Sourdough Bread
Discussion
I was watching "How Do They Do That" or something similar on Discovery this morning and they had a piece on Sour Dough Bread.
What does it actually taste of other than being sour?
I know that might sound a strange question but I'm assuming they're unlikely to sell it at the local bakers and I'm curious as the whole "starter" thing sounded quite gross especially when they explained that at the bakery featured in the program their "starter" was 160 years old or so.
I await breaducation.
What does it actually taste of other than being sour?
I know that might sound a strange question but I'm assuming they're unlikely to sell it at the local bakers and I'm curious as the whole "starter" thing sounded quite gross especially when they explained that at the bakery featured in the program their "starter" was 160 years old or so.
I await breaducation.
Sour dough bread uses fermentation rather than the action of yeast to raise the dough. If you see it anywhere - Waitrose has a selection - buy it.
Sour dough toast goes beautifully with Northern European flavours - pickled herring, smoked salmon, salt beef, Black Forest ham or a sweetish cheese like Emmental or Jarlsberg (melted).
God I'm craving it now...
Sour dough toast goes beautifully with Northern European flavours - pickled herring, smoked salmon, salt beef, Black Forest ham or a sweetish cheese like Emmental or Jarlsberg (melted).
God I'm craving it now...
Huntsman said:
One and the same thing I thought?
Pops off to google...
...and...
The process relies on Lactobacillus, bacteria that turn milk sour and create lactic acid- commonly present "in the vagina and the gastrointestinal tract". Lovely. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough
I presume this is the same stuff that makes those American 'chocolate' bars taste of sick.
Edited by grumbledoak on Saturday 27th February 21:03
Being half Polish my family have a tradition of eating sour dough bread (normally Polish bread with caraway seeds in it). We eat it sliced very thinly with butter then add soused herring, Strong cheddar, Chicken liver pate, sopocka (thin smoked ham) or Weska (smoked sausage) then slice up gherkins and have them on top. We make up big plates of them with different toppings and share them with lots of booze.
Edited by Jer_1974 on Saturday 27th February 21:48
Jer_1974 said:
Being half Polish my family have a tradition of eating sour dough bread (normally Polish bread with caraway seeds in it). We eat it sliced very thinly with butter then add soused herring, Strong cheddar, Chicken liver pate, sopocka (thin smoked ham) or Weska (smoked sausage) then slice up gherkins and have them on top. We make up big plates of them with different toppings and share them with lots of booze.
Pure food porn. Edited by Jer_1974 on Saturday 27th February 21:48
Mobile Chicane said:
Huntsman said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Sour dough bread uses fermentation rather than the action of yeast
One and the same thing I thought?Bloody lovely though.
I make a loaf a week (on the weekends). Takes about 10 hrs start to finish and normally ends up looking something like this:
Mine doesn't have much of a sour taste, presumably because the starter is more yeasty. It turned 2 at the beginning of the year though...
uncinqsix said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Huntsman said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Sour dough bread uses fermentation rather than the action of yeast
One and the same thing I thought?Bloody lovely though.
I make a loaf a week (on the weekends). Takes about 10 hrs start to finish and normally ends up looking something like this:
Mine doesn't have much of a sour taste, presumably because the starter is more yeasty. It turned 2 at the beginning of the year though...
markreilly said:
Is that what you call the Mother Dough ?
Yep. The recipe I use doesn't seem to be online anywhere, so I'll do a brief rundown below. It's from Dan Lepard's "Handmade Loaf", which is a cracking book well worth the 10 quid.
To summarise, you basically get the starter going by mixing 125g of strong white flour with 100ml of water in a big jar or something and leaving it open on a warm windowsill for 24 hrs or so. Then take out half of the mixture and add another 125g flour/100ml water and leave for another 24hrs. It should start bubbling at around this point. Feed the starter every day for the next 4 days by removing & discarding half the mixture in the jar and replacing it with a 100g flour/80ml water mix. You should now have a healthy, bubbling mixture that smells pleasant and yeasty, and maybe a bit sour. The next morning, start the bread:
Put 200g of the starter in a large bowl and add 325mls room temp water. Give it a good stir. Then add 500g strong white flour and around 2tsp salt (that's with flaky salt like Maldon - a little less if you're using fine table salt). Mix the lot together so you end up with a shaggy mess. Leave for 10 mins.
