Question for break makers

M

music-city-missy

Well-known member
So I made the friendship 'sourdough' starter back on Christmas Eve and have been making bread using the recipe that we always used. It's good, it's what I am used to but I would like something different.

The texture of this bread is sort of like a traditional white sandwich bread but a little courser/denser. It is slightly yellow in color and sweet.

I just wondered a few things. Could I use this 'sourdough' starter in lieu of other sourdough bread starters? Any ideas on how to use it to make a bread that has more chew and crust? Could you use a bread recipe complete with the yeast and all and just use this as part of the liquid to some flavor? Is there such a thing as too much yeast? How do you get those wonderful crusty artisinal breads at home?

 
Hi Missy, if there is sugar in your starter then no, it would probably not work in other sourdough

recipes, but if you feed it with flour and water only then it should work. Try mixing up flour and water--equal amounts by weight--and adding a little of your starter to see if it takes. Then you will have a non-sweet sourdough which you can continue to feed with just flour and water.

Yes, you could use your starter for some of the liquid in a yeasted recipe to add flavor. That's how lots of commercial sourdough it made.

Too much yeast gives a shorter rising time, which will not give you the character and crust you're after. More chew and crust come from longer slower rising times and a really hot oven. The artisanal breads can be made at home if you have a big pizza stone or tiles, and if you add steam to the oven. I use Julia's system of lining the oven rack with quarry tiles, putting an iron pan on the bottom of the oven and letting it all heat up with the oven. Then you slide the loaves directly onto the hot surface, throw water into the pan for steam, and slam the door shut. The steam sets a layer of starch on the outside of the dough which becomes a crisp crust.

You can also use the NY Times no-knead recipe, which has a very slow rising time and uses a pre-heated covered dutch oven to provide the hot base and contain steam.

Check out Paul's thread for more info.

http://eat.at/swap/forum1/200860_ISO_breadmaking_for_kids/teens

 
I agree with everything Joe said. Here's other options for steam:

I have a clay cloche that I really like using. The bread rises over night in a banneton or bowl lined with a well-floured cloth then is plopped into the hot cloche. Bake covered for about what you think will be about 1/3-1/2 of the time then uncover. If you use one, be sure to put it in a cold oven and preheat it along with the oven.

When I don't want a round loaf I cover the bread with a foil roasting pan that I have scrunched down to match the size of my pizza stone. I pour a little boiling water in the foil pan first, swirl it around then pour most of it out.

Although I have never tried it, I understand that sourdough starter freezes well. If you like, next time I use mine I will freeze some and mail it to you. Sally gave me some of her's a couple years ago and I have really enjoyed using it. BTW - there are good pictures on her website of steam-producing methods. Another excellent resource - www.thefreshloaf.com

Have fun!

 
I'm still playing around but....

I had to use the starter I had before I got all your posts so I just flew by the seat of my pants.

Made a recipe for no knead bread I had pinned on Pinterest using the starter in lieu of the water. ALMOST worked. My oven must have been too hot because it got too brown. Based on the texture and crumb, I think it would have worked had I either cut the temp or time one. Also, it said to liberally flour the parchment you let it do the second rise on but I used a brotform and LIBERALLY floured the fabric liner. So I had WAY too much flour stuck to it that I couldn't dust or scrape off the finished product and it too was almost burned. And transferring dough to a red hot dutch oven without burning yourself is not exactly an easy task. Need a tagine type pan - low base and high top!!!

Then I put the two loaves of Maw bread in when I turned the heat down and removed the cover on the first loaf. It looked wonderful and got a 'crust' but it never got as dark brown - more of a light golden brown - and it was sort of dry and crusty all the way through. Think putting that style of bread in an oven that was already 500 degrees is a bad idea.

I have two more batches that I'll make tomorrow so I am going to use some of your tips and ideas and try some more new things. I have started feeding one of them two parts flour to one part potato flakes to see what I can develop it into. Probably a disaster but what the heck.

 
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