Anyone make Sourdough Bread?

bitsandpieces

Kevie192 wrote: »

Food poisoning? Oh dear... You've scared me now, might give it a miss!!!

I haven't heard of this happening, but I think it would be theoretically possible - the idea is that, when the starter is developed enough, there will be enough 'good' organisms to keep out the 'bad'. You did say the worst thing that can happen, though!

Kevie192

I have been looking on eBay and found this starter for sale... The lady says she uses grape skins to provide the yeast.

Is this necessary or will a starter with just flour/water be just as good but take longer?

Kevin x

bitsandpieces

Kevie192 wrote: »

I have been looking on eBay and found this starter for sale... The lady says she uses grape skins to provide the yeast.

Is this necessary or will a starter with just flour/water be just as good but take longer?

Kevin x

Not necessary. Using grapes will give you the wild yeasts from wherever the grapes were grown and speed things up a bit. Using flour/water will give you the wild yeasts from wherever you are. Both will work and will give you slightly different cultures (at least to start with).

dogstarheaven

thanks for your replies folks

i'm a bit of a blonde when it comes to doing anything new and challenging.. but after reading bitsandpieces link for a recipe, it states that you need to make a starter and a 'sponge'. this is really confusing as i really don't know what is going on???

let me tell you firstly, after the about 3days worth of 'bread neglect' i decided to put it in the fridge as to stop it from activating too much, but then it proved to have not quelled its sour-y stench. so it came out yesterday daytime and half emptied and fed as normal. this afternoon, the souriness is still there but not as pungent. the consistency isn't as thick like it was and it's now more like a thickish batter-like. it's had a fair few amount of bubblies in it too, and is very much lighter.

now, what do i do with this now?? looking on the above recipe http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm it's all starts to get confusing for me???

can i make my bread now. if so, can someone literally type out a straightforward recipe i can use with my starter pls.. thankyou.

bitsandpieces: i can't follow the recipe - can you help me pls???

the water i used was 'pure' water, as in boiled and then cooled down.


ps. would love to know how to post a pic, but dunno how to - help anyone pls??

kymbogs

Afternoon all,

I read months ago about making sourdough and since then have intended to get the 'starter' going but for some reason never actually did it, even though the ingredients were readily available and it sounded so simple!

I finally got off my bum and made the flour and water mix on Sunday. The instructions said it could take anything from a few hours to a few days to start showing signs of life but for some reason I was really disappointed when I didn't see any change on Monday morning!

This morning, it really is alive, and I've started thinking of it as...a....well, a pet! I need to feed it and keep it in a warm place and look after it. I'm cultivating wild yeasts! And possibly going insane.

Does anybody else have a pet sourdough starter they enjoy taking care of?

Love a slightly doolally Kymbogs x

zippychick

Hi Kymbogs

thankfully there is a whole thread about making sourdough bread - so have a read and i will merge this later on for you

also - sourdough starter - can it be frozen?YES IT CAN

thanks
Zip

radiohelen

kymbogs wrote: »

Does anybody else have a pet sourdough starter they enjoy taking care of?

I have recently started a new batch of starter. I did it a few years ago and kept it alive for a couple of years before I got slack and failed to feed my baby.

This time I shall be a better "keeper of the yeast"! I love feeding her and using half to make pancakes when there is no bread required. I love feeding her titbits to make life more interesting, grapes here and there, fruit from the garden, peppers etc.....

I will also make sure I freeze some as a back up and I've got a friend who has offered to yeast sit when I go away.....

You are not alone - sourdough people tend to be a bit barmy.

MirjamL

well my mom makes sourdough bread. Real black bread. Yum yum. Just asked her today how to make my starter. Well she said, just make your loafs ready, then crumble some of your bread in to container (what ever you choose) add water and let it be. After few days it should be ready to use. next time you can start feeding it properly, but well first bread i have to make with yeast. PS! Went to sainsbury's today and got 100g of LIVE FRESH yeast for 32p i am soooo happy. i have searched so long for fresh live yeast, and now i got it. yay Now i am off to bake

Seakay

I made a starter from flour and water. Once it was going and had been used to make the sponge for the first loaf I kept it in a jar in the fridge and just got it out to kmake an overnight sponge when I wanted to make a loaf.

hotcookie101

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone has made the sourdough recipe from river cottage everyday? I have my starter-its been bubbling away for 8 days now, so planning on making my first loaf overnight

Just a question(or two:o) I presume when I take out my 100ml starter to make the overnight sponge I then feed the starter and add water like before (so instead of binning half I am using half then feeding?)

I am going away in a week or so-can I keep my starter in the fridge and just give it a feed before I go? We are away for 2 weeks. Have used large amounts of nice flour in this so don't want to lose it!! He mentions freezing the starter-can I do this in 100mls amounts to make the sponge or would I need to wake it up and feed it when I defrost?

Thanks for any advice, sorry for all the questions