Sourdough Bread

[Miss Unleaded]

Does anyone have a good recipe for making sourdough bread, including the starter?  It is just the kind of bread I like to make into sandwiches but I've never tried to bake it before.  I'd like to start with a recipe someone else has tried and succeeded with, rather than a random recipe from google.  Does the success of the bread depend on the climate?

Any and all tips or hints would also be appreciated.

[ITSJUSTME]

This is just one of the countless links that features this bread recipe.  It is the easiest and MOST delicious bread I have ever made.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html

This was featured on the Martha Stewart show a few months ago and the video (if you need it) is still available on youtube or elsewhere on line.

You basically mix up a  very wet dough, leave it sit about 18 hours, roughly shape it into a loaf and let it rise a bit, plop it into a dutch oven that has heated to 500 degrees and let it bake about 40 minutes, uncovering half way to brown the top.

I recommend you try it.  While not technically a sourdough, the bread does ferment somewhat during the long resting period.

If you want to use sourdough I recommend you find a recipe (they're all pretty much the same) and start one.  You mix it up, let it sit a few days, then you have to divide it.  It needs to be cared for and used frequently so if you will be doing lots of baking, I say go for it - but if bread will be a once in awhile thing for you, then I say use this recipe.  Good luck and enjoy!

edited for word usage

[GlindaBunny]

I love this website for discussions and bread recipes:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4006/100-sourdough-bread-taste-bread-r-calvel

That recipe is fabulous.

[cicero]

Does anyone have a good recipe for making sourdough bread, including the starter?  It is just the kind of bread I like to make into sandwiches but I've never tried to bake it before.  I'd like to start with a recipe someone else has tried and succeeded with, rather than a random recipe from google.  Does the success of the bread depend on the climate?

Any and all tips or hints would also be appreciated.

i went thru a sourdough bread stage once. didn't last very long. basically there are two kinds of starter: the "true" ones, that are made JUST with flour and some kind of liquid (usually water, but sometimes they suggest other liquids like organic grape juice). you mix the flour and water, and let it stand in a glass jar (lightly covered, i used an old stocking) until it ferments. then you use some of that i/o of yeast. I didn't succeed. i really really tried. it grew fine, it followed all the stages, but the bread came out like a lump.

try this site http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/sourdough2.htm

the other way to make sour dough is to use a minuscule amount of yeast and let it rise for a looooong  time. but that's cheating

[magdalena]

Does anyone have a good recipe for making sourdough bread, including the starter?  It is just the kind of bread I like to make into sandwiches but I've never tried to bake it before.  I'd like to start with a recipe someone else has tried and succeeded with, rather than a random recipe from google.  Does the success of the bread depend on the climate?

Any and all tips or hints would also be appreciated.

i went thru a sourdough bread stage once. didn't last very long. basically there are two kinds of starter: the "true" ones, that are made JUST with flour and some kind of liquid (usually water, but sometimes they suggest other liquids like organic grape juice). you mix the flour and water, and let it stand in a glass jar (lightly covered, i used an old stocking) until it ferments. then you use some of that i/o of yeast. I didn't succeed. i really really tried. it grew fine, it followed all the stages, but the bread came out like a lump.

try this site http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/sourdough2.htm

the other way to make sour dough is to use a minuscule amount of yeast and let it rise for a looooong  time. but that's cheating

I'm a cheater - and everyone loves the product.
Don't really have a recipe though, because I learned it from mom and grandma... 'take a bit of this, enough of that, some of the other and do this until it looks right'

[Elle]

Next time your at B&Noble check out Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for More Food"
It's got everything you could possibly need to know about baking, including two or three sourdough starters.

[cicero]

I'm a cheater - and everyone loves the product.
Don't really have a recipe though, because I learned it from mom and grandma... 'take a bit of this, enough of that, some of the other and do this until it looks right'

I'm sure it's great!! sometimes people actually want the commercial-yeast-free product for health reasons, and not just for the taste.

