Simply enjoy food

So I've started baking sourdough again.

This time, I have been having success using stone-ground Whole Wheat flour and a 100 per cent hydration starter.

I found a nice warm spot for my starter to grow - on top of the television receiver box. The temperature is perfect and stable. I feed my starter at a 1-to-6 or 1-to-7 ratio and it can double in about six hours.

To make this bread today, I fed my started before going to bed last night and started the dough when I got up. I started the bread at 7 AM and it was out of the oven before 11 AM.

Here are the ingredients and method:

For every 100 grams of (stone ground whole wheat) starter, I added 180 grams of water and 6 grams of salt. I stirred that around for a minute to distribute everything around.

I added 100 grams of unbleached white flour and then 183 grams of whole wheat flour per hundred grams of starter. I stirred with a spoon to involve all the flour and let it sit, covered in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

I did three stretch and folds over the next hour or so. I let the dough proof for another 40 minutes - until the 2 hour mark.

I shaped the dough into a boule and placed it upside down on a flour covered cloth in a bowl. I covered the bowl and let that rise for 60 minutes.

I preheated the oven 30 minutes before baking. I use a baking stone.

I flipped the boule onto a sheet of parchment paper, scored it with a tomato knife and then put it in the oven. I baked it at maximum temperature for 8 minutes covered with an Aluminium roasting pan so as to reflect the heat and trap the steam.

I removed the roasting pan turned down the heat to 350 and baked for 12 minutes. I rotated the bread 180 degreed and baked for another 10 minutes.

I cooled it for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Yes, that's a can of tomato soup in the background. I did some grocery shopping while the boule was rising and I was too lazy to clear off the countertop to take the photo. The point is, you don't have to waste half your day to bake a loaf of bread. It only takes a few moments here and there spread over a few hours.

It ends up being a 69 per cent hydration, 70 per cent Whole Wheat bread. The ratio is 1 : 1.8 : 2.83 : 0.06 (starter:water:flour:salt).

I will submit this to YeastSpotting

What could be better than the tart sour flavor of apple mixed with sweetness from brown sugar and cinnamon? The complex flavor of sourdough, of course.

Ingredients:

500 grams of sourdough.
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 green apple (tart)
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

I used a 66 per cent hydration dough with a very small amount of rye flour in it. You can build it the same day for a more subtle flavor or let it rise in the refrigerator overnight to increase the sour taste.

Roll it out flat as a rectangle on a floured surface. Put the butter in a microwave-safe measuring cup and melt it (about 25 seconds). Cut the apple into small pieces, either slices or cubes. Add the brown sugar, lime juice, apple and cinnamon to the butter. Mix.

Spread half of the apple filling onto the bottom surface of a 9x9 square baking pan. Use a dab of butter to grease the sides of the pan all the way up on each side. Spread the other half of the filling onto the rolled out dough and roll it up. Dust the roll with flour and make sure it's not sticking to the work surface. Pack the ends together to make an even shape. measure out three equal pieces and then slice the roll up into nine even pieces. Add each piece to the bottom of the pan as you slice it. You may have to squeeze in the last pieces to make it fit. Let it rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Slide a spatula around the edges and flip out the buns onto a sheet of wax paper while they are still hot. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

There are many excellent sources of information on how to create a sourdough culture from scratch. You basically mix flour and water and wait for the yeast to become active and take over. Rye flour has more yeast cells stuck to it than whole wheat, and whole wheat has more than white flour, but any flour can be used.

There is a lot that can happen that will discourage the first-time microbiologist from succeeding in making some bread from this process and everyone has their favorite piece of advice to counter that.

The result is usually a very complicated description, complete with a somewhat precise timetable to make your life confusing.

I drew up a little flowchart that clarifies the process without adding too many details. For example, someone living in a northern climate can expect the ambient temperature to be different than the temperature in San Francisco, and therefore the time it takes for the yeast to get busy may be longer. How confusing it can be for someone's "step two" to take three and a half days instead of the two days it's supposed to take!

Using a flowchart eliminates that confusion. You move on to the next step when your starter is good and ready.

Attached to this article is the original file. Please edit it and improve it as you see fit. It can be opened using Inkscape.

Other sources of information:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10359/discouraged-southeast#comment-54426
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/starterprimer.html
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/

How to maintain and use a starter:
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/29/maintain-starter/
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9346/123-easy-formula-sourdough-bread

I had originally posted this flowchart here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10166/wild-yeast-levain-sourdough-start...

To those who don't know what sourdough is, it's wild yeast cultured to raise bread in the same way that commercial yeast does. To keep it alive and active, you need to discard a large portion of it and feed the remainder which makes it grow back. So, I found myself with about 200 grams of ripened sourdough starter to discard a few hours before I needed to prepare supper. Being fond of pizza, I decided to make a sourdough pizza with the otherwise wasted starter.

Having used sourdough, the crust had a lighter color, but I was still very happy with the result. Nice and open crumb with a crispy crust.

I used a 65 per cent hydration dough. My starter also happens to be 65 per cent, so the math was easy:

200g Starter
150g unbleached white flour
50g organic whole wheat flour
130 ml water
6 grams of salt

I mixed, stretched and folded and let it sit for about three hours. Then I rolled the ball of dough in a half/half mixture of white flour and wheat bran so that it wouldn't stick while I stretched it out. The wheat bran also gives the crust a nice multigrain texture. I stretched it out to a pizza shape and topped with everyone's favorites. Baked at 550 degrees for about ten minutes.