Tuesday 24 February 2015

My First Sourdough

For tea last night I made a squash soup with a sour dough loaf to have with it, followed by chocolate brownies.
I followed the "no kneed recipe" on Ngo family farm blog, although I made my loaf free form on my bread stone instead of in a pot.

Starting the starter, left by the fire.
 Starting the starer was quite interesting and to begin with I thought I was never going to cook with it as it smelt like sick! Every time I walked into the room I'd get the waft of sick and think that the starter needs to go in the bin. I stuck with it though and kept it running a few weeks before I used it, now it smells yeasty and slight alcoholic, not unpleasant at all. to start it I used the recipe from the River Cottage bread book (a link to what is written is here).
My starter bubbling away
Not a great photo but it shows that it did rise quite well.
This is my first ever sour dough and it was really good, I loved the yoghurty like after taste. We ate the whole loaf while it was still warm, covered in butter and dipped into our soup - it was a good dinner to have.I think I did knock some air out of it when I put it on the bread stone but it still had good sized air bubbles in it. I plan on making a peel for it when I get time so I can slip the bread on the stone without loosing so much air.
It was a great tea and I should say that even with a large tray of chocolate brownies and enough soup left over to feed a football team, the total cost wouldn't be much more than £2, anyone that says food is expensive needs to try cooking from scratch!

28 comments:

  1. I have tried and tried to get one going but after a few days the bubbles just die away. I'm determined to keep trying though.

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    1. This took a couple of days and then went crazy, I now I'm going to struggle to keep it fed though!

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  2. Bread looks tasty..........can't eat much bread, now I'm going to the 'Fat club'!
    I guess your 'peel' will be a good one as you work with wood!

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    1. My wife and I live for bread! We both love it so much, there's no chance we could give it up!

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  3. After such a smelly start it looks fantastic!

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    1. It looks good, hopefully I'll get better at it as time goes on and learn to get it in the oven easier.

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  4. I didn't know those paddles were called 'peels', thanks for the info :-)

    The bread looks lovely, very artisan.

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    1. Very artisan! I like that, you mean rough! If I have a peel then I should be able to shape it a bit better before putting it in the oven rather than just dropping it in!

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  5. I've had my peel for years and I love it. Just put a sprinkle of cornmeal on it, pizza dough next, load the pizza and then it just slides onto your oven rack and slides it out when cooked just as easily.

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    1. Is yours wood or metal? I fancy making one out of wood but I don;t know if it would split if it was really thin.

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  6. I keep meaning to start a sourdough starter but don't seem to get round to it, but your bread looks delicious so I feel inspired to have a go as well!

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    1. The taste is so good. I had some normal rolls for lunch today and couldn't believe how sweet they tasted after yesterdays sourdough! I don;t know how long I'll keep it up though, I struggle to remember important things let alone feeding my starter every day!

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    2. Sometimes I put my starter in the refrigerator, which kind of lets it be dormant for awhile, and then it only needs feeding about once a week. Although I find that to be even harder to remember - out of sight, out of mind and all ;)
      -Jaime

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    3. I've read about this as well. Trouble is it's in a big kilner jar so I'll need to put it in something smaller to do that and sometimes things go to our fridge to die...

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  7. I'm guessing you need a constant temperature for the starter?
    Jane x

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    1. Our house is far from that! To start it I had it by the fire but it now lives in the kitchen on the windowsill. When proving bread though it goes in the airing cupboard - the only warm place in our house!

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  8. Looks wonderful, Kev! So happy the recipe worked for you! I've cut up some of the day-old loaf and made croutons to put on top of squash soup - one of my favorite winter meals :)
    -Jaime

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    1. Thanks Jamie! when I saw your recipe I though I could handle it so I'd give it a go. As for day old loaf there's not been any left yet!

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  9. Replies
    1. Getting there with it but a lot more practice needed. One more thing to start producing myself though - grain next I guess!

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  10. Sour dough is my absolute favorite bread. I love it. You can buy the starter in a package here, but I like to buy it from the bakery. Sour dough with garlic butter, or for sandwiches, or with soup or stew. You can't beat it.

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    1. I've never really had it before, but it's great knowing you can create your own starter from the air around you- no need to store yeast that way!

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  11. I still haven't tried making sour dough bread.... I really must. It's all the preparatory work that puts me off; and the fact that my local baker makes the world's best!

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    1. If you've got a good local bakery then you're doing the right thing by supporting them so I wouldn't worry about not making your own. Although it is nice to have it hot out of the oven with butter melting into it.

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  12. I've got a jar of starter in the freezer from a couple of years ago when I used to make it virtually every day. Must get it out again...The first time I made sourdough I was so delighted, I'd made two baguettes, so I actually mailed one of them to my mum in Dorset. She liked it so much that she started doing it as well. If you keep the starter in the fridge you only need to feed it once a week or so.

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    1. Mailing bread! I love it! How long will it keep in the freezer? I wonder how differently another batch tastes to kine made with a different starter?

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  13. I don't know how long it lasts in the freezer, when I take mine out I'll let you know...it may be dead for all I know! Apparently there is a regional difference as well, something to do with different yeasts in the air and all that.

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    1. Yeah I'd be interested to see if yours is still alive! As for the taste differences my friend over the hill has started some sour dough as well so we're going to cook some at the same time and see if they taste any different.

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