In a message dated 97-12-14 13:50:45 EST, you write:
<< I hope all of you have a fine and Happy Holidays and all be safe! Now, We
finally broke down and bought us an ABM. My most favorite bread is
sourdough. My question is this.... Using a homemade starter, how do I make
bread in the ABM with it?
>>
Hi Rocky, and happy holidays to you too.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the ABM and sourdough were just not
made for one another. That having been said, I assume you're referring to
real sourdough bread where there is no commercial yeast added, only the
starter is used to leaven the bread.
The problem with the ABM and sourdough is in the timing. If you've made
sourdough bread, and it sounds like you have, you know that the fermentation
and proofing times can take anywhere from 2 1/2 to 6 hours. The ABM operates
on a fixed time cycle and that cycle is based on fermentation and proofing
times for commercial yeast, which is much faster. Although some bread
machines are programmable, this isn't much help either. The fermentation time
for sourdough will vary considerably depending on ambient atmospheric
conditions so one day you'll bake a doorstop and the next you'll have dough
running over the top of your pan.
Your only hope is to make sourdough using the starter as a flavoring agent
only and adding commercial yeast as the primary leavening agent. Although
this can make some nice bread, the true sourdough flavor gets somewhat
obliterated by the commercial yeast.
Again, sorry for the bad news, but if you want a recipe for ABM sourdough
bread using commercial yeast as the primary leavening and the starter as a
flavoring only, drop me an e-mail and I'll send it to you.
Don