Sourdough starters

Blog posts about sourdough are like cat videos: they’re everywhere and everyone’s an expert. This is just me keeping track of what I’ve found to work. The sourness of a starter is caused by acid from fermentation.

Sourdough starter

General tips about sourdough starter, from Jamie who gave me his starter.

• It’s easiest to keep the starter in the fridge and just take it out when you want to make bread.
• A jar of about 700-800mL is probably about right. Choose one that’s not too tall and narrow or else it will be tricky to get the starter in and out.
• About 450g of starter is quite a good amount to keep. It depends on the size of the loaf you usually make and the proportions of flour to water that you like to use.
• The starter will be most ‘active’ if you use/feed it at least once a week, but will make decent bread even after 2-3 weeks in the fridge. It will probably survive for a month or two in the fridge, but will get sleepy and you will need to feed it before making bread with it.
• The first step in making bread is always to feed the starter. You can also feed the starter without making bread but then you will need to throw away some of the starter to get back to the original quantity (or you can give it to someone else!).

Feeding the starter

• Scrape your starter out into a large bowl (if doing it by hand) or into a breadmaker (if you have one that can knead dough without baking it). Soak and clean the jar (jar needs to be clean but not sterile).
• Add 300g of flour (white is easiest to work with but 1/3 wholemeal gives extra flavour) and 150mL of water. You can adjust these quantities if you like.
• Mix until a uniform consistency. You don’t need to knead it properly.
• Leave for at least 4-6 hours until it has expanded a lot and has lots of bubbles – leaving overnight is easiest.
• Scrape half the mixture back into your starter jar and put the jar back in the fridge for next time.  (Always remember this step – if you bake your starter it will be dead!).
• Use the other half for making the bread.

Biga

This is a watery starter with a milder taste. Use this instead of dough starter in bread, but double the quantity. It is not as lively so you can increase the fermentation time and dried yeast to compensate. You’ll need to reduce the amount of water added for the dough.

900 ml water
150 g organic wheat flour
75 g organic wholemeal flour
75 g organic rye flour

Mix together in a glass container, cover and leave at room temperature. Mix well once a day. After 10 days it will be ready to use, although it may be ready sooner. Check the taste and smell as you go. It should smell like a strong dark beer. After this always stir daily. Transfer to a new clean container now and again.

Feed it with:
150 ml water
25 g organic wheat flour
25 g organic wholemeal flour

Feed at any of these times:

• after 1 week (discard some of the original)
• if it is getting too sour (discard some of the original)
• 8-24 hours before you want to draw it for use

To slow it down put it in the fridge, it will not need feeding for 2 weeks.
To pause it for longer put it in an airtight container in the fridge. When you return take it out for 3-4 days then feed.

Sourdough bread

starter in fridge; remove, allow to come to room temperature, feed
[feed : 2 heaped tb rye flour and equal amount water]
leave a few hours until it is bubbling but still increasing in activity
make levan : take out 1c of starter, add 1c strong flour 1/2c rye flour 1/2c tepid water, mix together, put in large bowl and cover airtight, keep an eye on it, when clearly bubbling test the dough-put a tsp of dough in a glass of water, if it floats it is ready
make dough and autolyse : add 3.5c strong flour, 1/2 c rye flour 1 1/2c tepid water, to get a shaggy dough, leave a few hours
dissolve 1 heap tb salt in 1/4c water, pour over dough and work in
should have a stretchy pizza dough consistency
stretch and fold dough under, wait 30 mins and repeat; after 2 hours dough should be ready
put smooth face down into basket, leave 30 mins or put in fridge overnight
preheat dutch oven in oven 230′ fan bake
turn out into dutch oven, lid on, bake 20 mins
reduce oven 210′, bake 10 mins
remove lid, bake 17 mins
oven off, open door, leave 15 mins
turn out onto wire rack

A friend made us sourdough rolls from heaven the other day. See our post about starters first.

100 g sourdough starter
or
200 g biga (thin starter)

450 g strong white flour (protein content 14%)
150 wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp dried yeast (1 tsp if using biga)
enough water to achieve a hydration level of 80% for a loaf or 85% for rolls
17 g salt

Use your hands to mix and work the dough and do it as little as possible.

Mix the flours, water and salt together and place in a bowl or pot. Cover and stand for 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate or ‘autolyse’. Add the starter and yeast and mix together, pinching out the lumps.

Pull the dough up and fold over onto itself and repeat this every half an hour, 7 times in all. This is instead of kneading.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover and put in the fridge overnight and for up to 24 hrs to slowly ferment and rise.

Next day get the dough out and allow it to warm up for about 2 hours. It will rise more quickly. You want a good rise with large bubbles of gas at the surface.

Pre-heat your oven with a baking stone on the top shelf as hot as it will go.

If making rolls turn the dough out on a floured board carefully with wetted hands to avoid tearing the surface and cut into 10 portions with a stainless dough scraper dipped in water. Dip your other hand in flour or water so it won’t stick to the dough. Fold each portion over itself so that it is mounded up, the higher the better. There is an art to handling the dough at this point with a huge effect on how the rolls bake so do your research and experiment. Avoid knocking the dough down. Place on baking paper on top of a wooden paddle. Then use the paddle to slide the whole lot onto the baking stone in the oven.

You want steam at the start to keep the surface of the bread moist so it can expand more and produce a thinner crust. There’s lots of advice on how to do this but the best idea in a domestic oven is to cover the bread tightly to trap the steam coming off it. For rolls invert a large warmed metal roasting tray or something like that over them. For loaves use a pre-heated Dutch Oven.

Once the rolls are in the oven turn down to 220’C and bake 15 minutes to rise and set the crust, then remove your cover and bake a further 10 minutes to brown the crust. Turn out onto a wire rack and cover with a tea towel to cool.

Source: Stephen (SP)

rugbrod (Danish rye bread)

Despite lots of heavy food, sugar, alchohol and grey winters the Danes are a surprisingly healthy bunch.  Their legendary rye bread has a lot to do with that. Makes 1 loaf or multiply quantities by 2.2 for two.

Scheduling:
Making the starter – at least 24 hours day before baking
Soaking the grains – 24 hours before baking
Kneading, proving and baking takes 4 hours – start no later than 7  in the evening

elderflower sourdough bread

I came across a bakery in Calabria once that was filled with the scent of elderflowers. I was intrigued and found out they were making elderflower bread. Delicious. This recipe is a ciabatta-based version of this. There is also a sweetish variety in Lombardy called pan meino, using cornmeal flour and polenta, there is a recipe here.