Anyone make Sourdough Bread?

Swan_2

marrbett wrote: »

How do you keep your starter? At the moment I keep mine in a kilner jar with a piece of clingfilm loosely over the top, without the lid on.
Is it ok to put a lid on, or does it need access to air?

I keep mine in one of those jars with the wire hinges & clips

I've taken the rubber ring off to let the gas escape, so I can still clip it shut but it won't explode

marrbett

Thanks swan. Sourdough bread is the tastiest bread and so easy to make.:j

rosie383

I have been looking through, but don't have time to read the lot. I am patiently trying to make a sourdough starter and have it in the bowl about 9 days now.
It is only about a cereal bowl's worth, and isn't doing much! I had followed instructions from somewhere that said to make up water, flour and yeast mixture, and leave it in a bowl covered with a tea towl and stir it each morning. I was expecting it to grow, so put it in my biggest bowl, but after many days, and it not growing, I have put it in a smaller bowl now and reclaimed my big one back!
So far, it smells as if it is fermenting, and has a few bubbles on the top today. does that sound about right?
Do I need to start again?

[Deleted User]

I am about to bake my sourdough, at least I will bake tomorrow but this time I will only fold and leave on a sheet to rise. I am trying to use up odds and sods of various flours before ordering from shiptons again, so am feeding my starter with ciabatta flour, having saved a portion of the original in the fridge. I think I will fold dried seaweed in this time and will fold on a large tray coated with olive oil

Rosie I am assuming you started with yeast? Mine is originally from air bourne yeasts and that worked very well and has been going for several years. All is not lost, just take a bit of the starter and give it a little filtered water and a couple of tbs of flour, they like 00 flour as it makes the yeast lively. Just add a bit more flour every day or two and a bit of water. Don`t beat it, just stir gently and keep it under clingfilm or some such. I keep mine in lock and lock boxes if proving and I always leave one clip up for gas release

rosie383

Aaaah (sound of penny dropping- and echoing) so I need to give it water and flour every day? No wonder my one is still wee! I've been starving the poor thing!
Rather than taking a bit of the starter, and adding to it, can I not just add to the whole quantity that I have going? It really isn't much to start with.

[Deleted User]

yes of course you can rosie

rosie383

It's alive:T
I've been feeding it every day and have put it into a clip lock box with the lid just half clipped on.

Just had a thought.... do all you lovely people who make your own bread have a dough scraper? I've recently seen all the TV chefs using them. Before I shell out a couple of quid for one, is there an MSE alternative?

Oh, and the most important thing.... when can I start using my starter? It looks like it may be ready. Sort of bubbly looking.

rosie383

Anyone???? Can I make bread tomorrow do you think?

nuatha

rosie383 wrote: »

Just had a thought.... do all you lovely people who make your own bread have a dough scraper? I've recently seen all the TV chefs using them. Before I shell out a couple of quid for one, is there an MSE alternative?

Oh, and the most important thing.... when can I start using my starter? It looks like it may be ready. Sort of bubbly looking.

The main use I've found for a dough scraper is cleaning the bench afterwards. For years I used a short stubby cheese knife with a square ended blade and cook's knives for actually cutting dough.
More recently I've been using a large stainless steel blade which is actually part of a set for car body filling bought for about £2. They are a handy toy but are far from essential.

Usual guideline for judging if your starter is ready is whether it doubles in size after a feed.

rosie383

Thanks for the info Nuatha. I will have to have a think now about how big it was before I fed it the last time!!
It's the cleaning of the work surface after making the bread that I thought it would be most useful to have the dough scraper for. Also, when watching the Hairy Boys, it seemed useful when they were working with quite a wet dough too. I did find one on ebay for just over a pound. Might treat myself unless I can think of something that I could adapt one from!