Wonderful recipes, so easy.If you make as one loaf does it take longer to bake!
griffo4,
Jun 14, 11:04pm
l forgot to feed my pet last night but this morning there is life there and it has a nice smell it is sort of frothy or small bubbles, mind you our house is hot it is sitting at 23C in the kitchen so l think that might have helped get it moving
beaker59,
Jun 14, 11:06pm
Awesome thats quicker than I would have thought. now feed it regularly (if you miss a feed its not the end of the world) and you should probably wait a week or so to let it build up its colony then start baking :)
buzzy110,
Jun 15, 1:02am
Agreed about the missing a feed bit. Yeast is very adaptable. It doesn't die just because it may not have enough food unless that situation has been for an extended period of time. Usually it just goes dormant or slows down reproduction. I've been away and left mine in the fridge for over 2 weeks and it is still thriving upon my return.
beaker59,
Jun 15, 10:56pm
This is where I think we may do things differently Buzzi I keep mine at room temp and only put it in fridge if I want to stop feeding for a while (month or so) I then get out of fridge and start feeding after about 2 days I then start baking again or put back in fridge.It sounds to me like you keep yours in the fridge always and even feed it and return to fridge is that so!
buzzy110,
Jun 16, 2:22am
Yes. That is how I do it, or rather, did it. I'd use all of my starter, except 1 tablespoon full, in my sponge. It didn't really matter to me how much starter was in the jag, but basically It was made from one cup of water and one cup of flour plus my Tbspn of starter to innoculate it. Then I put it in the fridge to slow the reproductive process because I only made bread once a week. With just two people in the house eating very little bread, one loaf a week was fine.
If I wanted to make two loaves, for instance, I measured out two lots of sponge flour and water plus an extra ½ cup of flour and water each, into two bowls. To that I added ½ of the starter to each bowl, mixed it all up, covered and left over night. However, I always just made up one batch of starter again, no matter how many splits I did with my starter.
The starter will work just as well from a smaller amount as from a larger amount. It may just take a little longer but I found that overnight was an ample amount of time, even when I just used a couple of tablespoons full in my sponge.
All you have to remember is that yeast are living, reproductive beings. When faced with a glut of food they really go for it, munching and reproducing their way through all that flour and gluten with great gusto with gas as their byproduct. It is that gas which provides the leavening.
I always made each loaf separately or else there was too much dough for my little hands to knead and handle.
At the moment I am eating zero grains so I have taken my starter, mixed it to a stiff paste with more flour, divided it up into 8 parts and rolled into a ball and have frozen them in readiness for when I will start making bread again.
griffo4,
Jun 16, 5:57am
Thank you both for your info it is great and l have c & p it all and l am feeding 1 tab flour to 1 tab water daily so will see how it goes
beaker59,
Jun 16, 8:13am
Glad to be of help hope it goes well, keep an open mind though and keep looking at other sources I do all the time in the hope of finding better ways, I am currently looking for alternative grains and recipes as a family member has bought a bakery and I may try my hand on a commercial scale but we shall see EH!
griffo4,
Jun 16, 11:02pm
Yes l have been reading far and wide but l will expand once l get my pet working and then start making different types of bread Please keep us informed of your recipes and good luck if you decide to try on a commercial scale
goldenbaygran,
Jun 16, 11:49pm
What a wonderful recipe.Seemed too easy for words.Easy Peasy as they say.So good with the soup for lunch, and more for today. Thankyou for the recipe Beaker.
buzzy110,
Jun 17, 4:39am
That sounds exciting Beaker. I hope you will let us know where we can come to purchase some of your creations. You could do worse than take a drive to have a look at the range sold at the Berlin To Paris bakery in Ellerslie. She produces a range of fabulous organic loaves. Mostly they are sourdough but she has fantastic ideas to give you inspiration.
Recently I bought some organic millet for when my grandie is weaned but I got the wrong sort. It needed to be ground. So now I have all this millet. I will definitely be adding it into my next loaf of bread, which, as I can see by my rapidly dwindling frozen supply (always have some for guests), I'll be hauling out one of my frozen starter balls and getting it going again.
griffo4,
Jun 19, 12:02am
Well there is definitely a smell coming from my pet it is a sweet type of smell and it seems all good so l am still feeding it daily
buzzy110,
Jun 19, 12:04am
Excellent. You might like to make a loaf of bread if you can see that your starter has either risen and dropped back or just risen. Once it rises it has enough yeast to produce a good loaf of bread using the sponge method.
griffo4,
Jun 19, 8:39pm
This morning it looks like it has a white mould on top and there was a fruit fly in the jar last night! lt is puffed up on top and has a yeasty smell
l don't know how the fruit fly got in as the lid has been just sitting on top so it must have found a gap
What do l do know l have been just feeding it 1 tablespoon flour daily but not tipping any off Any advice greatly appreciated TIA
ursula4,
Jun 19, 11:00pm
could you use grapseed oil instead of olive!
griffo4,
Jun 19, 11:29pm
Ursula4 l can't see why you can't use grape seed oil
ursula4,
Jun 19, 11:50pm
thanks - am going to try tonight :-)
buzzy110,
Jun 19, 11:51pm
Fruit flies are attracted to yeast so you definitely have yeast. As you have been using a different method to me I'd suggest you tip away all but½ a cup. Make a mix of ½cup of flour and ½cup of water and add in the ½ cup of starter to innoculate it. Do this now, or tomorrow morning. By night fall you should have a very active starter then just go for it.
