My first loaf was a bit heavy but quite edible and was polished off quite quickly. Then, inspired by a recipe in Yoke Mardewi's book Wild Sourdough that I borrowed from our city library, I made Beetroot and Feta Sourdough ...
which looks a little strange to start off with....
....but ended up being very tasty although after 38 years of marriage I found out that the CEO doesn't like feta cheese ;-) I may not have ever served up anything with feta cheese in it before. LOL! By the way, if you are interested in buying a book by Yoke Mardewi, her latest book is Wild Sourdough by Hand and is available on her website.
After my first couple of attempts at making sourdough I did some reading on Fig Jam and Lime Cordial as there is an extensive list of recipes there including A Basic Sourdough Tutorial which I found to be so very helpful.
After I got a bit more confident with making some loaves I wondered if I could dry my starter so that I would have a backup in the future and also if I wanted to give some away. I followed the process that Celia used here and spread my starter out thinly so that it would dry quickly. Earlier I had started up another batch but it was much too thick and by the third day was getting rather smelly so I tossed that and started again. It was a 30C day when I filled a couple of trays with starter and it didn't take long to dry out.
So then I broke it up and put it in the food processor to break it up more...
... then it was put into a ziplock bag and went to live in the fridge until needed.
At the weekend I thought I would test the dried starter and see if it would wake up again. I couldn't tell how much needed to be used when I checked on Simply Joolz so I just used what I had which was about 1/4 cup and added 1/4 cup baker's flour and 1/4 cup cooled boiled and filtered water.
After a few hours I gave it another feed and I could see bubbles which looked promising.
I gave Gertrude a nightcap of 1/2 cup baker's flour and 1/2 cup water and put her to bed for the night and by the next morning she was looking very happy indeed and ready to go. I was quite chuffed that I had been able to make my own starter from scratch and was then able to dry and revive it as well.
I had a look online to see what other methods are used for drying sourdough starter and came across this process on Breadtopia.com. So I gave that a try as well.
It worked as well...
...and was dried for future use as I certainly didn't need any more sourdough at the time. :-) I don't make fabulous loaves like Celia who gives hers away to neighbours and friends but who knows, with a lot more practice, perhaps mine will become 'giveable' if there is such a word. I also am conscious of using the oven more often to bake bread and don't want a huge power bill even though we do have solar panels. So I will probably just make a couple of loaves to freeze each week. Also I put on weight very easily when I eat a lot of bread and that's not healthy.
With the cooler weather I find it is taking longer before the starter is nice and bubbly and ready for the other ingredients to be added. With my last experiment I ended up standing beside the oven half asleep late at night waiting for the loaves to cook. I didn't wait for them to rise as much as they should have before baking otherwise I would have been up all night.
This photo was taken close to midnight. LOL! I put my dough into tins and when the bread has completely cooled, I slice it up and then freeze it to be used for toasted sandwiches. That works for us although I know that many people use bannetons.
I know there are probably lots of readers out there who make great sourdough loaves. Do you experiment with recipes or use the same one most of the time? I want to make some that have more fibre in them so will continue to experiment. I would love to know what ingredients you use if you want to share.
I love your 'Gertrude' posts! Thanks for sharing the journey!
ReplyDeletePatsy, so far Gertrude has behaved herself. Let's hope that continues through winter :-)
Deleteyummy going to check out the dried version good to have a back up
ReplyDeleteHope it works for you too. I think it is a good idea to have a back up.
DeleteLooks great Chel, I need to give this a try. I love the texture of the 'Pane de Casa' from Aldi and buy a loaf a week at $2.50 but with time and practice, I might be able to achieve a similar result. Well done you, the loaves all look delightful. Perhaps a tutorial at TSL?
ReplyDeleteBarb, I will bring you some starter ready to go to the next workshop. Margaret's worked so I am sure yours will too. I quite enjoy the process now that I have a bit of an idea about what I am doing but still have lots more to learn.
DeleteMy "daughter of Gertrude " is going fine, I use 1 third or 1 half Rye flour as well as the bakers flour and my loaves are very tasty, I will be baking tonight after a final feed this morning.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, perhaps Ethel or Florence might be good names for the daughter of Gertrude?
DeleteNana Chel I have been procrastinating about trying this bread making method. It may soon be time to bite the bullet and have a go. Mm mm that sounds an awful lot like the procrastination is continuing.
DeleteMargaret, I hope it turned out well and that Gerty behaved.
