Sour

I found out that a woman in our church LOVES sourdough bread.  You know me...CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!  To be honest I have been wanting to try my hand out at sourdough for a while but I was too afraid.  I looked up recipes for starters but having zero experience with sourdough...that idea intimidated me.                     I found a starter by King Arthur Flour.  It has been going since the 1700s!  That is impressive.  While I was ordering the starter I decided to also order some of their perfect pasta flour blend (a blend of durham, semolina, and all purpose flours) and a pack of disposable bread pans (so I can make bread for Mike to take visiting and it is easier to transport).  I also now get the King Arthur Flour catalog and emails as a result of my order...which is very dangerous for our budget!  

So I got my sourdough starter and followed the instructions for "feeding it".  I followed them to a T and then made my first loaf.  It was very good.  However it didn't really have much of a sourdough flavor.  It could almost pass for italian bread last night when it was warm.  Today it had a slightly stronger sourdough flavor, but hey, its homemade bread...it was still delicious.  

Here is the loaf from last night:

So last night I did some research online.  I found some great information and decided that I needed to do two things.  

1) feed my starter and let it rest for 24 hours to ferment thus resulting in a more "sour" starter.  FYI: when feeding your starter, use unbleached, unbromated all purpose flour.  I use HEB brand because I like it, but just make sure it is NOT bleached or bromated...there are not enough microorganisms to ferment in it.  Also, don't use fresh milled flour as it has more oils that cause it to go rancid before it can ferment.  I found a lot of helpful information from this BLOG   she also has a recipe for your own sourdough starter from scratch instead of buying it.  I may make it someday if I ever need to and am brave enough.

and

2) find a crock to hold the starter that has a better lid.  The crock needs to be completely non reactive, so stoneware or glass.  Right now my starter is in a glass pyrex bowl which is fine and works, but until I could get something better to hold it to help the fermenting process, I needed to find a different cover for it.  You can't cover a starter tight because the gasses that build up have to be able to escape or else it will explode.  But you do need it to be mostly covered.  I was using the plastic lid on top but not latched on...this left too much uncovered.  Now I have one of our big plates over the top of the bowl and it is working beautifully.  There are bubbles in the starter like there should be and it has a nice "sour" smell.  I hope to get a crock this week, but until then....whatever works right!

Today I made 5 small loaves for Mike to take visiting.  They smelled so good and I could smell the typical sourdough bread smell!  

Here is the recipe I used.  I found the recipe through King Arthur Flour but have changed it just a bit.  I upped the salt from 2 tsp to 1 Tblsp, I mix everything but the flour and then let it proof for 5-10 minutes to activate the yeast, and if I am kneading it in my stand mixer I add a full 5 c of flour, if I am kneading it by hand like today, I only added about 4.5 c of flour.  So definitely go by feel with the flour.  As with all recipes for bread sometimes it will take up to a c. less, sometimes up to a c. more...The more I make bread, the more I like kneading it by hand.  It is more work and I don't do it all the time, but you get a much better feel for the dough and what it needs!!

Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

1 c. sourdough starter

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 T. sugar

1 T. Kosher Salt

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

5 c. unbleached all purpose flour

Mix all ingredients except flour in bowl and let sit covered for about 10 minutes to proof.  Mix in about 3 1/2 c. flour.  Turn out onto surface and slowly knead in another 1-2 c of flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Put into a greased bowl and cover.  Let rise in warm place for 90 minutes (I use the oven off but with the light on...perfect rising temp).  Divide and form into loaves (2 large, 3 medium, 4-5 small-can either place directly on a baki)ng sheet or pizza stone or can use loaf pans of varying sizes.  Cover and let rise for 60 minutes.  Slash the top ( I do one slash down the middle on top, but can do several diagonal or an x...whatever you prefer).  Place in a preheated 425* oven.  30 minutes for large loaves, 18 for small.  You want the bread to be light brown on top and hollow sounding if you tap it.  Enjoy!