Sourdough update

Sourdough tweak & update...Think I have the sourdough sussed out now.. **does happy dance** Since changing to our home made probiotic yoghurt (A post & clip will be coming in the near future on this) as the liquid used to feed the starter the loaves have all risen great & have a nice light in texture..

  They are nowhere as dense as the first loaves we were making & I am slightly relieved by that.. The "brick loaves" (right) may have tasted great but were just not up to scratch I think..
The starter is a few months old now & has matured nicely if the resulting loaves of late are anything to go by.. I was keeping a milk starter as well as a yoghurt starter but, as we always have fresh made yoghurt on hand, I have cut it back to just the yoghurt one.. I will be experimenting with splitting the starter & feeding one with just water again to see if will give us the same results.. I have a feeling the great results may have more to do with the age of the starter rather than the use of yoghurt as the liquid... I suppose the yoghurt could of helped it along so it will be interesting to see how it goes without it..
So, here is the recipe we have been using for the past few weeks now...


RB's Tried & Tasty Sour Dough Loaves..
I make 2 different loaves at a time so will give you the run down for both..
The sponge...
(a separate lot is made up for each loaf)
300g of flour per loaf (we use ATTA)
250ml of warm water
1/3 cup of Sourdough starter

• On the morning we plan to make the sponge the starter is removed from the fridge & fed ½ cup each of yoghurt & ATTA flour & then mixed well.. (if I was to make just 1 loaf I would only feed with 1/3 cup of each)
• Later that evening, once the starter has doubled in size, mix the starter, flour & water well with a wooden/plastic spoon... You can also get your hands in there if you feel the need but if you persevere with the spoon it should come together fine..
• Place the mix into a bowl & cover with cling film or seal into a Tupperware style container..
• Leave to rest overnight & grow into a "sponge"..

Left is the sponge just after mixing...

Right is 12 hours later, about doubled in size & with lots of gas bubbles...



Plain Sourdough loaf...
300g of flour
2tsp bread improver
2Tbsp milk powder
2Tbsp Rapadura sugar
50ml warm water
Sponge (made the night before)

• Mix all ingredients together & knead for 10-15 min.. I have only done the manual knead once as I have been cheating & using the kneading function on the Thermomix.. You could use any appliance that has a kneading function if you wish, even a bread maker if you have one at your disposal..
• Form into a ball, place back into bowl/container & cover..
• Leave in a warm/sunny spot until it doubles in size which is about 3-4 hours here on a 20°C winter day..
• Punch dough down & manually knead for 5-10 min... I do it for 5 & always get a nice rise out of the dough now..
• Form into log, place into bread tin & cover with a greased piece of cling film..
• Leave to rise until loaf has risen to desired size (about 3-4 hours in a warm spot here)
• Pre heat oven to 220°c with some water in a pan on the bottom shelf (helps to form a great crust)
• Add loaf tin once the oven is to temperature & bake for 10min..
• Reduce heat to 180°C & bake for a further 10min or until the loaf is golden on top (some ovens may need more time) 
• Remove from loaf tin & cool on a rack..
• Let loaf cool before slicing.. (yeah right!!!)

5 Seed Sourdough loaf...
Pretty much the same as the plain loaf except for a bit more water & the seeds...
300g of flour
2tsp bread improver
2Tbsp milk powder
2Tbsp Rapadura sugar
75ml warm water
2Tbsp sesame seed
2Tbsp chia seed
2Tbsp pumpkin seed
2Tbsp sunflower seed
2Tbsp poppy seed
Sponge (made the night before)

• Mix all ingredients together & knead for 10-15 min..
• Form into a ball, place back into bowl/container & cover..
• Leave in a warm/sunny spot until it doubles in size, about 3-4 hours here..
• Punch dough down & manually knead for 5-10 min..
• Form into log, place into bread tin & cover with a greased piece of cling film..
• Leave to rise until loaf has risen to desired size (about 3-4 hours in a warm spot)
• Pre heat oven to 220°c with some water in a pan on the bottom shelf..
• Add loaf tin to oven once the oven is to temperature & bake for 10min..
• Bake for a further 10 min at 180°C or until the loaf is golden on top.. (some ovens may need more time) 
• Remove from loaf from tin & cool on a rack..
• Let loaf cool before slicing..

I normally like to add 4Tbsp each of the sunflower, pumpkin & chia seeds but the spawn & B have rebelled & made me cut down the quantities..
A few tips...
As sourdough loaves take longer to rise than breads baked with commercial mass produced yeasts, we have used the oven to help prove some of the loaves on the colder days or when time has gotten away from us.. All we do is turn the oven onto its lowest setting then, turn it off once it reaches temperature (about 30-50°C) then let the dough/loaves prove in there.. I like to turn the oven on & repeat the above once an hour until the dough/loaf is ready for the next stage..
Another pointer is that if for whatever reason the loaves do not get turned out of the tins once baked the bottoms & sides tend to sweat a bit making them soft.. When this has happened we return the loaf to a hot oven (180°C) on its side for a few minutes or until the base & sides crusts up nicely..

