Question for Sourdough Bread Makers

[arbeadub]

I baked a loaf of brioche this morning to eat a serving hot from the oven, the lump of dough came from the freezer yesterday afternoon, when it thawed I mixed a little more water and unbleached flour to get it woke up. I then kneeded and put it in the baking pan, it rose overnight in the toaster oven and was baked with no preheating, I must say it was good.

 

[street]

This sourdough bread is a whole different creature than any other bread. Lol

Would like some pictures of those loafs, just appetizing looking at them. Here is one I took out a few hours ago. The last one I gave away so I needed to make one for us again.

 

[Kings over Queens]

very nice. I see the scoring too.

 

[arbeadub]

I call this bread a brioche because it made with more milk than water and Fleishmans yeast. This is whats left after lunch.

 

[street]

I call this bread a brioche because it made with more milk than water and Fleishmans yeast. This is whats left after lunch.

Looks outstanding and delicious!! Thanks for the picture.

 

[arbeadub]

I hope you keep baking, those two slices of bacon and some of your favorite tomatoes packed in to your ranch would be an exquisite lunch.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I call this bread a brioche because it made with more milk than water and Fleishmans yeast. This is whats left after lunch.

Looks good, but brioche typically has a lot of butter in it. I made a loaf for the first time 2 weeks ago. wanted to make a deconstructed lobster roll.

 

[arbeadub]

Kings over Queens, I agree with you, its not a strict recipe that I follow, its just the description that seemed closest to what I made, just more rustic.

 

[Kings over Queens]

Kings over Queens, I agree with you, its not a strict recipe that I follow, its just the description that seemed closest to what I made, just more rustic.

it looks good, would make an excellent sandwich.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

A 6 AM bake and getting more educated about this bread baking journey. I do have one more question though.

The Parchment paper is sticking on spots on the bottom of the loaf when it is done. Does anyone have a recommendation for countering this paper to sticking to the loaf of bread. It is in a small patch here and there on bottom of loaf.

Thank You all again for the coaching.

I found these pre-cut round parchment sheets on Amazon and they work really well. More stick resistant than the regular parchment sheets I get at Kroger. Ten bucks for 220 sheets, and did I say they’re round?

https://www.amazon.com/Parchment-Ba...chment+paper+sheets+round,aps,373&sr=8-6&th=1

 

[street]

I found these pre-cut round parchment sheets on Amazon and they work really well. More stick resistant than the regular parchment sheets I get at Kroger. Ten bucks for 220 sheets, and did I say they’re round?

https://www.amazon.com/Parchment-Ba...chment+paper+sheets+round,aps,373&sr=8-6&th=1

Awesome!!! I will get some. After taking every precautionary step to prevent sticking I still had a little problem again with this mornings bake. Thank You!!

Kings over Queens that look great! Again thank you the help along the way.

 

[GaryInCO]

So while I could barely detect any sourness in the smell, we sliced a bit this AM, first taste not really so sour? But a few bites in (maybe salivary glands needed to break it down a bit?), there was that definite sourdough 'tang' and complexity.

It's a function of your starter, your flour, how long you let it rise, etc. My bread has never had much of that "tang" but it's still delicious.

Also, the loaf was a bit on the dense side, the larger holes were still fairly small.

Try a bit more water. If the dough is too dry, it's too stiff for the buggies to blow big bubbles. (Big buggie bubbles??) With more water the dough gets "sloppier" and will make bigger bubbles. Your loaf should not hold its shape all that well.

I found these pre-cut round parchment sheets on Amazon and they work really well.

Those would be great for baking in a springform pan, but as I said above, my dough is usually a bit "droopy." I form it & rise it on the countertop, then scoop it onto a piece of parchment. I use the parchment as "handles" to schlep it into the Dutch oven.

@Street, I used to bake a loaf every week, but I got out of the habit last year. But I decided its time. My starter is feeding now. It's a bit whiffy though, I think the lactobacillus took over. Smells like sour milk ...

Here's one of my loaves from last year.

 

[street]

GaryInCO >>> Nice!!! The loafs always have their own unique appearance. Each has it's own character. Thanks!

 

[Chuckanut]

After three days of vigorous bubbling, my starter has gone dormant for the last 24 hours. Barely any bubbles are visible and it hasn’t risen more than 1/8 inch if that.

