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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 30, 2018 9:47:35 GMT
I love a challenge...there is a show on tv about consumer protection probably aimed at doddering oldies like myself, I sometimes catch it if I'm feeling particularly slovenly  Anyhoo...there was a report about sourdough bread being good for people suffering from IBS/crohns disease....the report covering the fact that several supermarkets are selling products labelled as sourdough which aren't actually sourdough... I thought I'd give it a go as there's so little my lovely son can eat without having pain. I've made a starter...blooming thing is alive I swear...I shall add to this thread as I go...there are lots of recipes but I shall concentrate on the starter first... 100 g strong white bread flour 125 ml warm water Mix thoroughly until smooth, pour into a litre capacity container (that has a lid) Leave at approx 25C for one hour with the lid off Seal the lid closed and leave for 24 hours. After 24 hours remove half the mixture (I threw it away but in theory you could use it it to begin another culture I suppose) and add 100 g strong white bread flour and 125 g warm water, mix well. Leave at 25C with the lid off for an hour then seal. Repeat the above every day for 6 days On day 7 it's ready for use... To be continued (I'm only on day 2 ) |
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Post by lagatta on Apr 30, 2018 12:04:14 GMT
That is interesting. I make bread and pizza with poolish, which is sort of the first step of the starter, adding a very small amount of yeast. I find even that much more digestible than other bread. I've read that a lot of people who think they are gluten-intolerant are also simply unable to digest quick-rise industrial bread. I have some going right now.
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Post by bjd on Apr 30, 2018 14:32:20 GMT
My son makes his own sourdough bread, both in Canada (no decent bread available nearby) and in Scotland. He begins with a starter using yeast, flour and water the first time, then just keeps a bit of the dough for the next starter, and so on. It doesn't take a week. I only know this because we were talking about it last week.
He also uses a mixture of 1/3 white flour and 2/3 other flour to make more of a wholemeal-type bread. Adds seeds of various kinds (sunflower, poppy, unsalted pistachios -- whatever he finds or feels like using). His bread is delicious.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 1, 2018 21:24:32 GMT
I admire people who eat any sort of bread, although I am not one of them. I will buy bread if I have guests and I will eat it when I go to a restaurant, but I have never been attracted to it, which explains why I almost never eat sandwiches.
At the same time, I have absolutely nothing against bread. When my mother was living with me for a year while I was getting her set up for a nursing home, I went down to the bakery every single morning to buy a baguette, and I was quite happy to eat it with her for breakfast. And then I would also buy bread for dinner. The moment she moved out, I stopped eating bread. I would estimate that I buy perhaps one baguette a month.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 1, 2018 21:35:36 GMT
He begins with a starter using yeast, flour and water the first time I read the other day that the starters that begin with commercial yeast eventually are the same as the ones started with wild yeasts from the air. In honor of Cheery the Scientist, I found something to back that up scientifically: www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10156/sourdough-starter-made-commercial-yeast |
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Post by bixaorellana on May 1, 2018 21:46:25 GMT
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Post by bjd on May 2, 2018 5:35:12 GMT
I didn't read the whole article, but what my son uses he calls "levain", which is the French term for starter/yeast starter/sourdough, even though his bread is never sour.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 2, 2018 6:32:18 GMT
Sourdough is just a name for the same thing as levain. Sourdough/levain bread is not sour, though.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 2, 2018 8:11:56 GMT
Love the articles Bixa dear. I think that a good, fresh crusty bread slathered with butter with a chunk of mature Cornish cheddar has to be my favourite food of all. I've enjoyed baking for years but my bread making was never brilliant...I bought myself a good mixer and it's better now. However I've stuck to making a basic white farmhouse loaf and wanted to experiment with other processes. I like the idea of using the wild yeast produced simply by mixing flour and water rather than using dried yeast...It feels quite grown up. I'm still splitting the mixture every morning, chucking half and adding fresh flour and water...
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Post by bixaorellana on May 2, 2018 15:38:59 GMT
Besides it being satisfying to have a starter made completely with wild yeast, I would think the wild yeast starter would be even better in warding off digestive problems. Apparently, it might take a few months for the commercial yeast-started starter to finish converting to a completely wild starter.
I do like baking, although seldom do it because of the inadequacies of Mexican ovens. Even though most of the stoves sold in the US are made in Mexico, the ones sold here are hugely lacking in oven insulation -- in fact, usually the oven door doesn't even close tightly enough. I did the sheet of paper test on mine before buying, but the front of the stove and the oven door still get too hot to touch when the oven is in use. So, the wasting of lots of gas when using my oven and the fact that I have a wonderful bakery* a block away that specializes in sourdough bread means that I buy rather than bake.
