Sour dough and a Mother Earth bread recipe

[Carolyn]

I've been using sourdough and learned that adding it to my biscuits instead of buttermilk actually makes them taste better when left over. I used pastry whole wheat flour last time and neither my hubby or I noticed a taste difference. I did it because I rarely keep buttermilk but love buttermilk biscuits. Instead of buttermilk I added about 1/3 cup sour dough, a pinch of soda and milk for the rest of the liquid. Hot they were pretty much like buttermilk biscuits but 2 days later they were moist and much better than regular biscuits.

Mother Earth news had 2 articles on Healthy no-knead bread from the authors of Arisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. You can read them on the Mother Earth site and they share the basic recipes. I used the master recipe for Whole Grain Arisan Loaf but added 1/4 cup of sour dough starter. Very tasty and very moist.

 

[chickpeaz]

Did you get your sourdough starter from someone, or did you start your own? With yeast or without? I love sourdough and I've read about making starters a zillion times but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[Carolyn]

I actually bought a packet of dry starter and a small cookbook with it while visiting my son in Homer, Alaska. I have never started one but it sounds easy. I bought one several years ago and used it for a long time but I quit baking bread for some reason and didn't have the sense to freeze. You might try starting your own and if you don't like it you could look for another. I live in West TN in case you happen to live in my neighbor hood.

 

[NWChicks]

Go to carlsfriends.net. They are a site that keeps sourdough starter (freeze dried) and give it away to people. All you have to do it send a self addressed, stamped envelope to the address on their site and they'll send you one. The directions are on the site too. I did it and it made a good starter until I killed it.

 

[Carolyn]

Chickpeaz, sorry, I didn't see where you were from when I typed the reply. There is a thread on here about Sour Dough bread...an adventure by vfem. It has a starter recipe she uses. You might do a search for it. Next time I think I would start my own and I have read that including some rye in the original makes it better. It seems to me that ultimately you are going to get your local yeast incorporated into the starter anyway.