We are all yeast wranglers, anybody else do sourdough?
No, but that looks really good.
I’ve thought about it but never got up the energy to get a starter going. Maybe I should do some reading and give it a try. Have a good reference for how to start out?
I follow mostly what’s in the Tartine Bread book. For a starter, 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup wheat flour, 4 Oz warm water. Every couple of days, toss out 3/4 of it and add again, same amounts of flour and water. Takes maybe 2 weeks until you have a reliable starter.
Never done a sourdough starter, but have done starters for my ciabatta and other breads. These are generally only overnight starters.
Your loaf looks fantastic…
Thanks… the two weeks is just to get a reliable starter going. At that point, I refresh it at night to use part of it the next morning. So it really is kind of an overnight starter.
I use to have one ready, lately no… I enjoyed the pancakes, riddled with baking soda, so bubbly, light… I used a recipe from Ruth Allman, and that was made from boiled potatoes, jackets and all! Since it was a living mixture I named mine Herby! I’ll be willing to bet a dozen sourdough donuts, Pork Chop will chime in, and verify he’s culturing one! So, is it a lacto family? Sneezles61
There should be lacto in there… wheat is filthy with the critters. It’s fun to smell as a starter goes from floury to yeasty to sour to acetone, then back again.
Hence the name SOUR dough! Wife says she’s too busy to tend to one now… Netflix and Facebook… Sneezles61
I did years ago, before I started brewing. But it got to be a bit of a pain in the butt maintaining the starter. And I didn’t always want sourdough bread. Sometimes one wants a nice rye or anadama or focaccia or just a plain baguette.
Just started making bread recently. Mostly make a simple no knead rustic crusty loaf but I started buiding up a sourdough starter a couple weeks ago. Did an easy sourdough loaf from it after a week. It was pretty good but not enough sourdough flavor. Decided to try a more complicated adaptatoin of a Tartine bread recipe. Just pulled the loaves out to cool. They look awesome but man what a process…
The one trick I’ve found is to time your starter around when you start the loaf. As a starter develops, it goes from yeasty to sour. So options can be:
Refresh starter, wait for five hours, then start the loaf with it- results in a milder flavored loaf
Refresh starter, wait 12 hours- Sourer. This is how I like mine.
Refresh starter, wait 24 hours- Very sour.
You’re right, though, that Tartine process is a commitment. I’ve streamlined some of it (a much shorter bench rest, and doing a shorter final rise), but it’s still an all day process.
Baking soda, ever try add that? We did would mix up like a teaspoon to a small amount of water, for pancakes anyway, it was like a natural sweetener, no sugar needed, and the the reaction… very foamy, light ,bubbly stuff. Sneezles61