What is the secret of sourdough? I've had three attempts at making a starter with disastrous results.
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Sourdough secrets
- Thread starter Morning Glory
- Start date
[Mod. Edit: posts moved to start a new thread]
Sourdough starter takes a little while to mature before you can use it. When I made mine about 6 months ago it took 16 days before I actually used it. Could that be your problem, maybe you didn't wait long enough? My starter typically doubles or almost triples about 2.5 to 3 hours after I feed it in a 70˚F environment. Hope this helps
Sourdough starter takes a little while to mature before you can use it. When I made mine about 6 months ago it took 16 days before I actually used it. Could that be your problem, maybe you didn't wait long enough? My starter typically doubles or almost triples about 2.5 to 3 hours after I feed it in a 70˚F environment. Hope this helps
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It could be I didn't leave it long enough. Or it could be I simply don't understand how sourdough works when kneaded. Every time I tried it the dough was impossibly sticky to work with. After rising it the 'pancaked' when I knocked it back after the first rise. I don't know if that is normal but it certainly didn't seem right.
I never kneed my sourdough. I do a series of stretch and folds. (check out youtube)
I add my flour and water and autolyse for 1 hour. Then I add the salt poking it with my fingers. Then I do a series of 4 stretch and folds 4 times within a 2 hour period. Then I do a bulk ferment until the dough doubles. Next I do 4 more stretch and folds, put rice flour in my banneton and put the dough seam side up in the banneton and in the fridge for a minimum of 4 or a max of 10 hours. This adds a ton of flavor to the dough from the slower fermentation because of the cooler temp.I then heat my oven and dutch oven to 450˚F and drop the dough out of the banneton into the HOT dutch oven on top of parchment paper. I then score the top of the loaf to control the expansion. Before it goes back in the oven I drop 3 to 4 ice cubes between the parchment and the dutch oven, quickly put the cover on to trap the steam and leave it in oven for 50 minutes. I take the cover off after 50 minutes if I need to brown the top a little more. Inside temp should be around 202˚F.
Simple, right?
Hope this helps.
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Oh! OK - maybe that is what I am doing wrong. The dough has a completely different feel compared to non-sourdough.
So (Step 1) you add the flour and water to some of the sourdough starer? Then just leave fo an hour? How well do you mix in the flour, water and sourdough starter? Do you mix it in with your hands?
I actually put 350g lukewarm water in mixing bowl, add 100g starter as soon as my starter is at peak growth after feeding it. (it should float on the water)
then I add 500g bread flour or I mix my flours to add up to 500g total. I make sure all the flour is wet. Then let it autolyse for an hour. When I mix it I find a Danish dough whisk works best.
OK - so autolyse means to leave it alone without kneading. A Danish whisk I will need to look up...
... OK - I need to order one then!
Tell me about Step 2 tomorrow. Its so late here! I have lots to sleep on...