Any Home Bakers Here?

[Blooie]

I should add something that might (or might not) be important if you decide you want the link to Sylvia’s sourdough starter recipe - she starts out with 120 grams of flour and 120 grams of water. So I followed this precisely when I started last year. However, I’ve found that 60 grams of each works just as well and I don’t feel like I’m wasting so much flour. I’d recommend, if you decide to follow her instructions, to do it exactly as she did at first. Then if you want to cut back after your starter is established, just keep out 60 grams of starter, add 60 grams of water and mix it well, and add 60 grams of flour. I also write on top of my lid which proportions I’m using. I’m old, and easily confused. Also I don’t refrigerate my starter and just feed it weekly. I don’t like the strong sour tasting bread…I like mine a lot less tang…..and I found the taste stronger in refrigerated starter. Might just be me, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I have started using a “no discard” starter, and so far it’s been okay. But I have a personal attachment to Lazy Joe. He’s named for how slowly he first started out….he took days and days to get going. His name is not a political statement in any way. He’s just named after someone I knew.

A lot of folks use discard to make all kinds of things…I haven’t gotten that brave yet but I probably will soon. But one thing I do, and I’m so glad I did, was to take a few batches of discard, spread it super thinly onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan, and dehydrate it. You don’t need a dehydrator to do this…just set it out and give it a couple of days to get good and dry. That’s all I did. When it’s completely dry….and I mean completely…..then break it into flakes and store it in an airtight jar in your pantry or cupboard. I had to get rid of my starter when we had to move into a small camper for 3 months, with no running water and not much heat. Our new house wasn’t finished and we ended up in there from September until December 4th, when we were finally able to start moving in. There’s no way I could have kept my starter going. Glad I had this in the box of canned goods! If you do this, you can rehydrate and be ready to bake in 24-48 hours instead of waiting days for a new batch of starter.

You can see the slide marks where he peaked and then dropped while we were shopping in Cody today. He’s hungry, but he can darn well wait until after we’ve had our dinner before he gets his!

My reminder to myself what this jar contains. My other starter is different and I didn’t want to mix them up. If I change anything, the Sharpie cleans off easily and I can mark the new proportions on it. Same with the line and time on the front of the jar.

My dried starter flakes.

 

[Blooie]

Ya mine differs a bit but you starter will work also @Blooie

I’ve learned through this that there are as many different starter recipes as there are meatloaf recipes! Mine works perfectly for me, just as yours does for you. I’m just too cheap and lazy to use all that other stuff.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I agree no one is wrong and no one is right in all the eyes .. But it is the Home Bakers thread and we all love it.

 

[Sally PB]

After I had ordered some GF starter, I read about using other fermented stuff as the culture to get the starter going, like yogurt or even kombucha. There is enough wild stuff floating through the air to get it going too, probably. Ah well, I got some starter. And on an email list.

 

[topochico225]

Here’s how I do my starter!

First I stir it down or stir the hooch back in if it’s been in the fridge for a while.

Then I mix 50g starter with 250g water.

I then add 240g rye flour— this is a very stiff starter! IME a stiffer starter = a sourer starter. I like mine sour as an old bat in church

I then let it sit out until it’s bubbly and pretty. Will update with happy starter pics when she’s eaten! It may take a couple rounds of feeding to get there.

Thanks for the Sharpie tip @Blooie !

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Hi everyone. Mind if I join in? I bake all of our bread, my favorite to make and my husband's to eat is an Amish white sweet bread. I have a batch in the makes now with yeast, sugar and water proofing for me while I gobble down lunch.

I'm hoping to learn to make tortillas in the near future.

Welcome to the Bakers thread.

 

[topochico225]

Do y'all have any ideas for a sourdough loaf I could do around my schedule? I'm up around 5:30, leave the house around 7:20, gone till around 1:30, then depending on the day I'm either home after that or gone till around 4. I head to bed around 10.

 

[ronott1]

Do y'all have any ideas for a sourdough loaf I could do around my schedule? I'm up around 5:30, leave the house around 7:20, gone till around 1:30, then depending on the day I'm either home after that or gone till around 4. I head to bed around 10.

You can make sourdough like that!

Mix together the bread ingredients at about 7pm and then do the stretch and fold twice, 30 minutes apart. When you get up, Shape the bread for rising and let it rise until you leave and then put it into the fridge. When you get home, take the dough out of the fridge and let warm up for an hour or so while the oven warms up. Move to a dutch oven if using or pop into the oven if rising on a pan or etc.

The details about ingredients and cooking times can come from whichever recipe you use.

I often time just wing it though!

 

[microchick]

I need to feed my starter. I'm almost afraid to get it out of the back of the fridge and look at it. It's been ummmm....a long time? I need to drain off the fluid, bring it up to room temp and then feed it and see what happens.

I had two starters, one I made myself and one I got from Ron's sourdough. Unfortunately Ron's sourdough met an untimely demise....whimper....so I just have the one left.

My mother had a recipe for Sour Cream Chocolate cake that she got from her MIL. She said it was the best thing the old woman ever gave her. I asked what about dad and she repeated, That recipe was the best thing she ever gave me.

I'll try to get it drug out of my recipe drawer and scanned into the computer.

As for starter. My old old old starter is a cup of flour, a cup of potato flakes and a cup of water. If you want to get it working fast, a tablespoon of sugar to it. I think they all 'feed' about the same.

 

[topochico225]

You can make sourdough like that!

Mix together the bread ingredients at about 7pm and then do the stretch and fold twice, 30 minutes apart. When you get up, Shape the bread for rising and let it rise until you leave and then put it into the fridge. When you get home, take the dough out of the fridge and let warm up for an hour or so while the oven warms up. Move to a dutch oven if using or pop into the oven if rising on a pan or etc.

The details about ingredients and cooking times can come from whichever recipe you use.

I often time just wing it though!

Thank you so much, Sourdough Guru! What do I do with the dough overnight between the last stretch/fold and the morning shaping?