emily Thomas hears how one starter has been used to bake bread in the same family since the Canadian gold rush more than 120 years ago, and speaks to a man trying to preserve sourdough diversity and heritage by running the world's only library dedicated to starter cultures.

And a German baker, whose starter has survived Nazism and communism, reveals the commercial demands of maintaining it and why old ‘mothers’ (as sourdough starters are known) hold a powerful lesson for us all in nurturing living things.
 
That looks really interesting girasol - I have become very attached to mine. I've always loved the alchemy of cooking, but bringing a culture to life has been really fascinating. I am unable to walk past it without spending a little time admiring it :D
 
Saunders said:
Has anyone done a gluten-free starter? I’m thinking I might try one with some whole meal buckwheat.
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I did do this. So far I’ve been feeding it every day and it’s swelling and smelling as I’d have hoped. Bit disappointed to read on the flour pack that it may have been in contacr with gluten containing flours.
 
Saunders said:
I did do this. So far I’ve been feeding it every day and it’s swelling and smelling as I’d have hoped. Bit disappointed to read on the flour pack that it may have been in contacr with gluten containing flours.
Click to expand...
Sorry Saunders , didn't see your original post on Monday. Wow, it's coming on fast then, if it's getting going already! That's a bit shit though, about the gluten. Hopefully it won't give you too much trouble eating it.
 
sojourner said:
Sorry Saunders , didn't see your original post on Monday. Wow, it's coming on fast then, if it's getting going already! That's a bit shit though, about the gluten. Hopefully it won't give you too much trouble eating it.
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Thanks for your supportive message. It’s just an experiment really. I’m fine with gluten but a dear friend who is coeliac is having a shitty time recently which inspired me to have an attempt at gluten free sourdough. I’m using doves farm buckwheat flour and also, as it happens, their method that I found on internet.
It smells really different to normal sourdough starter and doesn’t hold air bubbles in the same way. It’s got a solid earthy smell like wet mud or patchouli, with a sour tinge. Like yesterday’s cinders left out in the rain.
 
Another attempt. Slightly weird combo of 6hr first rise then overnight ~9hr fridge second rise in a banneton, as I judged it had not risen enough to make baking it yesterday a reasonable prospect without staying up to ridic hours. Canadian white with 5 seed mix.

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Banneton helped for sure. Would have liked a bit more rise but not too disappointed given I was a bit sloppy with timings.
 
That looks great ^

My latest effort had a fucking ginormous bubble in the middle of it. Thought it had risen loads, but it's one big hole in the middle of the loaf, and for some reason, the rest hasn't baked properly so is all doughy, even though it was done for the same amount of time as the last few. Hmm.
 
sojourner said:
Jesus fkn christ, I finally did it! But I am finding the dough really hard to work with. It's so bloody sticky! And a massive faff tbh. Might just stick to wholemeal loaves with trad yeast after all this.
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About halfway thru last yr I bit the big financial bullet, & invested £350 in a Kenwood Chef XL - it's big enough even to knead the dough for 2 mrs quoad -sized loaves (or 4-5 normal-sized ones). I still do bakers yeast-leavened loaves by hand, but sticky sourdoughs go in the mixer.

As for sourdough loveliness, my evil Aussie neighbour recently introduced me to sourdough doughnuts.
 
Saunders said:
I did do this. So far I’ve been feeding it every day and it’s swelling and smelling as I’d have hoped. Bit disappointed to read on the flour pack that it may have been in contacr with gluten containing flours.
Click to expand...

You can buy raw (unprocessed) buckwheat groats & mill them down in a food processor or coffee grinder. It's a real faff, though.
You can also soak the groats until they ferment, drain & blend them, and use the result like you would a cornbread batter.
 
Out of perverse curiosity I thought I'd try my breadmaker's 'Rustic Sourdough' setting. Reader, I would not recommend this course of action.

I got a rather unsatisfying slightly chewier normal loaf. Not much sourdough flavour. Not that much of a surprise given the recipe cheats by using 1/2 teaspoons of fast action yeast and the whole cycle lasts only 5hrs.

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My sourdough starter is eating all my flour, and only increasing in size by about 10% each time. I can only assume it's my chilly house. I've tried every location, and still nowt. Making some nice things from the discards though, so not all bad.
 
moose said:
My sourdough starter is eating all my flour, and only increasing in size by about 10% each time. I can only assume it's my chilly house. I've tried every location, and still nowt. Making some nice things from the discards though, so not all bad.
Click to expand...
Mine took over a kilo of flour and 2 weeks to look anything like ready. How long you been at it moose ?
 
RubyToogood said:
I could post you some if you like?
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Thanks but if this one (shop bought) doesn't work, I'm giving up (or at least till summer) - the house is just too cold. I'll persist for another couple of weeks. It is bubbling and growing, just not much. Smells and tastes right, though.
 
moose said:
Thanks but if this one (shop bought) doesn't work, I'm giving up (or at least till summer) - the house is just too cold. I'll persist for another couple of weeks. It is bubbling and growing, just not much. Smells and tastes right, though.
Click to expand...
What I do to bubble mine up is tuck into a blanket by the radiator.
 
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