Funny you should be talking about fresh fish, boating and fishing. I have just returned from 4 days of boating, fishing and diving and my deep freeze is stocked to the hilt with fish and scallops and we had 4 days of wonderful fresh fish and scallop meals. I feel so lucky.
skippie1,
Oct 3, 6:23am
buzzy. you spoke of a sponge and leaving it overnight before mixing into dough for bread. But I was also reading beakers instructions and she made a dough straight with he starter. Are there two ways to make sour dough, or am I reading things wrong, or which way is better Many thanks again answering all my silly questions.
beaker59,
Oct 3, 1:20pm
The Beaker is a dude ;) ha ha ha
There are many ways to make a sourdough bread they are pretty much all correct I do make a sponge technically I just generally don't call it that. I actually find my way does work slower which means I can make my dough first thing in the morning then knead it when I get home from work then bake in the evening when it has risen. It fits my day better when I am on day shift, currently on nights so don't bake much bread, also cutting down on carbs currently so not much point baking at the moment.
skippie1,
Oct 3, 6:58pm
Thank you beaker for that explanation, and my apologies for calling you a SHE.
buzzy110,
Oct 4, 3:57am
skippie, beaker's explanation is one way. The other way is to click onto the link I posted earlier and print is out. It is quite detailed. I prefer to make the 'sponge' because that is the way it has been done for centuries. Also it has an advantage being that your starter may have gone through all the foods in the flour so adding the entire starter to another cup of flour and cup of water and waiting till it is fermenting nicely ensures you have the basis to create a light and airy dough.
If your yeasts take a while to begin working their magic and you knead the dough before that happens, your bread just will not work. Kneading needs to take place when you have grown a lot of yeast.
Kneading is important because it helps the yeasts develop long strings or chains with the gluten in the flours which helps the dough to trap the gases given off by the yeasts, thereby creating a nicely risen dough.
If you want me to post information on kneading technique I will. You only have to ask. I'll paste from another thread on the subject that helped at least two people make the best bread they have ever made.
uli,
Oct 4, 6:05am
If you keep adding at the rate of 1:10 then you will have a bathtub full of sourdough - and what will you do with it! It might be easier to feed 1 teaspoonful of starter with flour than to keep cupfuls or even bucketfuls going .
pickles7,
Oct 5, 9:00am
skippie1 .how did your bread turn out!
kiwitrish,
Oct 6, 1:14am
Hi guys, my starter is working great.Has bubbles and a nice beery smell.Can I make my sourdough loaf in the breadmaker or do I have to make it by hand.Anyone have instruction for using the breadmaker please!
buzzy110,
Oct 6, 2:12am
I don't have a breadmaker so I cannot answer that one. I think some makers have a sourdough setting, whilst others don't. Remember that sourdough requires a long time to prove. During that time the wild yeasts are munching up and digesting all the phytins, anti-nutrients, gliadin and gluten in the flours, rendering them harmless and making the bread much more healthful. It is also creating lactic acid which gives sourdough its distinctive sour taste. Wild yeasts work much more slowly than commercial yeast which is a single yeast strain designed, not so much for flavour or any beneficial effects, but for speedy rising. "With sourdough bread, complex carbohydrates are broken down into more digestible simple sugars and protein is broken down into amino acids."
skippie1,
Oct 6, 7:14am
pickles, that first loaf I made didn't turn out.So I followed the instructions that buzzy put up for us. Have just taken out 2 loaves from the oven, both look great, althought one other is smaller, and I know why that happened as I follow the recipe and added the amount of flour as instructed, I then realized that it was to much and therefor a firmer loaf, or I kneaded it to firm. The 2nd loaf I reduced the amount of flour and the kneading time and that "looks great" now I need to wait until I can cut it. Thanks for asking.
pickles7,
Oct 6, 7:30am
cool, I have my sponge developing now. I will not be looking at it until tomorrow morning. I just hope it will be ok in the airing cupboard. I too am following the recipe from the site .buzzy110.put up. I hope I will be able to take a pic of it tomorrow night.
skippie1,
Oct 6, 10:03am
Well, couldn't wait till morning, so we just had a slice of bread with Dutch apple spreadon it, was just beautiful, certainly worth the effort and will continue to make sour dough. Thank you all for the information posted in this thread, as I had tried before to make sough dough bread and wouldn't work for me.
beaker59,
Oct 6, 12:28pm
Well done skippie we never wait for our loaves and the first few slices are eaten hot out of the oven with lots of butter and honey the best slice I reckon sometimes I will have two or more :)
Funny thing is I am a great fan of marmalade and it just doesn't work on sourdough.
buzzy110,
Oct 7, 4:37am
Great news skippie.
And beaker, I'll block my ears on the marmalade. My DH, if he is around when the bread comes out, immediately grabs the marmalade and has a slice, or 3 and then asks me if it is OK to cut into it. I could throttle him sometimes because I like to wait till it is completely cold. The sour taste is stronger and steam doesn't escape so the loaf will stay fresh for up to 4 days. Oh well. At least he appreciates the bread and my marmalade. What more could a happy camper ask for, eh!
elliehen,
Oct 7, 4:47am
beaker, have you tried Lemon Honey/Lemon Curd on sourdough!
That's a winner!
skippie1,
Oct 8, 3:59am
buzzy, thank you for directing me to that thread.
beaker59,
Oct 8, 6:05am
Saving the lemons for the big pile of snapper fillets caught this afternoon :)
uli,
Oct 8, 10:16pm
Making me jealous again are you :) Enjoy your snapper!
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