I would still like to pop up a recipe for the sprouted loaves but that recipe is still a bit of work in progress & we only just received a sizable amount of wheat berries to play with for that, SO, I suppose that's about it for now on the sourdough front... I am still reading "The complete idiots guide to fermenting foods" by Wardeh Harmon so I am sure I will revisit sourdough baking here in the future...
Hope that helps someone out there..
Have a great one all... ...

Sourdough starter & Breads..

Sourdough Starter...
  A while back we started to make simple sourdough breads from scratch & noted the results in a blog entry on Simple Savings web site.. Bit's of this entry come from there..
Sourdough is one of the oldest bread baking methods that uses a fermented starter.. The starter is made from a mixture of flour & water that has been left to sit for a period of time.. The starter ferments once wild yeast & bacteria (lactobacilli) from the atmosphere colonise it.. The colonies of good bacteria will out compete the nasty bacteria varieties by making the starter too acidic for them to survive.. This is what gives the bread it's unique "sour" aroma & flavour.. Wild yeasts convert the sugars into carbon dioxide which is what makes the dough rise.. Ethanol is another by-product that can sit as a liquid layer on top of the starter & is called "hooch".. This also contains dead yeast cells & according to some sources, it should be poured off the top of the starter as it tends to make the mix bitter.. Our second starter did not form a hooch layer.. I think it may be because it has been fed & divided/reduced regularly..
After searching the net & reading a few different versions of sourdough starters I decided on a basic flour/water starter to begin with.. Other recipes I have read include things like honey, sultanas, pineapple juice & sugar to add different characteristics to the bread but I think I will master the basic starter first..

To make a basic starter you will need,
750ml-1L wide mouth jar that has been sterilised with boiling water
Cheese or a "Chux" style cloth
Rubber or elastic band
1/3 cup of rye
1/3 cup wheat flour 
2/3 cup of filtered water*     

Mix the ingredients until the flour & water are combined well
Cover the jar with cheese cloth.. The yeast & bacteria will fall through the holes in the cloth to colonise the flour water mix & start the process..
The starter needs to be stirred every 8-12 hours to oxygenate the mix..

Feeding the starter..
I have made up a container with a 1:1 mix of wheat & rye flour which sits on the bench next to the starter jar.. Every morning the starter gets fed with 1/3 of a cup of the flour mix & 1/3 of a cup of warm (body temp) water*.. 
You should start to see small bubbles in the starter by day 4 but in saying that, both batches of our started to form bubbles within 36 hours but it does depend on the amount of good bacteria & yeast you have in your households environment.. We made a loaf with our first started after 4 days that turned out a lot better than I expected.. We then made 3 or 4 more that all turned out great.. Unfortunately we missed a day of feeding/stirring & ended up with a green "growth" on the top so threw the whole starter..
A second batch was made up but fed over eight days just to see if there was any difference in the loaves that were baked from it.. This batch has been reduced twice to a level of about 1/3 of a cup in the jar every few days.  The excess was disposed of down the sink.. If I had left it in the jar, the jar would have very quickly overflowed as the starter grew during the feeding process.. Besides feeding the excess to the sink, some was also given to friends so they could have a go at sourdough for themselves..

 I really couldn't tell the difference in flavour between the 4 & 8 day starters.. If we have to start another I think we would be baking after 4 days as long as the starter appears active enough.. Sourdough starters will continue to develop their own unique characteristics over time.. I have read of some starters that are well over 100 years old & passed down from generation to generation..

*If you don't have access to filtered water it is advisable to leave some water out overnight so that the chlorine can dissipate as it can kill or retard the growth of the wild yeast..


Sourdough Bread...
The recipe we used is a basic one I found on Food four thought blog.. The only small change I made was to use atta flour instead of white which made the loaf darker..

200g atta flour
400g rye flour
1 tsp  salt
170g sourdough starter
320g warm filtered water*

Place flour & salt into large bowl & mix.
Make a well in centre of the flour.
Add the starter and water and mix them together in the well until combined.

Then combine the mixed starter with the flour until most of the flour is incorporated.
Use hands to knead the remaining flour into a ball then cover and set aside for 20 minutes to allow the water to be absorbed into the dough.
Knead the bread for 15 min. (I cheated & kneaded in the Thermomix for 3 min..)
Place the dough into into a loaf tin & set aside for 9-12 hours in a warm area or until it doubles in size. It will take longer than conventional breads.
Preheated oven to 210°C.
Bake for 10 minutes then reduce to 180°C for a further 20minutes.
When done the loaf should sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from oven & cool on wire rack.

We really like this bread sliced very thinly then toasted.. Tastes great with our cashew & sundried tomato spread/dip.. The other favourite is tomato & grilled cheese..

Thanks for reading & have a great one..
: )»

Bianca & Rob..