Is It Real Sourdough or Not?

I've written before about my KH (kitchen hobby) of making sourdough bread. My Mom tells me that her mother kept a batch of bread starter (a flour and water mixture that had been fermented with yeast) in the basement. On baking day Gramma would send one of the kids down to fetch the starter. Gramma would add flour and water to the starter and set it in a warm spot to make a "sponge". The sponge would be allowed to sit for several hours or overnight to ferment. She always saved a small amount of the starter and fed it with flour and water before setting it back in the basement till the next baking day.

After the sponge had time to bubble and ferment, she added additional flour and perhaps sugar and milk until the dough was just the right consistency to make bread. After being thoroughly kneaded, the dough was set aside again to rise. Then it was punched down, shaped into loaves, let rise again, and baked in Gramma's old wood stove.

You can read about my previous experiences with sourdough here. ( Be sure to scroll down to read all posts. You can also find out where I got my original sourdough starter.) Originally I used recipes that included the addition of yeast which insured the dough would rise in a reasonable amount of time. The yeast added a bit of extra kick, if you please.

However, a real sourdough shouldn't need yeast to cause the dough to rise, but I hadn't quite figured out how to bake without the additional yeast...my few attempts resulted in a dough that just sat there like a lump on a log, refusing to rise even after sitting overnight. I ended up tossing them in the garbage. I believe the problem was that I was not using sufficient starter for the recipe I was using.

But Today!!!! Today I made "real" sourdough without yeast.

Last evening I began a sponge by taking one cup of my starter, adding two and a fourth cups of flour plus two cups of water, and placing the resulting sponge in a warm spot overnight to ferment. This morning this is what it looked like. (I fed the remaining cup of starter by adding 1/4 cup each of flour and water and placing it in the fridge till my next batch of bread.)

I was pretty certain I had finally figured out how to avoid adding yeast but I decided to split the sponge into two batches. Each had the same ingredients added to the sponge (flour, water, milk, butter, salt, sugar) but one batch had regular yeast added and one batch did not.

Naturally the yeast batch rose faster. In fact it was speedy enough that it was baked and out of the oven before the "real" sourdough (without added yeast) had risen enough to punch down and shape into a loaf. However, the real stuff did eventually double in size and I shaped it into a loaf and placed it into a pan to rise, later to bake.

The thermometer? Who would figure to use a meat thermometer when baking bread? I had my old favorite bread recipe down to a T and I knew it took exactly 23 minutes at 400 degrees to bake a good loaf of bread. However many websites that talk about sourdough mention using a thermometer to bring the internal temp up to 200 degrees before declaring a loaf "done". So now I bake the loaf to "almost done", add the thermometer, and watch it for a few minutes till it comes up to temp. No more half-baked loaves. (I'm the only one half-baked in this house.)

When both loaves were done, I set them side by side. The size is about the same. The texture of the crumb is about the same. The taste is slightly different and I actually prefer the sourdough over the yeast/sourdough.

I recognize that traditional San Francisco sourdough has a much holier (not meaning "holier than thou") texture...I mean that it is full of large holes formed by the formation of gasses during the rising stage. But I'm not working towards that. I'm just happy to have the stuff rise and bake into a yummy loaf of bread.

I think I'm getting the hang of it!

My Sourdough Starter! It's Still ALIVE!!

I was rather incapacitated for quite some time this past month. That meant that my sourdough starter that I had safely stored in the fridge was a bit neglected. Normally, if storing it in the fridge, I like to feed it once a week. Simply add 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water. Stir. Set back in the fridge.

So when it sat unattended for about TWO weeks I was apprehensive about the viability of the yeast and was pleased when, after removing the lid, I smelled the aroma of its natural alcohol caused by the yeast fermentation. (Please notice that when the starter has been in the fridge for awhile, it comes out looking rather bad! A brownish liquid will cover the top and you will need to stir all together again. Notice the aroma at this stage...it will smell fermenty or like alcohol. Smell it each time and you will recognize this 'good' smell versus a 'gone bad' smell.) After stirring back to a smooth consistency, I fed it as usual, and Voila! It's still Alive!

