Sourdough

[CMP69]

I'm on day 3 of my starter, it appears to be doing OK, being impatient, how long to I need to wait to use it, just til bubbling, or does it need to blip away like boiling porridge, or do I just have to [yawn] wait NINE whole days!!

I posted this on the general food thread on Monday, but got no replies.

Now on day 5 and starter is good and bubbly, was almost frothy on the top today.
I admit to mot being much of a baker, generally too fiddly, but I reeeaallly want to make bread, so I am open to all suggestions/advice/tips

Started with 300g whole meal flour and 300 mls water, then siscarding 1/2 and adding 100g flour and (about) 100mls water. I so excited!

I've got some starter resting in the fridge for a few months now. Do you think it is still alive? Am going to do some more sourdough once DS1's birthday party is done. I like sourdough. It's magic.

I once had a starter in the back of the fridge that had been ignored for a few months; it was grey, separated into liquid/solid and smelt of nail polish remover, really disgusting!
Just out of interest, I discarded most of it and stirred a couple of spoons of flour in. It sprung back to life in a day or two, I fed it daily for a week then made bread with it - it tasted great, no one was ill!
Worth trying to restart it, even if it's only an interesting experiment!

I have just resurrected mine from the back of the fridge, it had been there at least 6 months! I scraped off the manky grey and black top, fed it and put it in the airing cupboard, - wow, 24 hours later its bubbling well and smells good.

I am ordering a banneton and a stone baking dome too as I love sourdough bread. I really want to make sourdough english muffins, they were so wonderful in Canada I bought back 36 in my case!

Oh its ready to go in the oven! I'll let you know if it works [hmmm]

Exciting!

Well the bread was OK, stuck a bit at the bottom, but the rolls were inedible, the crust was rock hard Will try again later in the week

Oh no!

Did you bake it really hot? I think, if I'm not mistaken, that you need high temperature and short baking time for rolls. And if you want a soft crust cover it with a tea towel after you've taken them out. I do find my sourdough tend to have thicker crust. Not sure why.

As for sticking, I find that my loaves don't stick if I grease the tin with butter and then shake some flour on. Sometimes I use non-stick paper or silicon lining.

Oh I just chucked out my first and only starter which had gone dry and grey from neglect in the fridge - sounds like it could have been resurrected?,

A question for all the bakers - my starter was in many respects fab - great lift, vigorous, tasty etc... However it was very very very sour... To the point where DP wasn't so keen on it, and even I found it a bit much sometimes. Does anyone know, if I start another starter is it likely to be very different? Is all sourdough very sour? I know the sourness can be controlled to some extent by managing rising time and temp, but mine was too sour regardless of anything I tried (not possible to rise it quick enough to be mild iykwim).

By the way could this be the cause of the thick crust a pp mentioned? Longer rise time and the crust a little drier than with commercial yeast?

I don't like sour sourdough either - bought ones tend to be too sour for my taste. I do Dan Lepard's starter and it works great - enough of a taste of sourdough without it being too much. Not sure how you control it - I just follow instructions ...

On a happier note, DH and DS love the slightly stodgy bread, so all is not lost, will get the stater out ready for another try on Friday. I think the rolls had dried out a bit when the were proving, so will cover them next time. Just baked a round loaf on a stone this time, might try a tin/baking tray next to see if that solves the sticking problem.
Baked at preheated to 230 and then reduced to 200, for 20 mins for the rolls and 35 for the bread.
Any thoughts??

I've got a fan oven. I bake loaves at about 200 (so 220 for non-fan ovens) for 15 minutes and 180 for 25 minutes - the oven is quite fierce. I bake rolls at 200 for 20-25 minutes (about burger bun size - shorter time for smaller rolls), take them out on to racks, and put a tea towel over them while they cool. They are usually quite soft.

Thanks Copper will bear that in mind

Also try chucking a load of boiling water into a hot tray in the bottom of the oven just before you put in the bread - this creates a load of steam which helps the final rise, and improves crust texture (hugely - I was really impressed!).

Well 2 small seeded loaves worked really well in tins, thanks for the tips ladies. My bread making journey continues ....

Gonna try sourdough crumpets for breakfast, has anyone elase made these?

You are on a roll, CMP69. Not tried sourdough crumpet, only "conventional" ones. Nice, but not sufficiently different for me to do again too often.

We have two choc chip brioche loaves in the oven right now though.

Any advice - I have a couple of plastic sachets of some liquid sourdough stuff that a friend brought back from Germany. Only I don't know German, and have very little time for loving nurturing of tricky things at the mo (small baby, so not tending to bake that often as I run out of time and then it's ruined).

I'm assuming this stuff is some sort of starter, but what am I supposed to do with it?