The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => Misc. Technical Discussion => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on January 29, 2012, 11:03:41 AM
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Don't know if anyone here would be interested in making sourdough bead or not, but here goes .
I've been intrigued with sourdough bread since the first time I visited San Francisco in June, 1981 .
A high school friend on mine had lived there since 1974 and had a personal friend that owned and operated a small neighborhood bakery that specialized in sour dough breads .
I found a website in 2006, that sold various varieties of dry sourdough culture .
So I ordered a dry culture and a book on sourdough bread .
Tto make a long story short, I didn't follow through on keeping the sourdough culture alive due to my work schedule and it 'died', pretty much lost interest until this past November when I was on my yearly 5 week vacation .
One section or the book that I received with the culture has a section on starting your own culture from the local environment .
I put out a plastic food container with two cups of generic flour and two cups of water, mixed it up , placed a fine mesh screen over the top to keep out insects and the like and place it outside in a sheltered place where it can't get rained on and to keep it out of direct sun .
It is recommended that you stir the mixture at least twice a day, to prevent a skin from forming on the mixture .
After about three weeks, I went out to stir the mixture, I had forgotten to stir it for about two days .
So a skin had formed on the top, I removed the skin and found there was foam under it .
I brought it inside, mixed this 'culture' with two cups of flour and two cups of water, in 12 hours, the mixture had overflowed the container it was in .
I've been using this 'culture' for two month now in everything from bread, pizza, biscuits, banana date bread, etc ......... .
If you want to try this yourself, not difficult at all, just a bit time consuming . ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Are you using your new dishwasher for clean up? ::)
Monte
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We occasionally make bread at our Wild West reenactments in dutch ovens, as these events are usually on for a few days we cheat and use pre mixes, tastes pretty good though. There is something relaxing about making bread it truly is the staff of life.
Lou
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Bob, that sounds sooooooo good! Just the idea makes my mouth water. Yummy!
I used to make bread all the time but have gotten out of the habit in the last few years. I should do it again, and that sourdough sure sounds like a good way to start. And since I'm up here in the SF Bay Area, maybe my sourdough will be similar to the famous San Francisco Sourdough. ;D Ha! I'll be lucky to get it to live.
But it takes 3 weeks to get going? Hmmm. Maybe I'll just make some good whole wheat bread first.
Thanks for the inspiration! I'm going to go pull out the ingredients tonight and maybe by tomorrow night I'll have some fresh bread. ;)
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I love making bread.
My current thing is to use ancient grains (kamut, emmer, farro, etc) and as little white flour as I can get away with.
If you're a beginner at this stuff, "Breads of the La Brea Bakery" by Nancy Silverton, is a great place to start. Has a lot of yummy recipes and how to get a starter going (she uses water, flour and grapes). I've had my current starter for about 4 years now.
rye with onion and kamut berries:
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe340%2Fflymymbz%2Fbread%2F2011-10-01175820.jpg&hash=adb3acddfa66639c8246d09680e9786237869fd0)
Plain wheat spread with local honey and figs:
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe340%2Fflymymbz%2Fbread%2F2011-10-02101559.jpg&hash=8eb05e058f47ec93eb6356214165c7f4f989630f)
I think I put too many walnuts in here, but it sure was tasty
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe340%2Fflymymbz%2Fbread%2FIMG_2322.jpg&hash=f42aa2aa77688c6dcc31e77a819df730912981f1)
An afternoon in the kitchen (not including the work done the day before.... :-) )
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi42.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fe340%2Fflymymbz%2Fbread%2FIMG_2373.jpg&hash=7b6b2711f77f53e0828b8f8344aa7f44fc65d341)
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Having some Irish heritage I have a liking for soda bread which uses baking soda instead of yeast as the raising agent.(http://)
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A friend of mine from Alaska gave me a pint of sourdoug starter that dated to the Nome goldrush in '98. That's as in 1898. I kept it for several years but forgot about it for a few weeks a couple of years ago and it died. Easy to get started again though. Good stuff.
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Well, I didn't get the bread done today. I had other things come up, plus I had to get a few ingredients at the store. Tomorrow looks better, just a few things to do.
But all these yummy breads are making me hungry. Dee, those breads look wonderful. After I get started again on some good ole plain whole wheat I'm going to try some of these other grains. And I found a San Francisco Sourdough starter in the store today. I'll get that once I've got a few loaves baked up and see if I'm ready to keep a starter alive. ::)
This is why I love winter. A good reason to heat up the kitchen. ;D
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Melena,
When your starter is bubbling and ready to use, split it in two. Keep adding to one so it creates enough to make the bread, and the other put in the fridge.
I keep a container with about 2 cups of starter in the fridge. When I want to make bread, I have to start a couple days ahead. I take the starter out, add some water and flour, and let it set over night and add a bit more in the morning. I keep doing that until I have enough for the recipe and have ~2 cups left to put back in the fridge. Usually three or four days, unless I'm in a real hurry and I add to it four times a day instead of two. My 'working' starters start out with white flour for 2 addings, and unless I'm doing straight white bread, then I switch to emmer or farro. Its a lot like wheat, but much lighter.