Baker Bettie tells us that is normal and I may have experienced a ‘false start’. Hmmm….

So, I fed it again, and just to make sure I am not left empty handed, started another batch of starter. I want to be banking some bread next week if at all possible.

 

[Kings over Queens]

you could try to inoculate the new batch with a tablespoon of the "tired" starter.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I just cut today's loaf. sorry, no picture. my son wanted slices for a sandwich which just makes me so happy. I added a tablespoon of honey to this loaf and it really made the whole wheat flour pop. I did 25 minutes in the dutchoven covered and then 25 open and an additional 5 on the rack just for some color.

soft crust, nice tight chewy but soft crumb. not your typical hard crust sourdough. really good loaf today.

 

[Chuckanut]

you could try to inoculate the new batch with a tablespoon of the "tired" starter.

Thanks. I’ll give it a try.

I guess this weekend’s bread will be my ordinary homemade bread. It’s pretty good if I say so myself. But, I really want to try the sour dough.

 

[scrinch]

I'm reading this thread and looking at your beautiful photos, salivating like Pavlov's dog at a wind chime factory!

 

[walkinwood]

A friend sent me an article that mentioned this starter that dates back to 1847!
You can get some by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope
https://carlsfriends.net/


Here's the article

 

[Trailwalker]

After three days of vigorous bubbling, my starter has gone dormant for the last 24 hours. Barely any bubbles are visible and it hasn’t risen more than 1/8 inch if that.

During the three days of vigorous bubbling and day of dormancy, were you feeding your starter and/or keeping the same ratio of starter/new flour and water? It sounds like your starter ran out of food on the fourth day.

 

[Kork13]

Thanks. I’ll give it a try.

I guess this weekend’s bread will be my ordinary homemade bread. It’s pretty good if I say so myself. But, I really want to try the sour dough.

It won't completely be the same ... but if you've saved your starter's discard, you can use it in your standard (yeast-added) bread recipe to give it some of the sourdough tang. In your standard recipe, just replace flour & water for an equal weight of your starter ... assuming a normal 50/50 starter proportion (ex: remove 100g flour & 100g water, replace with 200g starter). If you're in luck, some of the bacteria may still be alive (though starved) in your discard, and it could actually go to town & re-awaken during your (albeit shorter) rise times.

You can do this replacement in just about any recipe ... I do it with cookies, sweet breads, and just about any other flour-based baked goods that I make.

 

[Chuckanut]

During the three days of vigorous bubbling and day of dormancy, were you feeding your starter and/or keeping the same ratio of starter/new flour and water? It sounds like your starter ran out of food on the fourth day.

Absolutely. I was using the 1-3-3 ratio starting on day 4. I feed it very morning before I feed myself.

 

[ERD50]

My wife (I'm dropping the DW for now, see 'pet peeve' thread because it gets carried over to more confusing abbreviations - is DS Dear Son or Dear Sister, etc), so, as I was saying.... my wife made blueberry pancakes this AM using some of the sour dough discard. With the added blueberries, butter and syrup, it didn't really come across, but it was one cup starter with ~ 1 1/4 cup flour, so rather 'diluted'. You could pick it up, subtle though, if you took a bit w/o anything on it. And this was mixed and cooked, it relied on baking powder for the rise, so the added flour didn't get a chance to 'grow'.

No problem, it's no more work (for her!) than normal scratch pancakes, and they were good, probably just a bit better than her regular recipe. In the future, we will look for a recipe (or make up our own) using mostly/all starter, or a starter mix that sits over-night to 'develop'.

-ERD50

 

[GaryInCO]

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe

That recipe uses yeast, which seems like cheating. As a result it lets the dough rise less than 3 hours. I wouldn't think that's enough time for the sourdough flora to sufficiently process the flour, develop the sourdough tang, etc.

My normal recipe lets the dough work for 3-6 hours (depending on how long it takes to double in size), then rest 12-48 hours in the fridge.

https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/...tified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/

 

[Trailwalker]

Absolutely. I was using the 1-3-3 ratio starting on day 4. I feed it very morning before I feed myself.

Yeah, that's weird. I've never had the starter not accept a new infusion of flour and water. I wonder if if it rose up and then went back down by the time you measured it on the fourth day. I'm not sure what else could have happened.