So I left it on the counter for a couple more days, feeding it morning and evening, adding to its volume. You can see the bubbles caused by the fermentation. (Click on the photo for a closer view.)

Then I took a cup of the starter, added about a cup of flour and a dab of water, and started a sponge for a loaf of bread. (The rest of the starter remained in its bowl for later use.) The sponge rises for several hours after which I really get lazy. A TRUE sourdough afficianado would at this point stir in BY HAND additional white flour, perhaps a dab of sugar, salt and perhaps even a dab of yeast, knead only lightly, and let rise to a sourdough loaf.

But I am a lazy cook and so I placed my sponge in the bread machine, added an assortment of ingredients (white flour,whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, teaspoon of yeast) and let the machine do the kneading. However, I NEVER bake in the machine for I hate the super-crusty result. After the machine did the kneading I let the dough rise once, punched down, and placed in a loaf pan to rise again.

I usually bake about 23 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Then I place a thermometer in the loaf to watch it bake to an internal temp of 190-200 degrees. Then it is DONE! Yum, Again!

To catch up on my ventures with sourdough you can simply click here to read previous posts and to read the post where I obtained my original sourdough starter. If you live within driving distance, I'll be happy to share you a sample of the starter and some written instructions. My friend Melva will be a recipient....just as soon as I get myself into gear! Her girls will love this project! And her family loves homemade bread!

Don't forget! In regard to bread, today's Scripture is John 6:33-35. You can place your cursor over the scripture to read the pop-up.

Today's Sweet Adventure With Sourdough Bread

I was a tad slow with the camera today. These sweet rolls are the result of today's experiment with sourdough and as you can see one is already missing! (This may not be lemon meringue pie but these rolls did score me a few points with Hubby!)

Last evening I took the bowl of sourdough starter out of the fridge. Placed a cup of the starter in a separate glass bowl and added a cup (more or less) of white flour and a fourth cup of water to make a thick batter that is called a "sponge". The sponge needs time to ferment so the bowl sat on the counter overnight while the sourdough did its work.

In the meanwhile, the starter (the bowl that I just took out of the fridge) needed to be fed. So I stirred in a fourth cup each of flour and water and placed that bowl back in the fridge to be used another day.

This morning I added other ingredients to the sponge to make bread dough just as I did last time (read here).

When the dough was kneaded and had risen once, I punched it down and made a small loaf of bread (sorry, no photo) and these sweet rolls. I was too lazy to go through the whole cinnamon roll routine so I experimented and this is the fortuitous result. First, I patted the dough into a thin layer about 10 inches square. I spread a layer of sour cream (you could brush with sweet cream or butter for that matter) and sprinkled on some sugar and cinnamon. I folded the dough over itself in thirds. One third towards the middle.Then he opposite side over the first third. Sorta like a three-layer roll. I cut this roll in four pieces and placed the four pieces in an 8-inch square baking dish and sprinkled it again with sugar and cinnamon. Let it rise one more time. Then baked it about 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. (I really can't remember how long! Sigh!)

Some leftover frosting in the freezer from a previous baking was just enough to glaze the tops when they came out of the oven. Since I did not use butter (although you certainly may) the frosting adds just a bit of extra richness.

Tip of the Day - Leftover powdered sugar frosting freezes well. Even small amounts are sometimes just what you need to sweeten up a bit of baking.

And today's Scripture? John 6:33-35

Sourdough Bread - You're Gonna Love This!

A while back I posted about my new adventure with baking sourdough bread. You can read about it here. And tonight I'm sharing more about this experience. (If the internet had a 'scratch and sniff' test, you would take one whiff and be right over, begging for a slice topped with butter!)

Even though I've been baking bread for 25 years or more, there's a lot I don't know about making Sourdough. You can google yourself (No, I mean google 'sourdough', not 'yourself', although that might bring up some surprising results as well!) and find numerous sourdough blogs or websites. Some sourdough bakers are a mite more specific than I when measuring, kneading, baking, etc., but I'm finding that sourdough is pretty sturdy stuff and allows me to be a little more layed back than those folk. The idea is to bake a great loaf of bread, not win a prize at the State Fair, so relax a bit, okay?