As long as you keep in the the fridge, it shouldn't go bad. Yes, it might get to looking kinda ugly....mine currently has bit of brown 'crust' on it. (I haven't made any bread in a couple of months). You can always take it out, and toss in some water/flour and put it back in the fridge.
I try to keep mine the consistency of really thick pancake batter when its being stored.
Yes, getting a starter going from scratch and making bread can be a drawn out chore, but it sure is good.
I think perhaps I will bake up a couple loaves on my next 4 day weekend...... :)
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Thanks Dee!
That doesn't sound so hard. Maybe I'll get it started this weekend.
I'll do that and finish my taxes. Ha ha ha ha ha! ;D
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I don't know how much of a difference this makes, but in the book about sourdough that I have, it mentions that some sourdough cultures don't like chlorinated tap water .
You may want to put water in the microwave oven and boil it for a few minutes let it cool down, then mix the flour and water together .
At least, get yours going, then use regular tap water and see if it causes any problems .
Don't use expensive flour, I've been using store 'house' brand flour and get good results .
I've used flour made from 'ancient' grains, the most common I use is spelt, it's one of the wild grains that modern wheat was domesticated from and altered to meet our modern needs .
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We enjoy making bread, though lately it has just been making some sweet dessert type breads at Christmas time to give away, and also I use our bread machine quite a bit - I admit it doesn't have nearly the personal commitment or interaction as making your own sourdough, but it sure is handy (and tastes pretty good, even if not as good as handmade).
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I don't know how much of a difference this makes, but in the book about sourdough that I have, it mentions that some sourdough cultures don't like chlorinated tap water .
You may want to put water in the microwave oven and boil it for a few minutes let it cool down, then mix the flour and water together .
At least, get yours going, then use regular tap water and see if it causes any problems .
Yeah, they do mention that. I forget about that because my water comes from 700' below my house.....no chlorine added. :)
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"Big sigh" I haven't had a chance to start the bread yet. It seems like something is always coming up and I have to go somewhere. But I didn't buy bread this week and I'm almost out. So I have to make some now. ;D
I'll keep that in mind about the water. I've got a Brita filter and I believe that is supposed to filter out the chlorine. I'll use that water.
Happy Bread Making! Cheers!
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Starter is warmed up and bubbly nicely. Will probably do the first part tonight and have fresh bread for dinner tomorrow.
yummy yummy!
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Okay! I did it. I made bread 3 times in the past 2 weeks. Haven't started a sourdough yet as I wanted to see how bad my bread baking skills had gotten. :D I make 100% whole wheat bread and that's a little harder than if there is white flour in it.
The first loaves were good, but didn't rise as much as I remembered. But the bread was delicious. 8-) I think I ate one of the loaves within 2 days. Yummy! Uh oh. ;)
The 2nd loaves didn't rise. They rose a bit in the first part, but didn't rise in the pans. :-? Oh, my yeast was out of date and I used different flour than the first time. Sigh. But, even though the bread was very dense, it was delicious. I still have a bit of that left.
Okay, so the 3rd loaves turned out really good! YAY! I did everything right. 100% whole wheat, newly bought yeast, a little salt, and water at the right temp. I think I could have let it rise a little longer, but delicious. It sure does take alot of kneading.
My Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book has everything explained in detail, but of course I didn't check it until after I had 2 batches that didn't come out really well. I should know better, having taken care of an R65, that you do need to read the directions. ;D
Now I need to start a sourdough starter. My next loaves will be even better. 8-) There are so many options for bread it's hard to decide which ones I should do next.
Thanks for getting me going on this. The bread is sooooo good. I'll have to take enough fresh made bread with me to the next rally to be able to share some.
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Whole grain breads are a more difficult to get to rise .
I found this yeast locally, only store that has it, is Albertson's .
http://www.hodgsonmillstore.com/en/Active-Dry-Yeast/71518-00001-048_Group.aspx
The few times I made a whole wheat pizza crust, this yeast did a better job than the Red Star type yeasts .
I also make a starter for the dry yeast, whatever amount of water your recipe calls for, add your sugar to the water get it dissolved, then add the yeast , stir it up real good, then let it sit for 30 minutes or so, until you can see it's active and thriving .
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Thanks Bob! I'll look for that yeast. I don't think there's an Albertson's around here anymore though. I'll try at Whole Foods and see what I can find. Otherwise I'll order right from them. They've got some good flours there too.
I've really enjoyed making the bread. I started a Rye sourdough starter yesterday morning. It's bubbling very nicely. I've got it sitting in the oven with the door open part way and the light on. It stays at a constant perfect 70 degrees like that. That will work just fine until I want to bake something. ;D
I'm getting this down and the next bread will come out great, I'm sure. ;)
And just why is making bread just perfect for an R65 rider? Maybe because we're so creative and resourceful. [smiley=beerchug.gif] Next is beer. ;D
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Hey Bob! Guess what? I found that Hodgson Mill yeast in Safeway. I've got some now. And I'm ready to try again.
When I get this down I'll try the sourdough. I just need a really good place to keep the dough while it rises. Sourdough may work better for me as it needs a lower temperature.
I love bread. I'll let you know how this yeast works for me. Thanks for that tip.