Well since I have some poor Germans here that are hanging out for BREAD I have succumbed and started the old flour mill again.
The sourdough wasn't used for at least a year now and sat at the back of the fridge grey and cold with some lovely alcohol on top.
So I revived it with warmth and just the right amounts of water and flour and after 5 days it is very nice. And it made a very good bread - I had a slice myself to try.
So if you keep a rye sourdough it can last for a long time - wheat doesn't, it is not as sour and will go mouldy (or is that moldy!) pretty quick.
buzzy110,
Sep 28, 9:13pm
Excellent results. Now is the time to feed it in earnest to create a healthy, strong colony of wild yeasts that thrive on the flours you will be making your bread from.
For future reference, if you want to make bread with flours other than wheat, then it is a good idea to feed your starter with those flours as each flour has its own yeasts (uli's wisdom). As I am currently baking bread once a week, I feed my starter with a mix of the flours I will be using next.
Once the starter is strong and if you are baking once a week then you only need to feed the starter once and put it away in the fridge till it is time to use it. I only use about 2tspns of starter from the last batch to innoculate my next starter with as well. That slows down the multiplication rate (I'm sure you will be able to wrap your experienced head around that sort of logic) so that it is ready in 7 days for use and not in 3 or 4, when you don't want it to be ready.
If you are going to bake with it less often, then just use el-cheapo high grade flour and feed up again a couple of days before you want to bake. I keep mine unfed for up to 14 days, but I'm sure it could be kept for longer if needed, you just have to feed a couple of times before using it for baking though.
When I'm ready to bake I leave my starter on the bench for the day, make the sponge at night and then make the dough in the morning. That gives me all day for it to prove (twice) and bake that evening. Sour dough is best eaten cold - better flavour. Properly made, the bread should stay fresh, as mine does, for 4 days before I have to think about freezing or toasting.
beaker59,
Sep 28, 9:53pm
Mine has been sitting all winter unused I have been baking Ciabatta's and just std loaves for a while now guess the sourdough craze wanned a bit in this house but with the sailing season kicking off I guess I will start the bug back up too, a great way to cater for a few days on the boat is a couple of big sourdough loaves and a large jar of salsa (onion tomato capsicum corriander and basil finely chopped with olive oil ) to be eaten on the bread or with fish or shellfish fried in butter. Sourdough toast and honey for breakfast mmmmmmmmm with green tea in a nice secluded bay in the still of dawn thats my idea of heaven.
pickles7,
Sep 28, 10:29pm
mmmmm,,, uncommitted, as yet, is all I can muster. A little more dense, than I expected it would be. Maybe, due to a call out, as it was not doubled in size before I baked it. I tossed up to put dough, in the fridge or bake it early. I will now repeat the whole process, and will refrain from putting a loaf together unless I will be home to give it the best chance.
uli,
Sep 29, 12:04am
Arrgh - MUST get back onto the boat this summer! How's the knee going!
beaker59,
Sep 29, 7:39am
Knee is having a good year, I guess I should have an operation to remove the old steel prior to getting the replacement eventually but its going so well and I have so much planned that I am putting it off for a few more months. We have already done a fair bit of sailing and planning to take the kids out for a 4 day trip in a couple of weeks but working night shifts doesn't help much good news is I have heaps of work though for a change.
pickles7,
Sep 30, 3:27pm
I must say I have another "bug" growing. We used to make batter by allowing the flour and water to ferment. We tipped the batter out of the bucket to use, and chucked in more flour and water. It was very nice batter. Not unlike, beer batter I loved the flavour of the sour dough bread, and am really looking forward to the next loaf.
uli,
Sep 30, 10:53pm
Good to hear that the knee is behaving - to get the steel out and go through ALL the rehab again - only to make the bone strong enough for the replacement and to not lose any bend (as what you lose you will NEVER regain they tell me .).
