Wild Yeast

blind99

Mother. Of. Pearl. 

SciAggie

That bread is stunning. The bloom is outstanding. 

NPHuskerFL

Roasted Pumpkin Mash Spooky Sourdough Loaves 🌾🎃.
Stencil is from hand ground NM red chile pods.
My Recipe:

350g starter

700g pumpkin mash

220g King Arthur Flour WW

830g King Arthur Flour BF

8g kosher salt

Pic order...apparently by Vanilla 😜

Hoster05

Does anyone have a recipe for a real tangy and sour sourdough bread?  I have been baking a lot of the forkish breads but none of them seem to kick out that sour taste that I associate with sourdough bread.  

SciAggie

Hoster05 said:

Does anyone have a recipe for a real tangy and sour sourdough bread?  I have been baking a lot of the forkish breads but none of them seem to kick out that sour taste that I associate with sourdough bread.  

How "sour" the dough tastes is directly proportional to how "fresh" the starter is. If you refresh your dough often and use a small amount of starter relative to the water and flour - maybe 150g water:150g flour : 50g starter - you will end up with a "fresh" smelling and yeasty dough smell.

If you let the starter go longer - until there is alcohol on the top - and then just refresh at a 1:1:1 ratio - then you will retain some of that "sour" taste. You will sacrifice leavening power but that just means you might need to bump up the % of starter in the recipe.

That's my .02 cents worth anyway...

20stone

blind99 said:

In case of emergency, I have some on hold in the freezer, dehydrated and vacuum packed.  Also makes it easy to send.... what I got from @20stone is now multiplying in NY and NJ...

I'm glad to hear that I've got more grandyeasties out there.

smokingal said:

This may have been discussed in this thread previously, and if so, my bad.  But I'm curious as to the makeup, hydration level and feeding intervals of everyone else's starters.  I started with a liquid SF white flour-based starter back in Summer 2018, which was fed every 12 hours.  I've gradually converted it to a 50% hydration, semolina rimacinata/organic einkorn blend fed every 24 hours.  It's young but hearty.

I am another member of the 100% hydration club, normally feeding a small amount of starter with 25g AP, 25g rye and 50g of H20.  When not baking, we pull it out of the fridge once a week, let it warm up on the window sill and feed.  It normally gets rocking in 6-8 hours.  If we are baking, we'll feed it twice before making our levain (which I normally make out of equal parts starter, flour and water).

Last, I got to make some rolls using one of our sons' recipe and process.  I haven't really make white (or mostly white) bread in a long time, so it was fun playing with really springy dough.

They are mostly AP with a touch of WW, with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh black pepper.  They were great with the charcuterie board we had out (eating that leg, one slice at a time), and would definitely do again.

Hoster05

Anyone ever leave their starter out on the counter or 4 or 5 days without feeding it and it looks like this...



Can i I scrape the brown crap off and resume feeding?


asking for a friend.  

speed51133

Guys, it's almost 2020. Who eats carbs, much less gluten anymore???😘

jtcBoynton

Most everybody.

caliking

speed51133 said:

Guys, it's almost 2020. Who eats carbs, much less gluten anymore???😘

You must not get out much. Most folks are still eating both. I’m sure they’ll all die because of it next week though. 

JohnInCarolina

speed51133 said:

Guys, it's almost 2020. Who eats carbs, much less gluten anymore???😘

People who believe exogenous ketones are modern day snake oil.

NPHuskerFL

Merry Christmas. 

🌾175g Levain (Fed)

🌾350g Cool Water

🌾150g Fresh Rough Milled Farro (using Magic Bullet)

🌾300g Natures Legacy VitaSpelt

🌾75g Whole Grain Bulgur Wheat

🌾10g Unground Himalayan Salt

smokingal

Hoster05 said:

Anyone ever leave their starter out on the counter or 4 or 5 days without feeding it and it looks like this...



Can i I scrape the brown crap off and resume feeding?


asking for a friend.  

@Hoster05

I'm not sure where you are in your attempt to revive your starter, but I have had to do the same when I left town and forgot all about mine last year.  It was a young starter too, maybe a few months old.

Firstly, you'll need to start with a different, clean jar.  Take a very small amount of the sad starter from the bottom, underneath all that gross looking crust, maybe 10g or so and put that into the new jar.  Feed that as you did when you were initially establishing your starter, i.e. often.  If all hope isn't lost, it should be back to normal after 3-4 days.

Edit:  When I salvaged mine, it smelled of nail polish and Everclear.  I used about 3g from the base of the jar, as most of it was just crust at that point.

smokingal

Question for those of your who keep your starter in the fridge:

After you remove it from the fridge, let it warm up, then feed it, do you immediately place it back into the fridge or do you let it ferment first?  Or does it matter either way?

JohnInCarolina

NPHuskerFL said:

Merry Christmas

What sorcery is this?!?!?

caliking

smokingal said:

Question for those of your who keep your starter in the fridge:

After you remove it from the fridge, let it warm up, then feed it, do you immediately place it back into the fridge or do you let it ferment first?  Or does it matter either way?

I should probably be charged with starter abuse.

 Usually pull it out of the fridge, take what I need for the levain, and dump all but a tablespoon or so out. Flour 2/3cup + tap water 1/2 cup to replenish, then back in the fridge.

That’s right, @20stone, I don’t weigh any of it!!

SciAggie

@caliking You heathen... That’s just wrong...

SciAggie

@NPHuskerFL Your bread looks killer my friend. 

