Hi, I've got a very plentiful rye sourdough starter, if anyone wants some, or bread lessons. Not bike-related, but for me the DIY aspect is a big draw to cycling and breadmaking. You might not look back once you start!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Want sourdough starter?
(33 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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You're right. There are several of us who do make our own bread - sourdough and regular.
:)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Channel 4 program Food Unwrapped phoned some supermarket help lines and asked what made sour dough sour. "Sour Cream" was the answer given.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Thanks for the offer. Our kitchen is too cold for sourdough or a wheat leaven to develop in winter. I have a Bread Matters pack to try when the weather gets warmer.
Posted 9 years ago # -
We make all our own bread at Greenroofer Towers. But... um... we use a machine (he says slightly sheepishly in the context of a discussion about sourdough)
I'm not sure if that counts as DIY. It smells nice though, and we wouldn't go back to bread in plastic bags.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The bread machine is the gateway to fully home made bread, now you have everything in to make bread fully by hand it's only a few steps away, and somehow significantly nicer.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"Our kitchen is too cold for sourdough or a wheat leaven to develop in winter."
Nah not too cold, just slow. Everything will take longer. Refreshing the starter might take two days. It might take a week to go from starter to loaf but it'll work and, if theory is to be believed, it'll be more sour and tasty for taking longer.
Essentially it's about what kind of yeast you breed in your starter and if your timing matches your yeast. If your kitchen is cold then slower yeasts will tend to survive and your timing will need to reflect that. It'll take a few cycles of refreshing for your starter to become populated with enough 'cold' yeast and then you could run two in parallel, alternating so you can bake every other day.
Or you could go to a brew shop and get a plate for fermenting beer and use it and some kind of tent as the "warm kitchen" for breeding starter and proving bread more quickly.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Breadmakers can also just be used as small portable timer-controlled ovens, if you prefer doing your own manual dough-fondling but want to be able to just set it off baking overnight but don't have a sufficiently timer-controlled proper oven.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@cyclingmollie I tried Andrew Whitley's tip of using a hot water bottle to assist the sourdough rise in a cold kitchen - it worked a treat.
A long time ago I followed a recipe that involved putting the dough in the fridge to slow the rise so you could bake the loaf first thing in the morning. It must have been very slow but there was an appreciable rise while it was in the fridge.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Thanks for the tips Insto and PS. The heating mat sounds perfect. I do make bread in winter, just not sourdough. Personal fave is semlor. Another disincentive is that I'm the only one in the house who likes sourdough. So when I do start again I will probably do a rye Borodinski that I can slice and freeze, just for myself.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I would really like a sourdough starter & a recipe if convenient. I'd only make 1-2 loaves a week.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Being disorganised, we often prove in the fridge overnight. If you use a linen lined basket, putting the basket inside a shower cap liberated from a budget hotel stops the loaf sticking.
Top tip for a very good oven rise, especially if you bake straight out of the fridge is to bake the loaf inside a pot or a pyrex dish. Works best with pot or dish inverted so that the loaf sits on the lid and the base god over the top.
It slows how quickly the crust hardens by keeping moisture in allowing the dough to keep expanding. After about 20-30 mins, take the base off and let the crust brown.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Great to see lots of other breadmakers here. I've found that temperature definitely has an effect--sometimes bread can turn out great during those rare hot summer UK days--but a cool kitchen shouldn't rule out sourdough. As others have suggested, slowing down the process can be desirable, as more flavours develop with time.
Posted 9 years ago # -
>Top tip for a very good oven rise, especially if you bake straight out of the fridge is to bake the loaf inside a pot or a pyrex dish. Works best with pot or dish inverted so that the loaf sits on the lid and the base god over the top.
It slows how quickly the crust hardens by keeping moisture in allowing the dough to keep expanding. After about 20-30 mins, take the base off and let the crust brown.
This is all valuable!
Posted 9 years ago # -
That's a good reminder, Insto. That same fridge sourdough recipe recommended using a large casserole dish like a dutch oven in the oven. I used a big Le Creuset - I didn't have anything to compare it with, so I'm not sure what impact it had. It must help shield the bread from the drying effect of the fan-oven too.
I should start doing that again. Since I went on the Bread Matters course I have just been baking on a pizza stone.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I'd not tried making pizza bases because I don't have a warming drawer.
If I get the machine to make the dough then leave it in the kitchen at a slightly lower temp will it still work OK but just take longer?
Number 2 son has a nut allergy which limits the type of ready made pizza he can eat.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I do like making pizza at home, although the technique of loading one onto a heated stone can be daunting, depending on size and shape. Anyone else have advice about this?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Great tips! I've not tried the bowl Insto. But if someone wants to buy me a bread dome I'll give it a go.
Coincidentally the website I said I was working on in the Kraftwerk thread is Bread Matters.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@wee folding bike - It will definitely work, I find it's not very necessary to leave pizza bases to rise. If it's cold I find turning the oven up to max and having the bases nearby while I sort out the toppings works great.
@mfcity - I have a few techniques, I use a paddle thing but with lots of flour or ideally semilina to make sure that things don't stick. But I have also make the pizza on tin foil, which makes it easy to get onto the stone. Once it's half cooked I remove the foil to get the pizza some time to crisp up on the base.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I got the memsahib one of those Edwardian earthenware mixing bowls for Christmas and the batter bowl as a wee surprise. There was much rejoicing as she can make bigger cakes.
Thanks chrisfl.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Mason and cash? Says 1800 on the bowl? But first made in1901. A very good bowl indeed
Posted 9 years ago # -
Indeed, Mason and Cash. It was a bit hard to disguise it as anything else under the tree but the batter bowl was inside the big one.
If it was January 1901 then it might just be Victorian and not Edwardian.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
Wheat has, since the dawn of agriculture, been especially treasured amongst all of the food crops, and is now the most widely cultivated food plant on the planet. However, the relationship between humans and wheat has changed a great deal in recent times.
"
Posted 9 years ago # -
Not sure why so much gluten intolerance nowadays? Spelt, as earlier form of wheat often said to have less gluten?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Gembo - in the bread matters book, the author claims the expansion of gluten intolerance is a result of the way in which mass marketed bread is made, and that many people with gluten intolerance find they can still eat sourdough.
Have not looked at his sources or otherwise examined his claim thoroughly.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yes I would accept without questioning that the use of refined products are linked to intolerance. So refined wheat and refined sugars are bad in my head. Whereas allinsons stone ground wholemeal or dove farm spelt flours good in my head (and bread maker).
Posted 9 years ago # -
@SRD The Bread Matters site has research references for that claim.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Happy to loan you the book if you'd like to look at it.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Alinsons wholemeal with seeds even nicer.
Posted 9 years ago #
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