Since my previous post, I've learned that you can take a dollop (a cup or so) of the sourdough starter, stir in a bit of water and a larger bit of flour to form a thick battery 'sponge'. Let this sponge sit overnight to get it a-growin'. You can see what it looks like in this photo. (Don't forget, you can click for a closer view.) I'm not guaranteeing that I used the correct proportions...but the stuff worked. That's good enough for me.

When it came time to bake bread, I added one egg, 5/8 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, 2 tablespoons honey, 3 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of yeast and enough regular white flour to knead up nicely in my breadmaker. (Remember from my previous post that I use the breadmaker to knead, but not to bake. Once kneaded, I let it rise once, then punch down, and place in a pan, and bake in the oven.) It's rather a hit-and-miss guess on how much flour. Somewhere between 2 and 3 cups. I just check the machine every minute or so to make sure the dough is not too dry, not too wet.

Some extra thoughts...

1. The dough will be a bit more wet than regular bread dough. The more moisture, the larger the holes in the crumb.
2. REAL sourdough probably doesn't use eggs. I'm not a purist about a lot of things and certainly not about bread. (I hope none of those REAL sourdough specialists read this!)
3. Allowing the sponge to ferment about twelve hours helps the bread develop a very, very good flavor. (This is gonna be a YUM-YUM experience!)
   
4. When you are ready to place the loaf in the oven, cut slashes in the top with either a sharp knife or kitchen shears. This allows the bread to rise a bit more in the oven without ripping itself apart. I could have done a better job here.
   
5. A thermometer helps determine the optimum baking time. I wait until the bread has baked about 23 minutes in a 400 degree oven before putting in the thermometer and completing the baking until the interior temp is 200 degrees.
6. I eat more bread now. That may not a good thing.

You can read here about using sourdough for sweet rolls.

You Too Can Bake Sourdough Bread or How to Make Better Bread With Your Bread Machine!!

A year ago I read Willa Cather's "My Antonia", first published in 1918. The novel presents what I consider an heroic story of hard-working immigrant families during homestead years in Nebraska. A friend thought the book depressing but I thought it remarkable for I grew up knowing families whose parents homesteaded under similar conditions. They came from the "old country" (countries) and lived their first few years in dugouts or sod shanties, enduring poverty and hardships. They homesteaded in clusters; Germans, Swedes, Bohemians. What courageous people they were. And how fortunate are we, their children, that they endured those hard years and passed on down to our parents the courage and strength to work hard and teach their children the same.

In 'My Antonia', the Bohemian neighbor, Mrs. Shimerda, is said to make her bread from a sourdough type leavening as follows... "She mixed her dough, we discovered, in an old tin peck-measure that Krajiek had used about the barn. When she took the paste out to bake it, she left smears of dough sticking to the sides of the measure, put the measure on the shelf behind the stove, and let this residue ferment. The next time she made bread, she scraped this sour stuff down into the fresh dough to serve as yeast."

My mother said her mother baked bread in a similar manner, using a "starter dough" that she kept in a pan. When she was ready to bake bread, she used a bit of the starter to provide a natural yeast, making a sponge first, then adding enough flour to make a thick dough.

Last March I acquired a tiny bit of dried sourdough starter from the Carl Griffith Sourdough Page. (You can read a cool story about Mr. Griffith here from where I've swiped his photo) So there I was, in March, mailing an envelope with a modest contribution for expenses and time to one of the volunteers with the "1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Preservation Society. What I received in return was less than a tablespoon of dried starter. I was busy with other things so put that little bag away in the drawer where I keep my bread-machine instruction book.


Yesterday I took out that small amount of white crumbly mixture, and began the process of reconstituting the starter. By end of today I had the completed product.


The first photo shows the actual amount of dried starter. Sure seems like a
worthless bit of nothing, wouldn't you say? Ah, but never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a yeast by its appearance.