NPHuskerFL

@caliking 😂😂😂 I've done the same myself. And I definitely don't measure when feeding my starter/levain. I prefer a stiffer levain over the typical norm of 100% hydration starter. I measure when making the actual bread... except the few times when I didn't/don't 😝

@SciAggie Thanks Gary.  I'm turning out anywhere between 2 and 6 loaves per week now... most I give away. 

NPHuskerFL

@smokingal It definitely matters.  I can usually get away with grabbing my starter straight out of the refrigerator, feeding it and then using it for a loaf or 4. But, it's mainly because my starter is so strong and very active right now because of all the bread making. It really depends on how strong and active your starter is. I also like feeding with a variety of flour. Right now I have been mixing it up with a high protein BF, Rye, Spelt and WW.  My suggestion is feed your starter and see how long it takes for it to peak out. 

smokingal

@NPHuskerFL

Thanks for your response.  Here's my deal:

I've always kept my 50% hydration, semolina riminciatta/einkorn starter small (75-80g) and on my counter.  It gets fed every 24 hours, though I have had times where maybe 3 days have passed before the next feeding.  It seems fairly hardy, as it doesn't smell like acetone when this happens and responds well to feeding.  It usually doubles at 2 hours and peaks at 4.

I do not make bread often at all.  Can't even remember the last time I baked a loaf, though I do have something in the works this week.  I want to switch to placing it in the fridge and feeding once per week. 

If I do this, and I don't have plans on making bread after I've fed it, do I need to put it back in the fridge, or should I let it rise or peak first before placing it back in the fridge.  Thanks in advance.

NPHuskerFL

@smokingal Don't overanalyze it. It's a fluid thing. Personally I would just throw it in the refrigerator especially if you don't bake that often.  Honestly if you have it in the refrigerator leaving it once a week or even every other week is usually sufficient.

Hoster05

What do you store your starter in?   I store mine in a glass jar with the top loosely screwed on during feeding.  I screw the top down when I put it in the fridge for storage.  

SonVolt

@NPHuskerFL - I noticed your loaves are sitting in the "multi-purpose lid" of your dutch oven. Do you bake the loaf uncovered sitting in the lid? Or do you place the bottom portion of the dutch oven on top of the lid and bake it so your DO is essentially up-side-down?

blind99

I’d love to tell you that sourdough isn’t worth the hassle but that’d be a damned lie. It’s so danged easy. Now I have a warm loaf of bread and a glass of bourbon to watch some football with. 

smokingal

Hoster05 said:

What do you store your starter in?   I store mine in a glass jar with the top loosely screwed on during feeding.  I screw the top down when I put it in the fridge for storage.  

I keep mine on the counter in the same kind of jar you show in your picture above, with a loosely screwed on cap.  Working my way to keeping it in the fridge.

blind99 said:

I’d love to tell you that sourdough isn’t worth the hassle but that’d be a damned lie. It’s so danged easy. 

That's one delicious looking loaf of bread.  I do think the 'ease' of it all is relative, but that it definitely gets easier with lots of practice.

NPHuskerFL

@SonVolt Yes/Correct
Prior to me getting this piece of cast iron I always used my 5qt. Lodge DO and inverted it which made it easier to turn out the loaf into a hot piece of cast iron without buggering up the loaf. But if you are trying to turn out a larger batard or baguette this type & size Dutch oven will not work.
Since the beginning I have looked for a cast iron vessel that would be a little bit more adoptive to my baking needs. Then I stumbled across this product on Instagram while it was still in the kickstarter phase. Jim and Lisa Challenger put a lot of thought and love into this product and it shows. Kind of wish I had two of them now. Zero regrets buying this product. You can bake quite literally any type of loaf you want in this. Even a long baguette is no issue. I have used mine for other things other than just baking as well. If anybody is interested this is what I am using now. 
https://www.challengerbreadware.com/

NPHuskerFL

@Hoster05 I use this style jar. I have a backup jar so I can clean it every now and then.

SonVolt

NPHuskerFL said:

@SonVolt Yes/Correct
Prior to me getting this piece of cast iron I always used my 5qt. Lodge DO and inverted it which made it easier to turn out the loaf into a hot piece of cast iron without buggering up the loaf. But if you are trying to turn out a larger batard or baguette this type & size Dutch oven will not work.
Since the beginning I have looked for a cast iron vessel that would be a little bit more adoptive to my baking needs. Then I stumbled across this product on Instagram while it was still in the kickstarter phase. Jim and Lisa Challenger put a lot of thought and love into this product and it shows. Kind of wish I had two of them now. Zero regrets buying this product. You can bake quite literally any type of loaf you want in this. Even a long baguette is no issue. I have used mine for other things other than just baking as well. If anybody is interested this is what I am using now. 
https://www.challengerbreadware.com/

@NPHuskerFL - Thanks for the reply. I'm slightly confused tho, did you mean "yes/correct" that you baked your loaf ONLY in the lid portion, or did you bake it in the entire DO (lid & bottom together) per the classic Jim Lahey method? 

NPHuskerFL

@SonVolt Never read or even know of Jim Lahey or his method🤔
I have been using the Challenger Bakeware.  Preheat the egg or oven with the CI DO or other cooking vessel (500F). Turn out the loaf on to the bottom section of the Challenger Bakeware (I like to use parchment). Place 2-4 ice cubes around or near the loaf. Put the lid on and place back into the egg or oven.  After 20 minutes bump the temp down to 475F-450F.  After a total of 30-33 minutes remove the Challenger Bakeware's lid (or D.O. lid).  After roughly 10 minutes (or once you get the color on the bread that you are looking for) remove from the egg or oven and immediately place the loaf on a wire cooling rack.