Sour Dough Bread... an adventure.

[Scoop]

I found my recipe that I used years ago. I leave mine on the counter, no refridgeration until it is done developing. I'm going to add just a bit of dried potato flakes.

Mike, I love the fact that you will use whole wheat flour, rye flour, etc. I love all that stuff. Just wish others here would share my enthusiasm!

vfem, I think food supplies will be tighter soon. Now really is the time we need to be learning to "get back to basics."

Well, off to the kitchen soon...

 

[Kim_NC]

Recently I found a sourdough Multigrain recipe. I modified it a bit and ended up with this version:

Multigrain Sourdough Bread

1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk
2 cups sourdough starter
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat Flour
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the yeast, milk, the sourdough starter, sugar and salt. Stir in the rye flour and beat until the batter is smooth. Add the whole wheat flour, then the unbleached all-purpose flour, a cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has formed a shaggy mass, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter.

Knead the dough and add just as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to the counter. The dough should be a little tacky, but not sticky. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Gently deflate the dough and place it on a lightly floured counter. Shape as desired; you can make one huge loaf, three normal loaves, four mini loaves, or about 24 rolls. You can also reserve a small amount of dough and roll it into long, thin strips that can be snipped with scissors to form a stalk of wheat to decorate the top of each loaf.

Cover the loaves and let them rise for about 45 to 60 minutes, or until they're puffy. Bake them in a preheated 400°F oven for about 25 minutes, or until the bread is nicely browned and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.


We had a thread going on sourdough awhile back. Here's a link - many recipes shared there, not just breads, but other sourdough 'uses' as well:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=272398

 

[vfem]

Thank you Kim! I am having a terrible time finding RYE?! What is wrong with these stores... 20 types of AP flour, and 20 types & brands of corn meal.... 2 kinds of whole wheat and NO rye!? PLEASE! Its a terrible... just terrible!!!

 

[Kim_NC]

I know.....Arrggg! I used to buy rye flours in Food Lion and other everyday grocery stores about 12 - 15 yrs ago. I guess they didn't sell well enough as they've all discontinued them.

Now I buy light and mediium rye flours from the Amish retail stores in 2 lb bags. I can also buy it wholesale from Amish suppliers in 50lb bags - but I need someone to split with to get that large a quantity.

King Arthur also offers rye flours for order from their website. I bought from them in 5 lb bags until I found the Amish sources.

 

[vfem]

Quote:
I am going to try HT in town, and maybe... just maybe... I will try my hand at growing and milling my own rye. You think it would be worth it, or likely to have enough for 5-10lb on hand for random baking?

 

[Kim_NC]

I dunno...maybe it would be worth it? I like to do similar things for purity and properity's sake. But grains really take a bit of garden space (or acreage for any real volume)....and they take effort to glean the seed heads for grinding.

I'll be at a Harris Teeter in Winston Salem tomorrow afternoon....for seafood and a couple specialty things. I'll look for rye flours there. LOL...but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Scoop]

Well, I decided to use another recipe altogether and I'm so glad I did. I like the taste better than the Friendship bread. It uses potato flakes like I had wanted to do. Wow, there is just nothing like sourdough bread! I used half the dough to make hoagie rolls. They came out nice and I'll be making a hoagie later.

 

[CDennis]

 

[vfem]

I'm kneading a batch now to let rise and bake in the morning. I figure that will help develop the flavor more (more so then getting more rise).

 

[al6517]

Another old technic my grandmother taught me is to always take a small hunk of the crumb from some fresh baked bread and add it straight to the stored starter or Biga as we call it in Italian. It imparts the old flavor and always insures the heritage if you will of your original bread flavor spores. This works for all sorts of breads that require starters not just sourdough. I make 2 of these every week, and I have had the same Biga for well over 10 years, the flavor is just so intense I couldn't go without it for very long.

AL