Tuesday 9 May 2017

More sourdough experiments


Anyone who has been reading here for a while would have noticed that I have a sourdough starter called Gertrude who is now an international traveller :-) The CEO can't eat the thick crust on the sourdough I make so I was interested to see a Soft Sourdough Loaf come up in my Pinterest feed a while ago and pinned it for future reference. I had a look at Home Joys blog and found some other loaves there that looked easy enough for me to make and I wondered how the braided Soft Rye Sourdough Bread  I saw on that page was made.




I showed it to Mrs.Meagre, my sourdough mentor and baker of incredible bread, and she decided to make it too but as a marbled loaf instead. Well, of course I knew nothing about marbled bread, so asked Mr.Google but took one look at the dough I had made using Home Joys recipe and decided that it was too soft for me to knead as obviously I didn't get it to the right consistency in the beginning and tossed that idea. However, after the dough had risen I thought I would experiment and plopped the two different doughs on top of each other and pressed them together, did a little bit of kneading and plopped them into two bread tins to wait and see what happened....as you do! 




By this stage it was about 7pm and I had the menfolk wanting to get into the kitchen (not to wash up by the way) so I got a bit stressed and quickly lined the bread tins with baking paper and got a bit carried away with that obviously due to hurrying and put the dough into the oven to do the second rise as per Chris' instructions in her tutorial.

Well one of the loaves had a section that rose up like a balloon and I just knew that if I tried to slash the top it would collapse...as it did...and the Lame just dragged the dough around and wouldn't slash so that part didn't work out but into the oven it went anyway....



....and this was the result. A tad disappointing but I left it to cool and then wrapped it up overnight.




I sliced it this morning and was quite chuffed at the appearance despite the dodgy soft crust on top which tended to break off in parts when being cut. It was a bit off putting eating this bread with cheese and tomato on it for lunch though as my brain was telling me it was should have been sweet but it wasn't. I used cacao instead of the cocoa in the recipe as that is what I had in the pantry in case you are wondering what was used to colour the bread. If you would like to see a 'proper' marbled bread then check out Mrs.Meagre's loaf as she does a marvellous job with her breadmaking.  As I have mentioned previously she has been running a sourdough challenge on The Home Maker's Forum and you can read the challenge posts on her blog if you would like to learn how to make a sourdough starter etc.




I am not sure if I mentioned that I tried to make the Rustic Sourdough she had made as part of the challenge but had a bit of trouble once I fed my starter with some rye flour and it took forever to be ready to add the rest of the ingredients but in the end I added them anyway and left the dough to rise overnight. I didn't think it would work out so quickly made one of my tried and tested loaves using white and rye flour but something happened to that one too so it wasn't a good day for making sourdough. LOL!

In the end I experimented again and put the rustic one into a casserole dish to see if it was possible to cook sourdough in one....probably not as I found out...and I ended up with one very pale loaf and another one that looked quite grotesque after the slashing was done. It just kept getting funnier and funnier.




However, despite the appearance of both they ended up tasting quite nice and were okay inside as far as I was concerned.




The rustic one had a really nice taste and I will make it again but might wait till it is warmer as I don't think it liked the cold weather we had the day I made it.




So the experiments go on and I still want to make up some of the loaves in the book I borrowed from the library. I would buy it if it wasn't so expensive but I have bought too many books recently so will control the impulse. 

Has anyone started making sourdough lately? It isn't as easy to get the dough to  rise in the colder weather but I usually put the container into a Woolies insulated bag with a hot water bottle. However, as I always bake two loaves at the same time I might buy one of the styrofoam boxes with a lid from one of our local fruit shops that sells them for about $3 and see if I can fit two bowls in that during winter.

There's nothing like a bit of experimenting to see what works for you is there?  







21 comments:



  1. Greetings! I've been making sourdough for about ten years; but, I've been making edible sourdough for about two! It's always a process. I keep our house very cool, especially in Winter. I find that my dough doesn't rise much before I place it in the oven. It shoots up about half way through the cooking time. I've been following fig jam and cordial. (Sorry, I don't know how to link.) She has some great ideas, recipes and all things sourdough. Debbie

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    1. Thanks Debbie. Unfortunately I pressed delete instead of publish so lost your comment but was able to rescue it in my gmail account thankfully. So much for touch screens. I quite often use Celia's recipes from Dig Jam and Lime Cordial.