Lightly oil a section of bench (and your hands) and tip the mixture out on there and knead for 1 min to form a soft dough. Put it back in the bowl and leave for 10 minutes.
Tip it out on the bench and knead for 30 seconds. Return to bowl and leave for 10 mins
Tip it out on the bench and knead for 30 seconds. Return to bowl and leave for 30 mins. It should be pretty smooth and elastic by now.
Knead for 30 seconds, stretch the dough out and fold it up, form into a ball and leave for 1 hour
Knead for 30 seconds, stretch the dough out and fold it up, form into a ball and leave for 1 hour
Knead for 30 seconds, stretch the dough out and fold it up, form into a ball and leave for 2 hours
Give it another quick knead, form it into a nice smooth ball and put it into a medium-sized bowl (or similary sized basket) lined with a heavily floured clean teatowel. Leave in a warm place to rise for 4 or so hours or until it has got a bit bigger (maybe 1.5-2 times the size. It will puff up more in the oven).
Preheat the oven (with a pizza stone if you have one) to around 220 degrees C and tip the dough out on the stone or tray so the side that was facing down in the bowl is facing upwards. Put a few slashes in the top of the dough with a sharp knife (a little serrated one works well) and bake for 20 minutes. Then lower the temperature of the oven to 180 or so and bake for another 20. Cool on a wire rack.
The instructions make it sound like a bit of a faff, but in reality you spend very little time actually doing anything. The times you leave the dough are pretty flexible, so it doesn't matter if it ends up getting left for a bit longer if you go out during the day. The only critical thing is to make sure that it doesn't get over-risen on that final rise.
Post some pics here if you end up baking a loaf...
Edited by uncinqsix on Sunday 28th February 20:41
I use a rye starter. Which is also very pleasant imo.
Took the original starter recipe from Andrew Whitley's "Bread Matters". Takes about a week for the starter to get going. I tend to make it in the evening then bake it next morning. Really not difficult or time consuming and you get excellent bread.
Took the original starter recipe from Andrew Whitley's "Bread Matters". Takes about a week for the starter to get going. I tend to make it in the evening then bake it next morning. Really not difficult or time consuming and you get excellent bread.
Interesting topic - the missus has started to bake fresh bread rather than buy and it is far far superior. (We're also looking at starting a micro-bakery as part of a proposal for a farm).
uncinqsix - with the mother dough, do you then continue to feed the original one after taking out some for the first bread mix on a daily basis as you described?
I remember hearing recently that yeast can be re-used in the brewing process also, and that some of the yeasts used are highly protected and extremely old also.
uncinqsix - with the mother dough, do you then continue to feed the original one after taking out some for the first bread mix on a daily basis as you described?
I remember hearing recently that yeast can be re-used in the brewing process also, and that some of the yeasts used are highly protected and extremely old also.
Edited by muppetdave on Wednesday 3rd March 15:20
Jer_1974 said:
Started my mix last night in time for Saturday. Do you think you can make the dough in a breadmaker?
Yes, you should be able to do the initial mixing/kneading in the breadmaker - right up to you leave it for that first hour. After that, you really need to the stretching and folding by hand. muppetdave said:
uncinqsix - with the mother dough, do you then continue to feed the original one after taking out some for the first bread mix on a daily basis as you described?
Once your mother dough is up and running, you can keep it alive indefinitely (mine is over 2 years old now). You don't need to feed it everyday though. I normally bake on Saturday, feed it on Monday or Tuesday, feed again on Thursday and Friday and bake on Saturday again. You can also leave it in the fridge for up to a few weeks and revive it with 3 or so feeds over the 3 days prior to using it. The book I mentioned earlier in the thread goes into this in more detail - if you were wanting to get more seriously into baking, I would really recommend grabbing a copy.
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