Sourdough thanks to Gerhard

gmac

In the mail today I got a late Christmas present. I had asked about making a starter from scratch and @gerhardk generously offered to send me a packet of starter which arrived today. In addition he was nice enough to include a little treat that I am gonna have to hide from the kids  

Per his directions I am in the process of waking this up and will post more (and ask even more) as I move towards getting some bread baked. 
Thank you Gerhard and if I can ever repay the favour in any way please let me know. 

gerhardk

You are welcome and hope it works for you.  The chocolate part of the package is what my Cherie and I do to earn a living.

Gerhard

Hawg Fan

I had a sourdough bread starter that I used for several years when the kids were home.  That's good stuff and really easy to bake.  You're gonna love it.  Tell me more about the chocolate @gerhardk ?

gmac

Hawg Fan said:

I had a sourdough bread starter that I used for several years when the kids were home.  That's good stuff and really easy to bake.  You're gonna love it.  Tell me more about the chocolate @gerhardk ?

He just beat me to it. Was gonna ask the exact same thing. Please tell me more about the chocolate. 

SkinnyV

I bake sourdough loaves all the time. Rarely buy my loaves, 2 at a time slice them and freeze. 
EnJoy

my recipe 

624 grams bubbly starter
390g flour
10g salt...

thats it. The bubbly starter is made by taking 1/2 cup of starter and adding a little over 2 cups of flour and water. Set it out for the day once its happy make a loaf.

NPHuskerFL

Made mine using 100g water and 100g KABF and now almost 2yrs later both of the starters are viable. I stow mine in the refrigerator simply because I don't use them weekly. I feed them 1x a week or at minimum 1x per month which I've found to be sufficient in them staying active. If you make bread etc more often by all means refrigeration is not necessary but, requires more frequency in feeding. 

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL You can seriously revive a starter that's been in the fridge for a month? That's good to know. Do you pour off the alcohol first or stir it in before you feed it?

NPHuskerFL

SciAggie said:

@NPHuskerFL You can seriously revive a starter that's been in the fridge for a month? That's good to know. Do you pour off the alcohol first or stir it in before you feed it?

Stir in. Then i pour out approx 1/3 or slightly more (you can use this or just disregard) and then feed equal parts water & flour. 

caliking

That's an awesome egghead gesture. Good on you @gerhardk !

I've been trying to get a starter going for about 2 weeks now and I think it's ready. Don't have a plan yet re: baking with it, but I will soon

gerhardk

I hope the bread baking works out and there are lots of resources out there to help learn.  The formula I included in the envelope has worked for me for at least 15 years, the sourdough culture I think probably celebrated it's 10th birthday this past year my first one died when we went on an extended holiday.  I found now that I can make the culture survive 5 weeks in the fridge by making it super stiff which slows down it's activity.

I think that what you got once hydrated and fed should have doubled in volume overnight and probably collapsed at this point.  We keep our kitchen around 19ºC so anything done at room temperature will be faster at warmer temperatures or slower when cooler.  A week where I don't bake I will discard 2/3rds of it and then add 1/2 a cup of all purpose flour and enough water to make a thick paste, if I am reviving it to bake the next day or so I make it a little thinner because it just speeds things up.  A lot of my baking is done by feel so while I do follow the recipe just not religiously.  I am sure there are lots on here that can help work through any issues that will crop up during the first few bakes.

Good luck

Gerhard

P.S.  Once a month or so when feeding the culture I replace half the all purpose flour with rye or wholewheat flour.  The other thing to remember is to always keep a little of the culture to feed and keep for you next bake.


Out the oven just minutes ago

NPHuskerFL

@gerhardk ^^^ this^^^ Cheesy loaves?  Looks damn good man!  Also please elaborate on the cooling racks you have in the picture.
I've got a few different types of breads down to science but, I'm still working on quite a few different recipes (fine tuning if you will).  I'm working on more artistic scoring also. The scoring is an art in itself and can be more of a challenge on a high hydration dough. 

gmac

Well, here's the morning update. It definitely fell over night. Not entirely sure what to do but I added another 1/2 cup of water and enough flour to make it a paste again. There is still enough room in the jar for it to double. I assume next time I dump some and add water and flour again tomorrow. This is interesting. 

I will definitley do @gerhardk 's recipe first and post here. I'm not gonna try to do it in the BGE for the first time. 

Today's pics 

gerhardk

NPHuskerFL said:

@gerhardk ^^^ this^^^ Cheesy loaves?  

My father use to use a short serrated knife for scoring and his looked much better than mine but I have never seen a knife like it and I just use a box cutter.  Yes they are cheese bread, a combination of curds and five year old cheddar.

The liquid on your starter is a sign that culture is healthy and consumed all the available nutrients but you really want to use the starter before it is fully collapsed, some say best right after it peaked.   What I do is feed it in the evening before bed and it is pretty much peaked when I get up and then I go to make the sponge with it and make dough with it that night.  Your kitchen may be warmer than ours so if you make your starter a bit stiffer it will slow it down.

Gerhard

gmac

Can you tell me more about this "sponge"?  I fed it again this morning thinking maybe I needed to make more of it so I could split some off to make bread and then have more to perpetuate. 
Thanks. 

gerhardk

The sponge is what I build in the morning and provides the yeast for the dough I make that evening.  Cup of water, a cup of the starter you are building and 240 grams of flour stirred together and then made into dough before bed time by adding the remaining ingredients and kneading it in my mixer.  Once you make the recipe it will make more sense.

Gerhard

gmac

@gerhardk So you make the dough the night before and let it sit overnight?  If so then in the fridge or at ambient (19C in your case)?  I read the recipe again and I'm afraid I'm a bit confused on the steps and process.  Made the sponge today with the intent to bake tomorrow.  I will be using my kitchenaid with dough hook just need a bit more direction on your steps for rising etc.  I always grew up with my Dad's method of letting it rise, punching it down and going for a second rise but I'm not sure that is the case here.
Sorry for all the questions.

gerhardk

Sorry we are in T.O. for the weekend so haven't been on line. 
Your father probably used yeast and that tends to be faster, I keep it on the kitchen counter and actually our thermostat drops down 1.5 degrees after mid night to 6 in the morning. If your house is warmer it will take less time, you can also cut back a little on the starter to slow things. 

Gerhard