[Homesteadingfamily] [a forum] Re: Sourdough

Hi there,

I agree that the first writer's instructions for a sourdough starter are
not going to produce anything like San Francisco sourdough. The second
writer (Linda) is correct but somehow this is not enough information for
most people who have not spent years in San Francisco's bakeries. I
have experimented with sourdough and have some suggestions for getting
your initial sourdough starter, started and getting a nice flavor much
like the SF sourdough has.

A successful sourdough starter is often many, many years old, perhaps
even as much as 100 or so. After this length of time, your starter will
likely be similar to the San Francisco culture, but of course each
culture will be somewhat unique due to the variations in climate, etc.
The trouble is really how to get a new or young culture to produce a
tasty bread similar to the old culture.

After doing extensive reading, I learned that such a starter culture as
the old San Francisco culture contains lactobacilli bacteria and in fact
that particular lactobacilli is named lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, a
particular variant of this lactic acid producing bacteria culture. So
when we leave the flour and water mixture out, open to the air, we're
hoping to catch both a suitable wild yeast that is active enough for
levening and also tastes good as well as a lactobacillus that has
similar taste qualities to the SF strain.

We _might_ get lucky but there are possibly several things working
against most people. Perhaps it's November in northern climates and
there just are no yeast spores floating around in the open air, due to
the cool, dry air in heated homes. San Francisco is surrounded by salt
water, it's a mild climate, and every day at 2:30 pm the wind shifts and
the fog rolls in. You can set your watch by it. It has it's own unique
micro climate and your home is probably not much like it.

So really I find the best thing you can do is to do this step when the
air in your home is moist and warm (in the spring). Once your fledgling
starter culture starts to bubble, then you've caught a wild yeast but
that's not the end. You need a lactobacillus bacteria as well. Where
can you get one that has a great flavor? Well, yogurt has it. So
cheat. Take a spoonful of your favorite plain yogurt and add it so as
to innoculate your starter with this culture.

Now, you've got the essential culture components but what you still
don't have is the proper acidity so that only the correct yeast and
lactobacillus grows and not bad things like mold for example. How can
you get the acidity? Add vinegar. I like to go to a store that sells
organic products and buy a cider vinegar that has a mother in the
bottom. I shake this vinegar up and put a spoonful into the young
starter to give it the right acidity and also it adds a little of the
mother and that helps the starter culture.

Lastly, maybe a slight shake of salt into your starter but not much.
Now, it's bubbling and it also has all the right stuff in it to produce
a nice flavored bread.

From here, you can follow other people's recommendations on how to
remove half your starter after 2 weeks in the refrigerator and replace
it with water and flour. I prefer flour that doesn't have additives
such as unbleached flour.

Alternately, you can do like I do. I leave my starer in a loosely
covered jar on top of the refrigerator or on a high shelf to stay nice
and warm. Every day, I add a spoonful of flour and if it needs it, I
also add water. This should be like a batter. When I get too much
starter, I use a cookie sheet and some baking rings to make English
muffins from 100% starter. They are really wonderful, ... nice and
sour. Just add your spoonful of flour to feed it before using it for
the muffins. Then put your baking rings on a cookie sheet and fill them
half full with this starter. Let it rise until it's full, level with
the top (doubled in bulk). Then bake at 400F until done.

With your culture fed every day, it will be very active and will make a
nice bread pretty fairly quickly. Still, sourdough takes time to
develop the flavor and it's also slower to leaven than regular
commercial yeast. My favorite way to make bread with this is to use a
standard bread machine set to "dough." It generally takes two cycles to
get the dough active enough and having a nice flavor. Sometimes if my
starter culture has been refrigerated, I sometimes have to run it
through 3 cycles. So make a dough with one cycle and when it's done,
just reset it for another dough cycle and let it run again.

Then once your sponge (dough rising in a bowl) becomes very active, then
you can make any loaves you like. Shape the loaves, let it rise in a
warm spot, then bake it. If you like the SF sourdough style crusty
bread, you can follow the instructions given by the previous writers for
the pan of water, etc. Some folks instead just take a mister filled
with water and open the oven door occasionally and give it a mist. By
varying this amount and frequency, you can make it have the crust you
like. Practice makes perfect. I personally don't like crispy crusts
like this but to each his own.

Some people bake bread in a basket or slash the dough on top. This is
all part of the bread maker's art. Crusts too. I just prefer a nice
flavor with a chewy crust, but that's me.

Good luck. I hope this is clear but you can write to me off-list if I
don't see your queries on list.

-Paw, Doomer in Chief
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brierpatch/

--- In another forum, "Lynda" wrote:
>
> This won't make a sourdough starter. This is a biga. The way Italians
> generally start their bread. the recipe that follows is also an Italian
> bread recipe.
>
> A true San Francisco sourdough starter is unbleached flour and water and it
> is set out for days to gather yeast from the air. Generally a crock is
> used.
>
> The bread itself is flour, water, starter and salt. That's it.
>
> To get a good crust, preheat your oven to 450. put a pan under the rack you
> are going to bake your bread on. When you put the loaf in the oven (on a
> cookie sheet), dump 4 or 5 ice cubes in the tray. Turn the oven down to 425
> for about 15-20 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 400 and continue to
> bake (the time will depend on your location, type of flour, and where you
> are from sea level). A real sourdough bread can take up to 60 minutes to
> bake.
>
> I was born in San Francisco. Grew up around the city and had the good
> fortune to have spent a lot of time in the kitchens of some of the great
> restaurants in the city.
>
> Lynda

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "bina...."
>
>
> > Sourdough Starter
> > 1 pkg of yeast
> > 1 Tbsp sugar
> > 2 cups of warm water divided
> > 2 cups of flour
> > Disolve sugar and yeast into 1/2 cup of water. Stir the remaining water
> > and flour. Add yeast mixture and mix thouroughly. Let stand overnight in
> > a warm place.
> > To replenish add equal parts of water and flour to the starter. So if you
> > use a cup of starter you put in a cup of replenishments.
> > Keep in fridge.
> >
> >
> > San Fransico Sour Dough Bread
> >
> > Mix 1 cup of starter and flour, and let rise overnight in a warm spot.
> > About 85 degrees is perfect.
> > Add 1 cup of warm milk and stir a little then add 1 Tbsp of sugar and 1
> > tsp of salt. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time to form a managable dough.
> > Knead 10 to `15 minutes until silky and smooth. Let rise in a greased
> > bowl about 6-8 hours till at least double. Punch down and shape into a
> > french loaf for a finer bread rise twice in the bowl before shaping.
> > Let loaf rise, slash the top, brush with egg wash . Bake at 400 degrees
> > for 25 minutes. Bread is done when it thumps hollow.
> > Placing a pan of salted water on the bottom rack to give a more chewy
> > crust.
> >
> > No more buying yeast.
> > Cheers
> > Bina