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  2. I love this post Chel. Making Sourdough and cheese are my passions, so I could read about either of them until the cows come home!
    It's such fun experimenting and knowing that there is really not much to lose apart from the cost of the flour, which isn't much. And the chooks will always eat the real failures.
    I'm a bit stuck on the one method, which I know always makes an acceptable loaf, but it's a lottery isn't it! Some loaves are exceptional and others just passable. My wood oven has a warmer at the bottom which is very good for proving the dough. Sally from Jembella Farm

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    1. Sally I deleted your comment too. Oops! I have been using the same recipe and method lately so took up Mrs.Meagre's challenge to try some other recipes. That gets me out of my comfort zone somewhat but so far the results haven't been too bad apart from the appearance of the loaves.,

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  3. I am loving your experiments Nanna Chel. It just keeps getting better, even though you may not agree. Remember how your first loaf was? And can you believe it -- even your first loaves now are fabulous! Your marbled loaf looks great and it IS a proper marble loaf! I wonder what you've decided to make next.

    -mrsmeagre

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    1. Mrs.Meagre...my first loaf? Oh you mean the frisbee :-) Well I guess I have improved a little since then.

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  4. I'm glad you persevered with putting the two lots of dough together as it looks really good sliced. I would find it strange too adding savoury to the marble loaf as your mind would be thinking sweet.

    I admire your determination too.

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    1. Thanks Kylie, I may not make that type of bread again unless I make it a sweet loaf.

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  5. Thank you for sharing your sourdough adventures Nanna Chel. Your information is very helpful :)

    I stick with the basics but I have tried flat bread, hot cross buns and will try donuts soon as I have purchased a cutter. I also would like to use sourdough for my pizza bases, that is on my list to try next time we have them.

    I use my mix to make two loaves a week for us and an extra two for my daughter and parents. They like it too!

    I must make an effort to visit the new forum. I have signed up but time has been a bit short lately. And so has my brain, as I tend to forget haha!

    xTania

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    1. Yes do join up Tania.It is going great guns and you will see lots of familiar names there.

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  6. Clever Chel, pushing the boundaries like that. It's the best way to learn! You're absolutely right, that sourdough gets more challenging the colder the temps are. It will take longer to do anything.

    I found, leaving the dough to rise overnight for the first rise, worked best. I'd have it rising by 8pm, and return to it again, 7am the next morning. Then I'd use the oven, for the second rise in the tin. I made a couple of loaves, a few weeks ago, but then became committed to making a quilt and planning for a big party, so Griffin (my starter) went back into hibernation.

    I've been thinking of starting up again though, so your post is the perfect reminder.

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    1. Chris I think I will start doing that. I have been doing the second rise in the oven most times. You should be getting a few visits from forum members as your sourdough tutorial is recommended.

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  7. Wow Nana Chel you have been very busy in the sourdough making department. I don't seem to get a hard crust on my sourdough, nor do I get big holes in my bread. My Father tells me the crust is not crunchy because I put oil in the sponge and that I don't get holes because I do two rises of the dough. I don't care as the bread is quite tasty and well liked in this household.

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    1. Jane I always get a hard crust when I follow Celia's instructions. Have you tried her method as yet as it is very easy as she hardly kneads at all? I don't really want the large holes as ours is used as sandwiches.

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  8. Your "experiments" look pretty good, Nana Chel. I haven't ever made a successful loaf of bread but I did recently buy some yeast to have another go. I think I'll start with a foccacia or something like that. Meg:)

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    1. Meg, I have more success with sourdough than with making 'ordinary' bread as I could never cut it without it falling apart.

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  9. Oh Nana Chel you make me laugh with your sourdough adventures. I am so happy you don't give up. I stopped making my sourdough, I couldn't work out why I was getting heart burn, anyway hubbie mentioned he had the same problem when he ate the bread I made, so I stopped and the heartburn stopped as well. Its such a pity as I love the taste. Funny but if I buy one from the farmers markets I dont have a problem. I probably need to be like you and experiment more. Take care, Guida.

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    1. That's unusual, Guida as I thought sourdough was easier to digest than ordinary bread. Perhaps a different recipe might work for you.

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  10. Well done Chel, it is always interesting to be adventurous and sourdough usually tastes good anyway.
    I just do deep snip cuts with the scissors before the second rise and it makes good slashes.
    Thanks for the hot water bottle tip, will give that a try.

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  11. Well I personally think they look great! I tried a sourdough starter and I didn't keep up,with it and threw it out because I wasn't sure about it.

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  12. I love the interesting things that happen when you make sourdough and the great way they work out :).

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