*https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150801-d10103108-Reviews-Pan_Con_Madre-Oaxaca_Southern_Mexico.html
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 3, 2018 19:42:39 GMT
Ethelbread the Unready is quietly festering away......hopefully will start making bread on Sunday...there are very long proving times so I'll probably bake it on Monday morning.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 3, 2018 19:48:06 GMT
Best name & title ever!  |
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 3, 2018 19:56:25 GMT
>dimples< Why Thank You  |
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Post by questa on May 4, 2018 10:38:00 GMT
How can you eat it when you have given it such a brilliant name?
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Post by bixaorellana on May 4, 2018 16:04:57 GMT
Ahhh ~ but unlike its name inspiration who was known (unfairly) as bumbling along, this Ethelbread will continue bubbling and thriving, anon and ever.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 5, 2018 8:35:40 GMT
Bixa dear my sourdough guru, may I ask your advice? (I'm going to anyway)...how do I maintain Ethelbread long term? do I just carry on dividing and feeding every day? (except bake day when I'll use half the mixture). I'm quite happy to do so. I read that if I'm away for a week I can feed him once and then store in the fridge for a week...
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Post by bixaorellana on May 5, 2018 13:30:03 GMT
Yikes! It's been many a long year since I maintained a starter. Mainly I remember that it wasn't a very scientific process and that because of where I was living, it was more a question of keeping it warm enough rather than having to slow it down. Since you started this thread I have been reading a bunch about sourdough, partly because I was surprised at how much is out there about the subject. What I came away with was that the real gurus are pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Also, many of the home cooks seem to utilize the daily throw-away portion of their starters in small batches of pancakes or muffins. This woman is terrifyingly wholesome, but I think her pared-down advice makes the most sense and is the easiest to follow: Storing your starter at room temperature on the counter can work well if you plan to bake daily. The starter will need fed once or twice a day, depending on how warm it is (remember that warmer temperatures mean more active, hungrier microbes), but it’ll always be active and ready to use.
Storing your starter in the refrigerator works well if you don’t want to feed it daily and won’t bake daily.
I keep mine in the refrigerator for that reason. After I use it for mixing up doughs and batters, I feed it a little and then place it in the refrigerator to snooze. When I need it, I pull it out, feed it again, and let it warm up at room temperative for a few hours before mixing so that it can perk back up and become more active. source |
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Post by bjd on May 5, 2018 16:44:05 GMT
I can add that when my son doesn't make bread daily, he leaves his starter in the fridge, where it can stay for quite a few days.
He also told me just a few weeks ago that he doesn't scrape the bowl in which he mixes his dough (he has a KitchenAid in Canada but just mixes by hand in Edinburgh), and the dough left on the bowl is enough to make a new loaf. It doesn't take much -- I saw him do it.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 6, 2018 19:22:46 GMT
Well I made my first loaf today, it tastes quite nice and has a consistency similar to ciabata. It didn't stay in a nice plump round tho but spread quite flat, so I either overmixed it or the dough was too soft/wet. It's a learning curve...popped Ethelbread into the fridge as it was so warm here today. Plan to make another loaf later in the week. Might take a picture...if there's any left...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 7, 2018 16:40:32 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on May 7, 2018 17:17:29 GMT
Bread of thy hearth!
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Post by bjd on May 7, 2018 17:53:52 GMT
Then it must be delicious because it sure looks good.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 7, 2018 18:32:01 GMT
Thank you xxx it's gone already...made chicken soup for dinner and we finished the loaf. Son loved it so I'll be making more on Wednesday. |
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Post by kerouac2 on May 10, 2018 17:15:39 GMT
Did it rise more?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 13, 2018 18:51:14 GMT
Nope. Since I was last on anyport I bought myself a proving basket and have experimented with making smaller loaves. I thought that the weight was making them cow-pat shaped. However, the smaller ones (made two so far)hold their shape slightly better but on the whole cowpats continue to be the predominant shape. Ethelbread the Unbready (the starter) is now in a big kilner jar and bubbling away like a good 'un..fed him this morning after I'd made the daily loaf He's going into the fridge for a few days as I don't want everybody to get bored... |
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Post by bjd on May 13, 2018 19:30:55 GMT
Perhaps if you bake it in a pan it will rise up rather than spreading?
You could also prevent boredom (though it's unlikely anyone would be bored with home-made bread) by adding different flours to the basic white one, or some seeds.
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Post by questa on May 13, 2018 23:07:28 GMT
I used to make all our bread when the kids were young. If you want a flattish loaf for mopping up stews and soups use a tray for baking. You can limit the spread by putting the dough onto a very hot tray then into a hot oven. If you want a loaf to make sandwiches you do need a proper straight sided pan. Making a log shaped loaf after the 2nd rising, or bun shapes, make diagonal slash cuts across the top. These open while baking and allow the loaf to reach maximum height.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 14, 2018 13:28:29 GMT
Thanks for the advice both...it's a learning curve |
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 19, 2018 20:57:22 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on May 22, 2018 14:25:01 GMT
That one looks great!
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Anyhoo...there was a report about sourdough bread being good for people suffering from IBS/crohns disease....the report covering the fact that several supermarkets are selling products labelled as sourdough which aren't actually sourdough...
