Guest guest Posted March 22, 2002 Report Share Posted March 22, 2002 Hello, I've been reading everything in the archives on sourdough baking and still have a couple of questions. Can someone help me? 1. If I refresh my starter 3 times in 1 day, would I do that the day before I want to make bread, and then leave the starter at room temperature all night? And what if I wanted to add part of the flour from the bread recipe so it would start working (make a sponge); can I add that also the evening before I bake the bread? 2. Am I correct that proofing is the equivalent of letting the dough raise after mixing it and that generally most people do that at a very warm temperature? Thank you for helping! Sharon __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2002 Report Share Posted March 23, 2002 From what I have read all of your questions have no definate answer! Does this help you out any?? I tried to start my own starter but I did not like the results and no one really liked the bread. I now use the French starter from World Sourdoughs Intl. We really like it. This starter has certain characteristics and I work within the characteristics of the sourdough culture. The French starter will be dormant after 7 or 8 hours so I need to make my bread before the starter goes dormant. I refresh my starter twice before making my bread. I take it out of the fridge and add the flour and water before going to bed, then the next morning I add more flour and water and let that sit for 3-6 hours whenever I am ready to use it. Some people use a sponge and I do not so someone else will have to answer how they use that! Proofing can be done at most tempuratures, 85 degrees is supposed to be optimal. anything too hot will kill the yeast (95 generally begins this process) If it is too cool it will not rise as fast. Anything in the fridge will not allow the bacteria to work as well. after mixing the bread I shap my loaf and let it rise for 3-6 hours and then bake it. Grace, a Augustine I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough ''Hello's " to get you through the final goodbye. --anonymous ----- Original Message ----- From: sanderson Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:22 AM Subject: sourdough questions Hello, I've been reading everything in the archives on sourdough baking and still have a couple of questions. Can someone help me? 1. If I refresh my starter 3 times in 1 day, would I do that the day before I want to make bread, and then leave the starter at room temperature all night? And what if I wanted to add part of the flour from the bread recipe so it would start working (make a sponge); can I add that also the evening before I bake the bread? 2. Am I correct that proofing is the equivalent of letting the dough raise after mixing it and that generally most people do that at a very warm temperature? Thank you for helping! Sharon __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 25, 2002 Report Share Posted March 25, 2002 a, I'm curious...I made my own starter and it seems to be working okay. Does changing cultures change the flavor or the texture or what? I thought it just provided the lift. C. ----- Original Message ----- From: a Augustine Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 6:49 PM Subject: Re: sourdough questions From what I have read all of your questions have no definate answer! Does this help you out any?? I tried to start my own starter but I did not like the results and no one really liked the bread. I now use the French starter from World Sourdoughs Intl. We really like it. This starter has certain characteristics and I work within the characteristics of the sourdough culture. The French starter will be dormant after 7 or 8 hours so I need to make my bread before the starter goes dormant. I refresh my starter twice before making my bread. I take it out of the fridge and add the flour and water before going to bed, then the next morning I add more flour and water and let that sit for 3-6 hours whenever I am ready to use it. Some people use a sponge and I do not so someone else will have to answer how they use that! Proofing can be done at most tempuratures, 85 degrees is supposed to be optimal. anything too hot will kill the yeast (95 generally begins this process) If it is too cool it will not rise as fast. Anything in the fridge will not allow the bacteria to work as well. after mixing the bread I shap my loaf and let it rise for 3-6 hours and then bake it. Grace, a Augustine I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough ''Hello's " to get you through the final goodbye. --anonymous ----- Original Message ----- From: sanderson Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:22 AM Subject: sourdough questions Hello, I've been reading everything in the archives on sourdough baking and still have a couple of questions. Can someone help me? 1. If I refresh my starter 3 times in 1 day, would I do that the day before I want to make bread, and then leave the starter at room temperature all night? And what if I wanted to add part of the flour from the bread recipe so it would start working (make a sponge); can I add that also the evening before I bake the bread? 2. Am I correct that proofing is the equivalent of letting the dough raise after mixing it and that generally most people do that at a very warm temperature? Thank you for helping! Sharon __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2008 Report Share Posted December 10, 2008 Hi Sally and all, Just want to add. It is very important to keep the dough at a warm temperature, so it rise as high and as fast as possible. This is a common mistake or often neglected. It's a good idea to use warm water to prepare the dough. I sometimes leave the tin with the dough to rise in our van outside on a sunny warm day. This keeps the loaf nice and warm. I've had sourdough rise in as little as 1 hour, with an active, continually used starter [one that is used every day for a few weeks, e.g.] I haven't followed much of this thread, so I do not know if kefir is being used in this thread for making sourdough. In either case, I find water kefir a very wonderful active and quick acting starter for sourdough. I use about 1/3 warm water kefir for the liquid in preparing the dough. So if the recipes calls for 6 cups water, 2 cups of water kefir is used, with 4 cups water. The dough is made quite moist, sticky. I do not knead the dough, for it is too wet to actually knead like conventional bread recipes. I mix in a large bowl put the dough in a bread tin, let rise and then bake. Mixing takes just a few minutes, and it seems important not to overwork the mix. Our family used to produce up to 500 loaves of such bread made from bio-dynamic grains, to produce a range of sourdough breads for the health food industry in the mid 1980s. The above is the basic for preparing such exceptional breads. They sold like hotcakes. LOL Be-well, Dom Eva family wrote: > I'm a bit concerned that making sourdough seems to be a monumental task. > I make sourdough bread every day and it takes me about 5 mins to make > rye and 12 to make wheat (because of 10 mins kneading). After than it's > just leave to rise and bake. > > I worked from a book called Bread Matters by Whitley which is > very beginner level -- I was a beginner 6 months ago. > > If it is a hard slog and the bread isn't good to eat then something is > going wrong I would say. It should be easy, people did this for > thousands of years and they had lots of other things to do as well. > > As suggests -- maybe the starter. 50g of starter added to 150 g > of rye plus 300g of water, left on a counter overnight, should be > frothing in the morning. Then you abstract 450g (ie all but 50g which is > your new starter) to kickstart the main loaf . > > That will lift 330g rye with 200g of water. No kneading. Mix and put > into tin. Leave until not rising any more and then bake -- v hot for 15 > mins (as hot as possible) and then turn down slightly for 45 mins more. > Those are metal pan times. > > A chewy crust (but not rock hard) and a soft inside (but not smearing > the knife or only a bit). > > Sally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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