Sourdough, Continued

The loaves were awesome.

I will just start there. I've never made real bread before (breadmaker only) and I've never touched sourdough before. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. But the loaves were awesome. 

I decided to follow a no-knead recipe, and because I only use whole wheat flour in my kitchen, I wanted whole wheat loaves. Most WW recipes are actually half AP, half WW, but I go whole hog. I just added some vital wheat gluten to balance it out, and, like I said:  awesome. 

I fed, I saved discards, and I fed some more. I made pizza dough and bread dough. I kneaded (pizza only). Everything rose and rose again (jesus bread!). I shaped, slashed, and tossed both loaves on a pizza stone. I sliced and I enjoyed. 

Things I Learned and Ideas for Next Time:

1) Sourdough breadmaking is a lengthy process. Two loaves seemed more efficient for all the work I was putting in. Next time, I might try turning discard into another starter and staggering two loaves and two loaves, making more to freeze. 

2) The whole wheat loaf was dense but delicious. I have no qualms continuing to make all-WW loaves. I just want to become more familiar with how sourdough yeast and WW interact--it can move faster through a feeding, so times might be different between feedings.

3) Further research confirmed that a feeding consists of about 1/2 cup water and just under 1 cup of flour. My starter was very thick, so I would like to see if a thinner starter affects the density of the bread. 

4) Shake the starter all you want, but don't put it in an airtight container. 

5) I think I should have split the dough, shaped it, and then let it rise again, instead of shaping and putting it right in the oven. It didn't rise much while baking. 

6) The pizza dough was meh. I put it in the fridge after the first rise and found it difficult to work with the dough upon retrieval. Not much rise, and not a spectacular taste. I froze the second half of the batch, so we'll see if it is better than the prior batch. 

I am hoping to pull the starter out of the fridge, procure more flour, and get 4 more loaves in the fridge/freezer this week--but in the meantime, I give myself a +1 to sourdough. 

Sourdough Starter

Back around Halloween, a friend of mine gifted me with a jar of sourdough starter. I have a little kit for  sourdough, but the activation instructions were a little daunting. I didn't feel ready to invest time in the process and I hadn't yet gotten around to making it, despite my interest. I did, however, recognize how much time, care, and effort went into my jar and how generous the gift was. I was incredibly excited.

So excited that I went home, put the jar in the fridge, and promptly didn't feed it for two months. 

That's not how to do it. 

With some time off, I thought I would get back to the starter so that I could make and freeze a few loaves. I pulled the starter out of the fridge to feed it. It had a thick layer of liquid on top, so I shook it to incorporate. Then I started to open it. I noted the lid was convex, and heard the pressure noises as I eked open the lid. Sourdough shot up to the top of the jar and started to overflow. Stupidly, I figured I just needed to vent it more. The lid shot off and the starter shot out, landing all over my shirt, pants, countertop, floor, and eyeball. 

Everything was covered in tangy flour yeast water. 

I didn't take pictures of the carnage, but it was impressive. I cleaned it up, saved 4oz of starter, and proceeded to feed it. Research indicated that the liquid is normal and I can pour it back in. Or that the liquid is hooch created by starving yeast, so I should pour it off and feed my starter more often. So, I am not sure. Three  sources yielded different instructions on how to feed:  by weight or measuring cup, which means either 1:1 ratio water and flour with a measuring cup, or 1:2 water and flour by weight. I added a second half cup of flour, convinced that I was feeding it wrong, but most sources seem to say 1:1 ratio. It's a little dry, so I am inclined to agree. I even found differences in how often to feed refrigerated starter:  every week, every month, every 1-3 months. I am going to try to trust my Mother Earth News article and work from that. 

At any rate, I am hoping to bake two no-knead loaves on Friday, provided I havent't killed my starter. I will be sure to post any updates to Project:  Sourdough.

But maybe don't shake your starter. 

Beans and Potatoes

I learned an old bit of wisdom the other day:  put the beans in between the potatoes and you won't have any issues with bean beetles.