The Giggle's Kitchen - Sourdough Bread
Mid-week recipe! :D
Sourdough bread.
I love sourdough bread. San-fransisco, Vancouver, or just the stuff that the grocery store bakes. I've thought about making my own sourdough for a few years but thought it was too hard to keep the yeast alive. I finally decided to make some, and it turned out that not only is sourdough delicious, it's also an awsome bread for those who don't have much. It doesn't use eggs, butter or milk, and it also has it's own self-replenishing source of yeast.
I started out surfing the net for info. This is the site I decided to use for a guide, as it was the least complicated yet still explained everything. What I'll be writing is taken from that site, and is only a rough guide. If you want to make some sourdough, be sure to use that site as well.
Most starters start out as equal amounts of flour and water, set in a warm place to for the natural yeast to grow. Because I was impatient and this was my first attempt at making sourdough starter, I used a recipe that adds domesticated yeast to the mix.
* 2 cups water
* 2 cups flour
* 2 tsp yeast
* Stir and set to rest for 24 hours. Stir and let ferment for 2-3 days.
If I did it again, I would use half of this recipe, because it's easier to handle, and more isn't needed. Because I had the extra, I made two loaves.
I mixed it together on Friday, stirred it on Saturday and started baking Monday morning. At about 10:30 I started the sponge. Sponge is your starter mixed with a cup each of warm water and flour, set to rise until it's frothy on top. After an hour mine frothed, and I left it for another half hour to develop flavour.
At noon, I started mixing the recipe on the webpage I am using as a guide.
* 2 Cups of sponge (proofed starter)
* 3 Cups of unbleached flour
* 2 tablespoons of olive oil or softened margarine
* 4 teaspoons of sugar
* 2 teaspoons of salt
My dough only took 2 1/4 cups flour, and the last quarter cup I had to knead in by dusting the sticky spots. The dough shouldn't stick or come off off the ball while kneading.
Then I lightly oiled it, set it in a bowl, covered it with a damp dishtowel and set it in the oven to rise. Then I repeated the recipe with the 2 more cups of sponge.
The leftover 2 cups or so of sponge went into a mayonnaise jar that I had sanitized with boiling water, along with a half cup each flour and water for feed. I put the starter in the fridge to keep it semi-dormant for next time.
The two loaves raised for about an hour 45min until it about doubled, then I flipped each onto the counter, punched them down and kneaded each a little more. Then I sprinkled cornmeal on a greased cookie sheet, formed the dough into round loaves with flat bottoms, and placed them on top of the cornmeal. I cut an 'x' on the top of each loaf and let the bread rise again for an hour and a half until doubled in size again.
Then I turned the oven on to 350F and baked for (30-45min)
Here is everything you need for baking sourdough bread:
Starter
1 cup flour
1 cup water
(1 tsp yeast optional)
Sponge
2 cups (or more) starter
1 cup flour
1 cup water
Bread
2 Cups of sponge (proofed starter)
3 Cups of unbleached flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil or softened margarine
4 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
cornmeal for bottoms
Because yeast is alive, the starter should to be fed once a day if at room temperature or once a week in the fridge. Feed the yeast with a cup of flour and a cup of water.
Recipe Copyright S. John Ross. I didn't make this recipe, but I sure enjoyed it.
Sourdough bread.
I love sourdough bread. San-fransisco, Vancouver, or just the stuff that the grocery store bakes. I've thought about making my own sourdough for a few years but thought it was too hard to keep the yeast alive. I finally decided to make some, and it turned out that not only is sourdough delicious, it's also an awsome bread for those who don't have much. It doesn't use eggs, butter or milk, and it also has it's own self-replenishing source of yeast.
I started out surfing the net for info. This is the site I decided to use for a guide, as it was the least complicated yet still explained everything. What I'll be writing is taken from that site, and is only a rough guide. If you want to make some sourdough, be sure to use that site as well.
Most starters start out as equal amounts of flour and water, set in a warm place to for the natural yeast to grow. Because I was impatient and this was my first attempt at making sourdough starter, I used a recipe that adds domesticated yeast to the mix.
* 2 cups water
* 2 cups flour
* 2 tsp yeast
* Stir and set to rest for 24 hours. Stir and let ferment for 2-3 days.
If I did it again, I would use half of this recipe, because it's easier to handle, and more isn't needed. Because I had the extra, I made two loaves.
I mixed it together on Friday, stirred it on Saturday and started baking Monday morning. At about 10:30 I started the sponge. Sponge is your starter mixed with a cup each of warm water and flour, set to rise until it's frothy on top. After an hour mine frothed, and I left it for another half hour to develop flavour.
At noon, I started mixing the recipe on the webpage I am using as a guide.
* 2 Cups of sponge (proofed starter)
* 3 Cups of unbleached flour
* 2 tablespoons of olive oil or softened margarine
* 4 teaspoons of sugar
* 2 teaspoons of salt
My dough only took 2 1/4 cups flour, and the last quarter cup I had to knead in by dusting the sticky spots. The dough shouldn't stick or come off off the ball while kneading.
Then I lightly oiled it, set it in a bowl, covered it with a damp dishtowel and set it in the oven to rise. Then I repeated the recipe with the 2 more cups of sponge.
The leftover 2 cups or so of sponge went into a mayonnaise jar that I had sanitized with boiling water, along with a half cup each flour and water for feed. I put the starter in the fridge to keep it semi-dormant for next time.
The two loaves raised for about an hour 45min until it about doubled, then I flipped each onto the counter, punched them down and kneaded each a little more. Then I sprinkled cornmeal on a greased cookie sheet, formed the dough into round loaves with flat bottoms, and placed them on top of the cornmeal. I cut an 'x' on the top of each loaf and let the bread rise again for an hour and a half until doubled in size again.
Then I turned the oven on to 350F and baked for (30-45min)
Here is everything you need for baking sourdough bread:
Starter
1 cup flour
1 cup water
(1 tsp yeast optional)
Sponge
2 cups (or more) starter
1 cup flour
1 cup water
Bread
2 Cups of sponge (proofed starter)
3 Cups of unbleached flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil or softened margarine
4 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
cornmeal for bottoms
Because yeast is alive, the starter should to be fed once a day if at room temperature or once a week in the fridge. Feed the yeast with a cup of flour and a cup of water.
Recipe Copyright S. John Ross. I didn't make this recipe, but I sure enjoyed it.