Sourdough must be kept in the fridge, and must be kept in a covered container that is not metal (glass, ceramic, or plastic are fine.)
About 8-10 hours before you want to begin a sourdough recipe, the sourdough start needs to come out of the fridge and be revived. Scrape it into a large bowl (such as a casserole dish), add 2 cups warm water and 2.5 cups of white flour (whole wheat flour will turn it rancid), give it a good whisking, cover, and set in a warm place. I put mine in the oven with just the light on.
Anything that comes in contact with the sourdough, be it whisk, spoon, bowl, countertop, should be washed fairly quickly as it dried on very hard and is a bear to get off
In the morning, it should be fluffy and bubbly. Measure out one cup, return it to the storage container (which should have been cleaned before it hardened on) and put it back in the fridge. You will now have about 2-2.5 cups of starter to use in a recipe.
My sister heard somewhere that if you weren’t using your sourdough regularly, you should freeze it in between. My advice would be: don’t. She keeps killing hers. I have left mine for months on end, and once it was all moldy. Sounds gross, but it works: just scrape off the mold and use the sourdough. It’s true, though, that it is happiest the more often it is used.
Sourdough Pancakes
To the revived sourdough add and whisk thoroughly:
2 eggs
2 Tbsp oil
In a separate bowl mix:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp sugar
Mix these three ingredients thoroughly, sprinkle on top of the sourdough, and GENTLY work in. Let rest for five minutes before beginning to cook.
Sourdough Waffles
To the above pancake mix, just add 2 extra Tbsp oil.
Remember waffles are done when they stop steaming. My waffle iron takes 7 minutes.
Sourdough Bread
2 cups sourdough starter
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
Combine above and then begin adding flour (either white or whole wheat or a mix)
4-5 cups flour
Knead until thoroughly mixed, let rise until double in a warm place.
Punch down and knead. Form into two loaves and place in pans.
Let rise until double.
Bake in 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until browned and sounding hollow when knocked upon. Cool on wire racks.
Lots of other things can be done with sourdough as well, from cookies and coffee cakes to many kinds of breads, including breadsticks and dinner rolls. I have more recipes if you’re interested, but these three are my basics. Enjoy!
You'll notice that by following this recipe, your pancakes/ waffles will be white flour only and your bread (at best) half and half. I do have a trick for that! When I am preparing the sourdough for the initial fermenting (8 hours before using) I leave a little in the jar the start had been stored in. To THAT JAR ONLY I add a couple tablespoons of warm water and white flour. 8 hours later (or so, it isn't really fussy) I double it again. 8 hours after THAT I put it back in the fridge.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the starter is now in that casserole dish and all of it will be used in whatever I am making (the little jar contains the reserved start for next time). To this I now add the 2 cups warm water and the 2.5 cups whole wheat flour. I buy a coarse ground flour that we really like; I have no idea what is available where you live. I can't stand the fine grind of Robin Hood or whatever, but that's personal.
So that particular weekend, I'd started the sourdough fermenting in the evening as above, planning to make bread in the morning. Instead, we left town for the day, so I added 1 cup warm water and 1 cup whole wheat flour (to feed the start) and put it back in the oven. I thought I'd be home early enough in the afternoon to make bread then. I got home about 8pm, so I fed the start again (same as before) and left it until morning. This gave me a good amount of bubbly starter--enough for 4 loaves of bread.
If you have questions, just holler. I'm sure I made this about as clear as mud!
9 comments:
Your recipe looks much like mine, except you use more started and less yeast. I just started doing sourdough again and have not used wheat flour yet. I find when I bake wheat bread, it's very dense unless I add a little gluten. Is your sour dough pretty dense, or is it lighter than regular wheat? Do you find that the fine-ness of the grind of wheat flour makes a difference? I have a grain mill so I grind my own and have been using a fine setting, but if it will make my bread lighter I'll try a courser grind.
Thanks for the recipe.
Maybe you should add a sourdough section to the forum. I'd be willing to test them. ;)
Technically the sourdough IS a leavening agent and you can make bread without any additional yeast at all. They're too close to hockey pucks in my estimation.
I used to buy gluten for whole wheat bread but with this coarse flour, I find I don't need it. Now my loaves aren't fluffy like store-bought, but they do rise and make a rounded top to the loaf.
I really think the coarseness of the flour makes a huge difference. My flour looks like it has little flakes rather than powder, including some flakes almost like wheat germ. I have to special order my flour. I found it years ago (about 1990)at Costco but then they discontinued it and I've been scrambling ever since to keep finding it.
With your own mill, you could experiment a little. Maybe hold back a couple tablespoons in a zip-loc to see the texture, then add a note as to the bread results?
When I'm NOT using sourdough, I add a splash of vinegar to my bread dough and find that helps with texture also. I think that recipe is over at the forum.
LOL. You've now seen most of my sourdough recipes!
Hmm. I don't work tomorrow. Maybe I'll play with it a little. I have some other cooking I want to do anyway. I'll let you know if anything interesting happens. :)
Most excellent.
Thanks. I haven't made sourdough since I lived in Montana...25 years or so ago.
I finally found a yoga class -- and it was right here all along. I just head to the gym on Wednesday's at 1130, and one of my new office mate's subordinates teaches it, and my office mate's wife is a class member. How cool is that? A couple more weeks of this class, and I'll begin feeling a lot better.
Looking forward to your sourdough report too, Jean!
I'll probably delay doing sourdough until I move home in May.
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