Sourdough Success
I've been nurturing a sourdough starter for a few weeks to see if I could start one from scratch (just flour +water + natural yeast in the air) and I finally baked with it yesterday.
It took 3 hours for the dough to rise but it actually worked and I had delicious sourdough whole wheat roles (see my blog at www.cheesenbread.wordpress.com for more)
Any idea how to get my starter to work faster?
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8 Comments:
Add yeast.
/snark
bravian at 10:58AM on 05/09/09
(but in all seriousness)
Initially I had some issues getting a starter going but realized I was overthinking it.
I stopped with measuring and just put flour and water together. Just enough for the flour to hold together but still a bit wet. And I just covered the small bowl it was in with just a loose towel. Within a day I could see the bubbling effect of the yeast working. I moved it to a fruit jar with a seal and mixed in a bit more flour. And then it went nuts. I fed it a couple more times and used it. From start to using it for a loaf of bread was less than a week.
bravian at 11:08AM on 05/09/09
Sourdough breads tend to rise slower in my experience. I suspect it's because the strains of wild yeast simply tend to have a slower metabolism. It will, of course, rise faster if you add commercial yeast, and there aren't really any rules when it comes to bread.
Nicholas H at 2:02PM on 05/09/09
hey cheeseman, i tried to find your blog, couldn't find it..... you never answered my CHEESE questions.... are you for real????
pooch at 5:12PM on 05/09/09
Pooch - Of course I am for real. What kind of not-real person would spend so much time making cheese and bread. My blog is at: http://cheesenbread.wordpress.com/
cheeseman at 4:35PM on 05/10/09
Thanks Bravian and nicholas! Very helpful.
cheeseman at 4:37PM on 05/10/09
why thank you cheeseman! i'll check it out..... by the way, my feta was, ugh, a disaster. it melted in the brine. next time i'll stick to the fresh cheese.... and work my way up.
have you had any success with feta????
pooch at 6:07PM on 05/10/09
I am so jealous! I tried this recently and at first my starter was doing great. Nice and bubbly. But it must have gotten some bacterial contamination because all of the sudden one day it had a FOUL smell. I had to pitch it. :( But you are now my inspiration to try again!
ProfessorChaos at 1:41PM on 05/11/09