DeleteJane, do give it a go. You may become addicted as well :-)
If you want to add more fibre, try adding some psyllium, which you can generally find in the health food/gluten free aisle of the supermarket. It turns bread a slight beige colour, but doesn't really ruin the texture.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many cups of white flour you use in your recipe, but for a standard loaf, its generally 3-4 cups in total - including what was added to the sourdough sponge. I only used a couple of heaped tablespoons of psyllium, added to my sourdough, because I had to try and get my teen to eat it. But you could try adding 1/4 cup psyllium, to your regular recipe and see how that goes. Maybe even go to 1/2 cup, but I'd start with 1/4 up first.
Psyllium is a good source of fibre, and goes a long way, so you don't really need a lot. If you wanted a kind of malty flavour added to this recipe, you can always add a couple of tablespoons of Horlicks (powered malted milk powder) too.
Did you know, you can also make fruit toast/buns, from sourdough? Just add sultanas, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, sugar (you could use honey if you want) and either a bit of grated orange zest, orange essence, or a crushed vitamin C tablet. I used to also add 2 tablespoons of powered milk, to give it a richer flavour.
Thanks for sharing how you dry your starter. That's something I never tried. :)
Thanks for this tip Chris. I've just run out of my organic wheat which I grind when making my loaf, so tonight's mix of sourdough (ready for baking in the am) will get some psyllium added to the while flour. :)
DeleteChris, I just made two loaves and added 1/4 cup of Psyllium as well as some sunflower seeds as I read your blog last night and saw that you had added some to one of your loaves. You make yours quite differently from Celia so I will have to give your method a try as well. Thanks for all the info.
DeleteGlad you could use psyllium as a substitute Sally. It beats missing out on home made sourdough.
DeleteNanna Chel, I started reading about making sourdough, and then stopped when I figured how to get the bread to rise. So I never really knew if I made authentic sourdough, or just what worked for me? I think like anything we make though, we should adapt to it what works the best, for us. :)
I have the wild sourdough book & have made a few loaves of edible bread, but I find it to be very time consuming when I work 4 days a week, so haven't made any for ages, you are inspiring me to give it another go though. I've only ever made the whole wheat/ wholemeal variety, I'm a bit of a creature of habit
ReplyDeleteIt was very expensive but I just bought the new Wild Sourdough by Hand book so I had better make good use of it. It didn't seem to be available anywhere I looked apart from on Yoke Mardewi's website.
DeleteChel, this post is really so timely you must have been reading my mind. It's been a few weeks since I looked at my starter in the fridge and, can you believe? it didn't crank up when I fed it three days ago. I killed it...!!! Oh dear, I was devastated as it's been with me through thick and thin for years, have neglected it terribly, but has always revived when fed. Luckily I was able to get some starter from a friend so I'm on the way again. I'll be drying some to have as a back up in future, like you have done, thanks for the very clear instructions.
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of help, Sally. There are different opinions as to where to keep the starter. Some keep it in the pantry and others keep it in the fridge or freezer. I have mine in the fridge at the moment so hopefully Gertrude will be happy there.
DeleteNanna Chel I really do think that a workshop on sourdough making or "How Gertrude came to be" would be great. No I haven't made soap or sausage, but I have dreamt about it all. Thanks for all the info and links, bread making is another of my many dreams. Take care, Guida.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would be that brave, Guida. I remember at our last bread making workshop we had that Margaret presented, the dough wouldn't rise so it had to be taken outside and put in one of the cars where it was warmer. LOL! The kitchen becomes very cold in winter as you will probably find out soon.
DeleteJane you are not going to believe this but my Mum's middle names were exactly those.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I managed to kill the sourdough plant I made from Rose's recipe through neglect :(. I need to start another. I used to pop my sourdough bread in the refrigerator to rise overnight and finish the rising on the bench after I came home from morning shift. It had a slightly different flavour from just leaving it to rise on the bench and the texture was better.
ReplyDeleteI have put mine in the fridge as well, Robyn. Sometimes it is a bit hard to know just how quickly it will rise and I dare say it will be worse in the cold weather.
DeleteGreat post, Chel. I'm glad your starter got going after being dried. I'll be doing the same with some of mine when I next have a bubbly starter going. I love the idea of sourdough fruit loaf and buns too, Chris - that sounds yummy!!
ReplyDeleteJoolz, it is a good way to use up what you don't need unless you are using the leftovers for pancakes etc. Then you have some for yourself as back up and some to give away.
Delete