And then go for "the real op" - and (of course) go through ALL the rehab AGAIN . *sighs* - it is a 3 year (minimum) "lifestyle change" - and I must admit I had enough of that recently . so more training for me soon to get from dinghy to boat - I SO hang out for some fresh caught fish - made immediately into raw fish (got lots of limes at present too).
mustu,
Oct 1, 4:02am
I'm interested to know what is best for storing the starter! I had mine in a glass preserving jar but it was awkward to stir in the added ingredients, and it kept overflowing in the fridge making a great mess!Is plastic perhaps better than glass! What do most of you use!
beaker59,
Oct 1, 5:07am
Mustu mine has lived in a glass jar for 2 years now if you are getting overflows then you are making too much batter or its too thick my jar rarely gets over half full I have never had an overflow. Personally I like glass but plastic could work too.
beaker59,
Oct 1, 5:14am
Yeah I am putting things off until I have done a few things not looking forward to the rebuild. Say the word and you can come out on my boat Uli it lives on a marina berth so access isn't so hard :)Yeah nothing like fresh raw fish I take the lemons and onions tomatoes coconut cream basil and corriander on the boat too !
pickles7,
Oct 1, 4:02pm
.beaker59.chili, I did not see any chili, in the above list. I got my hands on some fresh fish the other day, reached up to get my can of coconut cream,,, some, Nobody, had used it. mmm was it, me.!
beaker59,
Oct 1, 6:39pm
I don't always add chilli to mine but yes it is a good addition generally I have chilli flakes handy which I add to my own bowl but fresh is nicer.
pickles7,
Oct 1, 7:17pm
I wonder what, tamarind, would add. May have to play a bit.
uli,
Oct 2, 2:16am
My starter lives in a glass preserving jar in the fridge. Any added "ingredients" get stirred in once I have "refreshed" it - taken a bit off and put that back into the fridge - and thenadd whatever I feel like to the rest .
pickles7,
Oct 2, 4:12pm
My Daughter is bringing her "bug" to visit. She thinks it stinks, mine isn't smelling that sour at all. I have this one on my counter top, rather than the airing cupboard. She put 2 grapes in with her bug, maybe that is the difference
kiwitrish,
Oct 2, 4:17pm
Well you guys have got me going.I began the starter last night and am so looking forward to sourdough bread, it's my favourite.Thanks guys.Keep your fingrs crossed that it works.
pickles7,
Oct 2, 4:25pm
Hers, dose smell nice and sour, mine has a faint sour, odor. They are both the same texture, loose, runny, and a wee bit fizzy. I have stolen one of her grapes, and put it in with my, bug.
pickles7,
Oct 2, 4:34pm
Good on you. We are very new at this sour dough, I am a stayer, my daughter is not coping with the smell. I have put my hands up for her "pet", I will make her a loaf of bread, using her bug. That maybe will get her interested again.
beaker59,
Oct 2, 5:41pm
Or you could just mix the two bugs together and have a Whanau colony :)
beaker59,
Oct 2, 5:47pm
Oh it will work they all do eventually. well done Kiwitrish its an interesting project and the bread is nice well worth the effort. Personally I prefer to go for straight flour and water to feed my starter though adding fruit seems to be a current fad. People forget flour isn't sterile its ground up grain straight from the field and contains all the yeasts that depend on grain starchs for thier food source.
skippie1,
Oct 2, 9:10pm
Been lurking in this thread since last week.Mixedmy sour dough starter last Thursday and has been going really great. So today I have mixed my fist loaf and it will sit on the bench till tomorrow morning. Really looking forward to taste it and see how it turns out. Thank you all for the instructions. I do have one question, why do you need to "discard" half of the starter before mixing in new flour and water.
pickles7,
Oct 2, 9:22pm
I hope someone comes in to give you an answer.skippie1. I did see on you tube that the discarded dough can be used to make something else. I did not take that much notice at the time. May have been pancakes!. We loved the flavour of my first loaf, but then my Daughter wanted to make one. I chucked mine, so we could go through the process together. I rather like this second way of making it, but as yet it is early days, our bread is still three days off. I have been lurking a long time. Post a pic of your bread please, when it is cooked.
kiwitrish,
Oct 2, 9:34pm
Thanks, that is what I am doing, just the flour and water.Off to feed it again now for the first time.
buzzy110,
Oct 3, 12:51am
When you are starting a starter you discard half or you will end up with bucket loads of the stuff and will have to use bags and bags of flour to refresh your starter. I only throw away starter now if I have not made bread for a long time - saving a tablespoon full to add to the new feed.
Basically once your starter is a healthy breeding colony of yeasts you can just do as I do. I make up a feed of 1 cup each of flour and water and add a tablespoon of the old starter to that, cover and store in the fridge. The rest I add to one cup of water and one cup of flour in my mixer bowl. This is the sponge, which speeds up the whole bread making process. I leave that over night and then make my dough, knead, etc. By the end of that day I have a lovely loaf (or loaves - depending on how many starters and sponges I do) for my efforts. At this time of the year it all works much slower than at the height of summer.
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