I get out my trusty old Kenwood, throw in 1 cup each of flour and water and all of my starter, less 1 tblsp (to innoculate my next feed), mix it up andcover with a clean teatowel (I actually have a silicone sheet that sucks onto the top of the bowl). In the morning, after breakfast I make up my dough, knead - well you know, the normal stuff it takes to make a loaf of bread and by that evening I have a lovely fresh loaf of bread.
Remember. It is not like the one yeast strain commercial yeast. It takes much longer to rise, all the time eating away at the, otherwise indigestible, gluten and gliadin in the flour and thus making it much more healthy and definitely much more tasty.
griffo4,
Jun 20, 3:05am
Woohoo l have yeast,lol
Right so l will do that now and l take you are meaning l make a sponge tonight or tomorrow night!
Thanks Buzzy
beaker59,
Jun 20, 3:41am
I make my sponge in the evening then add rest of flour in the morning. other people with a well established starter do it first thing in morning then add final flour before dinner but if you do that be prepared for a late night if it rises slowly.
griffo4,
Jun 20, 4:50am
Right so l will make my sponge tomorrow night and then l will be able to do the rest the next morning which suits me fine as that is how l have been making the ciabatta bread So if l read it right l take 1 tablespoon of starter and mix it with 1 cup each of flour and water and sit in a warm place to keep my pet going! Sorry for so many questions but once l have done all this l will have got it l just want to make sure l am doing it right first time, thanks
griffo4,
Jun 20, 6:09am
l just went to the sourdough baking site and realise l have my sponge l hope you haven't banged your head against a wall too much with all my questions but l am finally "getting" it l made it at 3pm and it is bubbling up already so will leave overnight then take off one tablespoon and start another starter with it and use the rest to make a loaf l have printed off all the relevant stuff so l can re read it to let it sink in Thanks
buzzy110,
Jun 20, 8:26am
Remember the starter and the sponge are two steps in the process.
This is my Process:
1. STARTER - made using one cup of flour and 1 cup of water which is innoculated with 1T of starter from the last breadmaking session. The starter has to be active before adding it to the sponge. NOTE: You haven't made bread yet so follow my instructions for getting your starter up to full strength.
2. SPONGE - 1 cup of water. 1 cup of flour. All of the starter. (less what you use to innoculate the next starter). Leave overnight so the yeasts can multiply to create a big enough population to cope with the amount of flour that goes into the dough.
3. DOUGH - 1T oil. 3 cups of flour (any combination of grains). 2 - 3 T salt. Mix the salt into the flour. Add the oil directly into the starter. Use the flour to make the dough.
4. Finish the loaf - you know, kneading, proving, shaping, cooking and all that stuff.
griffo4,
Jun 20, 9:25pm
Thanks buzzy l worked it out in the end l now think l have got it so will let you know later on and l will go and read up on some of your earlier posts in another thread for more tips Once l have done a loaf l will have worked it out The starter was nice and frothy this morning so have added the next lot and it is sitting now
griffo4,
Jun 21, 5:21am
.just mix flour and water into a thin batter and leave in a covered jar on the kitchen bench start small and keep an eye on it add a little extra flour and water every few days (you will eventually have to throw some out to make room in the jar) until you start to see some fermenting in the jar this will be bubbling gas smell like bread or beery etc then start emptying out half the mix every day and replacing with flour water batter after a while(faster in summer but could take a week or two maybe longer in the winter) then you should get a nice active starter you can now store in fridge to slow down when you aren't baking or use and replace regularly.
To bake this is the simplest recipe which I generally use 1 cup starter 1 cup warm water 1 and a half cups white flour 1 and a half cups wholemeal flour 2 teaspoons of salt and a couple of tablespoons of good oil (olive is nice) ½ tsp of sugar Add all ingredients to a bowl, add half the flour and leave overnight next day add the rest of the flour and knead for 3 minutes allow to double in size knockdown and knead again then put in a loaf pan when it has doubled bake at 150 dregrees for 5 min for a good crust you can put some water in a tray in the oven to steam it up a bit.
Its quite easy really if you have any questions then just ask. I will try to help but I am sure there will be someone more knowledgable along and we can all learn a bit more.[/quote]
Beaker the recipe you have put up is it for ciabatta or ordinary bread as it seems to be quite a wet mix to try and knead!
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