On 13 Jun 2003 Cindy Chiu <cychiu@ctimail.com> asked:
>If a recipe call for say, 1 cup of starter, will the raising power varies
>from one starter to another? If so, there may be a need to varies the
>raising time by judgement. Then, does it means that sourdough bread cannot
>be prepared in ABM because it is all automatic? I have no experience of
>making sourdough bread. I am just playing around with flour and water
>hoping to come up with a "starter" but I am very skeptical whether it can
>really raise my bread, because it looks very weak with a little bubbles
>only. Has anyone successfully create a starter from just Flour and water?
>Wish to hear some comment.
Oh my... so many questions in one short note. And so many of them verge on
religous topics. For more in depth answers, I'll suggest my web page, and
the links to better sites that are on it. Look at
http://www.sourdoughhome.com You might also see if you can subscribe to
the rec.food.sourdough usenet newsgroup.
And now for some answers. Starting with the last question... YES, you can
make a starter with just flour and water. And it is the recommened way to
do so. Some people suggest using baker's yeast. However, it can't
tolerate the acidity of a starter and soon dies. At that point, the
starter slows down until a better yeast colonizes the starter. Some people
suggest using grapes (organic grapes), cabbage leaves, or other strange
flora on the theory they have yeast on them. Again, that's true, but it's
the wrong kind of yeast. It's a yeast that lives on grape sugars or
cabbage sugars, not a kind that lives on flour. So, the starter takes off
fast, and then slows down until the right kind of yeasts take over. It's
faster to just use flour and water. There's a page on my web site about
how to start a starter. However, I strongly suggest beggining sourdough
fans get a known good starter from any of the sources I list on my
page. Until you know what a healthy starter looks like, you won't know how
to tell if a starter you capture is a healthy one. And when you have
problems, you'll wonder... is me, or the starter? So, get a known good
starter. That way, you'll know it's you. <g>
As to bread machines, it's very hard to make sourdough in a bread
machine. For a sourdough flavor to fully develop takes many, many
hours. 16 to 24 hour fermenations are not uncommon. Another interesting
problem is many bread machines "nudge" the dough by moving the paddle a
small distance during the rise. This helps conventional bread. And causes
sourdough to collapse. A common approach is to use a bread machine with a
"bake only" setting. The bread is started, and when the dough is kneaded,
the machine is unplugged. When the dough is ready to be baked, the ABM is
plugged in and told to bake now. Or, if you have a fully programable bread
machine, you can work with that. However, either approach destroy the ease
that an ABM should deliver. In short, sourdough and ABM's are not a happy
combination. Well, you ask, what about using regular baker's yeast to rise
the bread with a sourdough starter? Given that yeast rises bread in a few
hours and it takes much longer than that to rise sorudough bread, you might
suspect that you won't get much taste in the bread that would suggest it's
sourdough bread. And you'd be correct.
Sourdough starter is very variable stuff. It changes not only from strain
to strain but - for most bakers - from batch of bread to batch of
bread. Consistent handling of the starter insures consistent activity
levels of the starter. However, this is hard for most home bakers to
do. So, you have to be flexible and follow the starter's lead. It is very
important to refresh your starter before using it to the point where it
will at least double in height after feeding. If it can't raise itself, it
can't raise your bread.
As to starting a starter... there are lots of old husband tales out
there. I suggest you pick one way and stick to it. However, here are the
general rules of thumb..
1. Organic. Stone ground. Unbleached. Unsifted. Unenriched. Whole
Wheat. Rye. The more of these words you can use to describe the flour you
are using to start your starter, the better the chances of success. Many
people use a mix of coarse whole wheat and rye. I'd start with something
like 10 grams of each and 20 grams of water. Knead it, put it into a large
container, and let it sit for 2 days or so. You should see some
bubbles. (If you measure by volume, using 1 1/2 parts of flour and 1 part
of water is about the same as a 1:1 by weight ratio.
2. It's alive, don't starve it. Once it shows signs of life, it's time to
start feeding it. Every 8 to 12 hours is the maximum length of time
between feedings of a room temperature starter. 8 is better. When you
feed the starter, you should double or triple the volume of the
starter. So, if you have 40 grams of starter, you need to add 80 grams of
food (perhaps 20 grams whole wheat, 20 grams rye,40 grams water). Stir it
well between feedings. Feeding too infrequently and feeding too little are
the two most common problems when someone tries to start a starter.
3. Good heavens, it's a monster! If you keep tripling it's size, it'll
fill your swimming pool pretty quikcly. As much as it hurts, you should
discard starter to keep the size manageable. What's manageable? That's
your call. But I'd keep it around 1/4 cup. Use the starter you discard to
make pancakes, waffles, or bisquits.
4. Switch it to white flour. Once it's going well, you can feed the
starter cheaper white flour. The starter will be happy, and so will your
budget. Your flavor comes from a long rise, not from a taste in the starter.
5. Yes, it is called sourdough, but it's not all that sour. When your
starter gets too acid, it's ability to rise the bread is diminished. So,
feed the starter often and triple it's size so it will stay sweet.
6. The refrigerator is your friend. You probably can't afford to keep a
starter going at room temperature. If you refrigerate the starter after it
reaches it's peak height after a feeding, it's time to refrigerate the
starter. When it's refrigerated it can be kept for weeks or longer between
feeding. Pull it out a day or so before you want to bake, feed it with
your usual feeding, wait an repeat. It's not uncommon for a starter that's
been refrigerated to take 3 or 4 feedings to be ready to be used in bread.
Hope this helps,
Mike
--
Mike Avery
MAvery@mail.otherwhen.com