Sour Dough Bread... an adventure.

[vfem]

Of course we have an AFTER!

The crust just kind of exploded... but its super hard crust, my favorite! I may have done those cuts deeper then I meant to. Oops!

 

[bigmike&nan]

While waiting for my "100 year old Alaskan sourdough starter" to arrive (eBay) I went to the store today - got some rye flour, whole wheat flour, bread flour and some buttermilk. No sourdough starters for sale at ShopRite (boo !!). I looked at a lot of blogs and read my share of recipes - I thought this fella presented it in enough of a straightforward way that most folks would not be put off by it. There IS some explaining you gotta do before giving someone your recipe (I know I'm guilty of that a lot).

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

So I took a timeout and made a starter - trying to find lids for containers in my house is not easy (my wife throws out a lot of lids) - and some of my fancier small storage things are buried in a snow drift in the run of our coop, my wife and I spoil our birds with special treats constantly.

Anyway I used a greek yoghurt container that has a snap on lid for my "jar" and mixed:

1/3 cup unbleached rye flour
2/3 cup unbleached whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry yeast
1 cup warm water

I mixed it well and it's resting covered in a cupboard near the stove. Every day I will check it and take care of it. per the advice in the above link you are supposed to "feed" your starter by tossing half of it away and adding more flour and water each time. Instead of tossing that half of the starter I will be using it to bake something every day with - ciabatta rolls, pizza dough, whatever. When it starts smelling pretty sour I'll make my first run at actual sourdough and report in...

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

VFEM! oh my gosh those look AMAZING!!!

 

[vfem]

Good luck Mike, I'm having a ton of fun with this. I got my second round starter going and will be doing the rolls this evening. I have dishes piled up to do since I had 8 dz cookies to get done for orders. I even managed to make some banana bread biscotti... YUM!

Will let you all know how the rolls turn out.

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

Ok, I guess I'm going to have to read up on this and give it a try. I've heard so much about sourdough bread and how good it is. I buy a lot of rolls and bread for my DH lunch bucket. It will be great to make my own. I have NOT been lucky with homemade bread.. but I'm willing to keep trying.

First, Proboitics called Kefir, now Sourbread. My DH is going to think I've gone crazy. But moving toward eating healthier is always good.

 

[bigmike&nan]

I used some of the starter I was supposed to throw away as a sponge in some ciabatta rolls - the dough was amazing and I got such a larger yield. The rolls - wow !!

 

[AlabamaChickenLady]

Oh, my gosh!! Those look amazingly delicous!!!

I can't wait to start and see what mine taste like.
Thanks everyone for posting up these wonderful pictures!!

 

[bigmike&nan]

Today is Day 2 of my sourdough starter, really bubbly - not real sour smelling yet. Taking the half I am supposed to throw away and making pizza dough. Gonna work the dough with the paddle attachment for a few minutes to really work up that airy structure. Imagine a ciabatta style pizza crust... Pics of the finished product later.

 

[vfem]

Well Mike, I have my second batch of starter (the fed left over from the first) and I'm making another batch from it right now. Very strong sour smell this time, and I'm making rolls. I have a good feeling about this one.

I will feed my other starter tomorrow for another batch on Monday.

Will share when this batch is done, its on its first rise though.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Vfem, well I started my Starter on Thursday afternoon, then Friday morning I fed it and used the "remove" part for the amazing ciabatta rolls. Today I fed the Starter again and used the "remove" part to make a ciabatta style pizza dough (as I said earlier). I got the dough made, put it in a covered Pyrex container to rise and we went to Agway and Costco - gone maybe 2 1/2 hours. I was loading up the fridge with our haul from Costco when my wife said "Michael look at that..." - when she says that it ususally means something pretty wild happened. Sure enough the dough rose, about tripled, and popped off the tight fitting snap on lid that came with this dish. Check her out - I had to push down the dough because it's a little early for me to make pizza. But I will be sure to keep the "orientation" of the bubbles right. I'll carefully dump the dough on a floured work surface, flour it well and then lift and flip it onto the sheet pan. Spinach, tomato slices, sliced mushrooms and thin cut Vidallia onions for my wife - pepperoni for me.

I've baked a lot in my life and I love to bake - this whole ciabatta/sourdough exercise has been a blast. I just heard the lid on the storage container pop off AGAIN. LOL