[magdalena]

I'm a cheater - and everyone loves the product.
Don't really have a recipe though, because I learned it from mom and grandma... 'take a bit of this, enough of that, some of the other and do this until it looks right'

I'm sure it's great!! sometimes people actually want the commercial-yeast-free product for health reasons, and not just for the taste.

I know.
I've got a real sour-dough recipe somewhere for those reasons. My SIL cannot have any yeast at all. Or sugar. Or white flour. So baking is the only way to go when she comes over for a week or so

[Miss Unleaded]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

ITSJUSTME:  I actually read about that recipe on the 'A Year in Bread' blog, but wasn't sure it would be any good.  I will try it this weekend, and set up a starter mix to make 'real' sourdough next weekend.  I'll let you know how it goes.

[Elle]

Thanks for the tips everyone.

ITSJUSTME:  I actually read about that recipe on the 'A Year in Bread' blog, but wasn't sure it would be any good.  I will try it this weekend, and set up a starter mix to make 'real' sourdough next weekend.  I'll let you know how it goes.

If you're using 'real, wild' starter make sure you keep it well fed so that the good stuff starves out the bad stuff. And sniff it every time you feed it. If it ever starts smelling 'off' then don't use it.

Properly maintained a starter can not only last indefinitely, but will improve. There's a bakery in france that claims it's been using the same sourdough starter that it started in the Napoleonic Era. (Not very probable, but entirely possible)

[artk2002]

I made the starter from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  It took several tries because it kept getting infected -- it turns out that we had some squash that were starting to go bad and the mold from them was getting into the starter.  Once the starter was going it was great.  I had to destroy it when we remodeled our kitchen because I had no safe place for it.

Catching a wild starter is hit-or-miss, because you have to have the right combination of a wild yeast and bacterium to work together.  I'm going to wait a while before trying to catch another one -- the remodel disturbed a lot of stuff.

I also have Ed Wood's Classic Sourdoughs, but I haven't used his recipe to catch a starter.  He has a web site, Sourdoughs International where he sells wild starters.  I haven't tried these yet, but hope to soon.

[Miss Unleaded]

Well I tried the NY Times no-knead bread.  I think they were exaggerating when they said a six year old could do it.    I watched the video on you tube and followed the recipe.  My dough was much sloppier than theirs (when I tipped it out it spread out past the edge of the floured area) so after the 18 hours proving time was up I kneaded in some more flour until it was about the consistency of the dough in the video.  I also doubt a six year old would be up to handling cast iron pots at 500F by maybe kids in New York come with asbestos coating.

BUT, in spite of this, the loaf turned out beautifully!  I love the technique of putting it in a dutch oven with the lid on.  It was the crunchiest crust I have ever had on a home made loaf of bread.  I have some ideas about trying this with different dough mixtures and also using the recipe with gluten free flour, as my BF's brother is a coeliac.  Normally gluten free dough is apparently quite difficult to deal with so a no knead recipe might work well.  It's worth a try.

I have looked at the other links and will try my hand at cultivating my own yeast cultures soon.  Thanks for all the tips, everyone.

[edenparadox]

I tried the no knead this weekend. It came out sloshy after the long rise (and since I didn't watch the video but should I didn't add any extra flour) and it didn't rise any during the 2 hours. And it frankly doesn't taste like much of anything.

Any suggestions?

[Miss Unleaded]

Hm.  Not sure.  The only thing I can think of was that it might have been too cold (hence the yeast not multiplying).  I had to put mine in the oven at a low temperature for a while to keep it warm.  Did yours have bubbles in it after the long rise?  What sort of bowl did you use?

Also, as I said I kneeded in some more flour to make it the right consistency.  Try watching the video to see what kind of consistency it shoud be.

Perhaps next time use warm water (about body temp) and mix the yeast into that to wake it up.

[edenparadox]

I proofed the yeast cause I used dry, active instead of instant. I used my kitchenaid bowl, which is metal. There were bubbles after the long rise so I thought everything was fine...