Right off the bat, I knew that I wanted to make sourdough bread. My mom used to make it when we were growing up but hasn't in years and years. So, I started reading and researching the way I tend to do. Then I jumped right in and made my starter.
What I learned was that this was not the easiest place to start in the realm of bread baking. I had loaf after loaf that I felt were failures due to what was probably a lazy starter. So I used it up to make some pizza crusts and then made a new starter.
I made one set of loaves using a little bit of commercial yeast in the recipe a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty excited about this.
Then, I found a post on the King Arthur Flour Baker's Banter blog that had me inspired to try it again with no commercial yeast help... just my starter, some water, flour, a little sugar and salt.
LOOK WHAT I DID!!!
Saturday
7 a.m. Remove starter from refrigerator.
8 a.m. Feed starter with 1 cup flour & 1/2 cup room temperature water.
6 p.m. Combine 1 cup starter with 1 1/2 cups water and 3 cups flour.
10 p.m. Refrigerate.
Sunday
9 a.m. Add 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, and 2 tsp. salt. and knead for a sweet forever.
2 p.m. Shape loaves.
6 p.m. Bake at 350 - 400 F for 30 minutes or so.
7 p.m. Enjoy!
This is what worked for me. For more Works for me Wednesday posts, go visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family. She's starting to bake bread, also.
Oh YUM!! Why oh why can't I reach through the screen and get some? They just look beautiful too!
ReplyDeleteYummy!
ReplyDeleteOH MY....your bread is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a post about sourdough starters. I will tweet when it's finally posted, should be sometime next week.
I was just thinking I want to figure out how to make starter so we can have some sourdough! Where do I start? Great job!!
ReplyDeleteYUM!!! I am so impressed! Did you buy your starter or start it from scratch?
ReplyDeleteWow! You are fearless to start your baking odyssey with sour dough! These turned out beautifully!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your sourdough starter is still a bit young, yes?
ReplyDeleteI started my own starter about a year ago, and it took a month or two to really get the kind of rise I wanted in a loaf of bread. After a year, it's even more reliable. I also use no commercial yeast.
I don't follow the feeding schedule you do. I take mine out of the fridge when I need to, usually first thing in the morning, feed it, and as soon as it's doubled or tripled in volume, use it to make a batch of whatever. I've had no problem doing it this way.
Granted, I may have warmer temperatures than you do - room temperature here is around 30-35C.
Good luck with your sourdough! It only gets better!
Ooooh....those look great!!! I may have to try this out!!
ReplyDeleteThey look gorgeous! I think your efforts finally paid off.
ReplyDeleteThose look beautiful! I am going to have to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I've been looking for easy instructions for sourdough--with the proof you posted I'll do it your way! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS! I'm soo glad you finally got it right and posted it! haha teasing you only because i'm dying to make my own now! Ok Donna linked here and so did I. We are having a Bread Week... some come link up so we can all praise one another and make one anothers goodies!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://bunny-trails.blogspot.com/2009/04/bread-week.html
Beautiful bread! I have good memories of my mom teaching me how to make sourdough bread as a girl. She had her starter for years and we used it to make everything, my favorite was sourdough waffles!
ReplyDeleteOk you've inspired me. Got to make my own starter now!
ReplyDeleteThat looks great!! I just got a book from the library on bread machine recipes and a sourdough recipe is bookmarked. I'm glad you persevered through the flops because you're bread looks beautiful (and I'm sure it tastes great too).
ReplyDeleteThese loaves of bread are front page of the local papers gorgeous... yuuuuuum.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet your bread tastes as good as it looks! Molly@KAF
ReplyDeleteYour bread is absolutely beautiful!! Looks as lovely as anything found in a bakery. You've done a terrific job of achieving a nice, crusty loaf. Perfect for dipping into soup.
ReplyDeleteAnd a comment from someone at KAF? How cool! We love KAF here and I've been to their classes a couple of times here.
Thanks for joining in Bread Week!! :D
Congratulations, Donna! And even with a starter! I thought I would be doing good if I attempted to make bread with commercial yeast :)
ReplyDeleteWow...this was just beautiful! And the starter process looked so easy! Thanks for sharing...I'm going to try this instead. Will let you know how it goes!
ReplyDelete