The second photo shows the initial step of reviving the starter. The dried bits are stirred into a tablespoon of warm water and left to dissolve for a short while. The bits are irregular in size and seem lifeless. But remember this! We already agreed looks aren't everything!!!

In the third photo you can see the product after a bit of water and flour have been added. The mixture is left to sit in a warm spot while the sourdough yeast ferments. Not too warm, not too cool. The mix begins to show a few yeasty bubbles and I imagine that I can smell a teensy bit of sourdough aroma. (I use a plastic spoon and a china bowl because I read somewhere that I should not use stainless steel. I don't know if that's a problem or not but it gives me a perfect excuse to use this little vintage bowl that I found at some yard sale. It's perfect for this task. It was made by the Hall China company and I have several pieces in different designs and I love using them.)


The fourth photo shows a much larger amount after the addition of more flour and water. More rest. This time I place a clean linen towel over the bowl and place the bowl in my oven. The oven light should provide just the right amount of warmth. To ensure the temp does not get too high I have a brilliant idea. (Brilliant ideas don't come along very often so I'm particularly excited when they occur! So humor me here, okay?) We have an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer. The sending unit hangs just outside the back door on the deck and I step outside to retrieve it. I place it on the oven shelf where it "sends" the oven temp to the readout unit on the wall. Ooops...getting a bit warm. Crack the oven door a bit to release a bit of warmth. The yeasty stuff bubbles a bit and there is more fermentation.

I love the idea of making bread "the old fashioned way" but I decide to use the modern bread machine for several reasons. 1) Kneading bread dough has always been uncomfortable on my wrists. Don't ask me why. I don't know. It just feels really, really uncomfy. 2) While my bread machine works I can be doing something else and 3) I'm no dummy. (Take that last one with a grain of salt. It may or may not be true. If you really need to know, ask my siblings. They grew up with me and can and will give you their candid opinion. I will not, however, hand out their email addresses so find them if you can. Gotcha!)

Instead of using one of the bread recipes that came with the starter, I decide to use a recipe that came with the breadmaker. It called for a "starter" and I figured Carl's starter would work just fine. I don't like the heavy-duty-difficult-to-cut crust that the machine produces, so I select the "dough" feature. This means the machine mixes and kneads and then stops before the bake cycle. I remove the kneaded dough from the machine and place it in a crock bowl for the first rising, remembering to cover it with a clean linen towel. The crock bowl retains the warmth produced by the growing yeast. If you don't have a crock bowl, use a glass bowl. Stainless steel just won't do the trick. Not that the stainless steel is harmful...it's just that the crock (or a glass) bowl will hold in the heat generated by the yeast. In this photo you can see my thermometer sending unit resting on the oven shelf. (Don't be silly and leave the unit in the oven during baking time! Or you'll be heading to the local electronics or hardware store for a new thermometer and you'll be cleaning melted plastic off your oven floor...not exactly a pleasant prospect.)

After the first rising, punch down the dough and place in the appropriate loaf pan which has been sprayed with Pam or your favorite spray oil. (You can skip clicking on this photo, cause you'll be able to see immediately that I am no Martha Stewart. My baking pans look as if they get frequently used. Not that hers don't! It's just that I don't have the cleaning staff that she has! Come to think of it, I don't have her entrepreneurial spirit, either, or I'd be charging you to view this page! )

And here's the finished loaf. Even though the recipe I used was for "regular bread" and not a sourdough type, it turned out wonderful. Great crust. Great texture. And great taste.

I placed the rest of the starter in the fridge for next week's baking. This initial process was time-consuming but now that the starter batch is in the fridge, the next baking will go much faster. And next time I'll try one of the "real sourdough" recipes...one where you create a sponge and let it ferment before adding the rest of the flour. This loaf was yummy. I'm betting the next one will be, too.

Don't worry about my thermometer sending unit. It's already back out on the deck. Sending the temp. Reminding me this is late fall weather.

And, since you are a curious soul, be sure to read the key Scripture for today: John 6:26-40. Good bedtime meditation. Food for the soul. (To make it easy for you, just click here.)