Anyone make Sourdough Bread?

grimerking

nick_b wrote: »

I got this off the BBC website a while ago when they featured Dan Lepard on Women's Hour. It works, although I don't think the raisins and yoghurt are really necessary.

I've just mixed up the starter and will let you all know how it goes.

I had a look on Wikipedia and I think the yoghurt and fruit may help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough

Quite a few guides say to use grapes to get things started. Presumably there is a yeast that lives on fruit that will work for sourdough. Currants/sultanas are just dried out grapes, so will contain the same yeast spores.

The 'live' yoghurt will provide lacto (milk) bacteria which give the 'sourness' to the dough.

Apparently, the lacto bateria and yeast form a symbiotic relationship - i.e. the yeast produces food for the lacto bacteria and the lacto bacteria produce food for the yeast. Also, by souring the mixture, the lactobacteria prevents other organisms such as fungi colonising the mixture. This makes sourdough levain resistant to spoilage via mould, etc.

Anyway, all that is just theory. We'll have to see how things go.

radiohelen

The natural yeasts on the grapes are what you are after. You can make starter from the natural yeasts in the air - that's why San Fransisco sourdough tastes different to others...it's in the air...the problem is there isn't a lot of yeast in the air at the moment. Warmer weather is the key to a natural starter from the air. That's why people use grapes and other fruits...you are pinching other people's yeasts from warm climates

You need to keep your baby warm and feed her regularly....I had one on the go for over two years before neglect sent it to a yeasty heaven!!!! Do yeasts have a heaven? Anyway.....warmth and food. Hope it goes well.

grimerking

My starter is now two weeks old, so I'm having my first attempt at sourdough bread. I'm using a tin, because my previous attempts at 'normal' bread without a tin, ended up a bit 'flat and wide'.

This is my leaven:



My sourdough after the first rise and 'knock back'



Ready for oven.



Baked for 35 minutes



Sliced



I think it's gone quite well for a first attempt. The bread tastes nice. Although it takes a while to get the leaven going, it is definitely worth it.

OddjobKIA

Hello does anybody have the recipie and instructions for the sour bread they make on river cottage??

Penelope_Penguin

OddjobKIA wrote: »

Hello does anybody have the recipie and instructions for the sour bread they make on river cottage??

Anything here - Anyone make sourdough bread? I'll merge this thread to that one later, to keep ideas and recipes together

Penny. x

ampersand

That looks wonderful - congratulations! - another happy chance find on mse, when I'm really seeking a d/k socks pattern...:rolleyes:.
Typical mser behaviour.:D

Gigervamp

It's on the channel 4 website here.

thriftlady_2

Looks lovely;)

I've been reading up on sourdough in The River Cottage Bread Handbook. If I understand correctly in order to feed it you have to discard half of it every day and add about 100g flour. Is this right? Seems like you're throwing flour away every day to me

Penelope_Penguin

thriftlady wrote: »

I've been reading up on sourdough in The River Cottage Bread Handbook.

thriftlady, I was interested in the RC bread book (after seeing the baker Dan make the most delicious looking bread ). Is it worth getting

Penny. x

thriftlady_2

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

thriftlady, I was interested in the RC bread book (after seeing the baker Dan make the most delicious looking bread ). Is it worth getting

Penny. x

Hmm... tbh I'm not really sure Penny. I made his basic bread recipe which required the dough to be much much wetter than I'm used to. This apparently makes for better flavour. It also required a much longer rising time, also good for the development of flavour. The stickiness of the dough makes kneading difficult -I've no aversion to mess but I found it irritating to have my fingers clogged up with dough all the time. It was a good loaf but no better than my usual Delia recipe.

There are lots of variations and recipes for non-yeasted breads, cakes, biscuits, pizza and things to do with leftover bread. I haven't got round to trying any yet though.

Recipes include

tortillas
croissants
doughnuts
churros
crumpets
oatcakes
roti
lardy cakes
brown bread ice cream
pain perdu
summer pud
bread and butter pud

My advice would be to borrow it from the library first;)