Celebrate National Sourdough Bread Day

Today is traditionally known as April Fool’s Day, but more importantly (to bread bakers at least), it’s National Sourdough Bread Day. National Sourdough Bread Day is a great way to celebrate breads made with ‘wild yeast’. Although most people associate sourdough with the ‘sour’ breads made in San Francisco, sourdough bread doesn’t have to be sour – unless of course, you want it to be.

A lot of artisan breads are made with sourdough starters rather than using dried yeast. I love experimenting with different types of bread made with sourdough. It is very rewarding to make a bread completely from scratch using ‘wild yeast’ developed in your kitchen and maintained lovingly and stored in the refrigerator. 

I have several of these pets, as I like to call my starters, living in my refrigerator. All of my starters are made with different types of flour, and I use them in different types of bread. Learn how to make each of these starters in my sourdough starters section. My favorite starter is featured in this post.

To help you celebrate this day, I’ve highlighted some fun ways to create, maintain and use your sourdough starter to make different types of sourdough bread. I hope you enjoy.

 

Creating a sourdough starter

My favorite starter is my apple starter. Although I enjoy using the other starters, this one has special meaning because I used apples that I handpicked from an apple orchard in the North Georgia Mountains. I also went for a hike that day and it was a very memorable experience. I think about those fond memories when I use this starter.  It’s like a memory in a jar.

 

How to activate a sourdough culture

Once you’ve gone through the trouble and delight of creating your own starter, you’ll want to be sure you continue to feed it properly so that it doesn’t die in the refrigerator. Learn this easy method of activating a sourdough starter even if it has been in the refrigerator awhile and hasn’t been fed recently.

 

 

Making Sourdough Breads

This is a fun experiment. If you’re like me and you have trouble discarding your starter when you feed it, just make more bread. I made Classic Sourdough Bread using one recipe, but two different starters. You end up with lot’s of extra bread so your friends will love you.

 

Pita of the Desert

This sourdough bread is called Khubz Arabi or ‘Arab Bread’, but it’s also known as ‘Pita of the Desert’.  It is a soft, round flatbread that poofs in the oven and makes a great pocket to hold salad for a light lunch or dinner.

 

Sourdough Bagels on my mind

These Sourdough Bagels are made with a sourdough starter instead of an overnight sponge. They use the simplest of ingredients: starter, bread flour, salt, water, yeast and malt.

 

 

 

Sourdough Fantans with Jam Filling

These Fantans, made with sourdough and filled with delicious jam, were so delightful, they inspired a song. You’ll be singing it too once you taste them.

 

 

Sourdough Rye

This Sourdough Rye bread is made with toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I really liked the flavor and texture of these breads. It’s a keeper!

 

 

Sourdough Spelt Loaf with Flax Seeds

You’ll enjoy the complex flavors in this 100% Sourdough Spelt Loaf with a flax seed soaker.  Spelt is versatile and healthy and makes a great addition to breads.

 

I hope you’ll try some of these breads. If you want to bake even more breads with wild yeast, visit my Sourdough Breads section. And, if you are interested in doing some fun and different things with your sourdough starter (besides making bread), check out the Sourdough Surprises baking group.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Activating a Sourdough Culture/Starter

I wanted to use my apple starter in a special bread recipe, but the starter had been sitting in the refrigerator since the beginning of November. It hadn’t been fed so it was rather acidic.

Normally, when I feed my Apple Starter, I pour off part of the hooch (the liquid stuff at the top), stir it down, and discard all but 250 grams. Then I feed it with 125 grams of flour and 125 grams of water and let it rest on the counter for a few hours until it’s active and bubbly and ready to go.

However, as I mentioned, it had been about two and a half months since I had fed the starter so I opted not to go with the normal feeding process. I chose to activate the culture using a different method that reduces the acidity level and ensures the culture is fully activated before using it in bread dough.

This post focuses on how to activate a sourdough culture (also known as a starter).  The next post will feature bread made with the activated culture.

This is what the starter looked like when I took it out of the refrigerator and before I began this process.

 

I’ve mentioned this method in a couple of my previous posts, but I had such fun with this experiment that I decided to present the process in a little more detail.

This method for activating a sourdough culture, as outlined in the book Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood and Jean Wood, works particularly well if the starter has been in the refrigerator for awhile without being fed.

Note: The following process uses the term culture and starter interchangeably.

 

Step 1: Activate the Sourdough Culture

I began by stirring the starter and the hooch, then I filled the jar completely with warm water and stirred until it was thoroughly mixed.

 

You’re supposed to leave a little more than 1 cup in the jar (240 ml) and discard the rest. This is the part I always have trouble with (because I hate to waste things) so instead of discarding it, I put another cup of starter in a different jar. Now, I had two jars instead of one. If you’re going to make more than one loaf, having an additional jar of starter is actually a good thing. I only took a photo of one jar, but you get the gist.

 

Next, I added 125 grams of all-purpose flour to the culture in each jar to make it the consistency of thick pancake batter. The instructions in the book call for less flour, but I found that after I filled the jars with warm water, the starter was really liquid. So I added more flour, but no additional water. If your starter is not as liquid, you might need to add up to 1/2 cup of water to return it to the consistency of thick pancake-like batter.

 

At this point, I had two jars that were each a little over half full. I put them in my proofing box and proofed them for 4 hours at 73 degrees F. I chose that temperature because it was in the middle of the recommended range of 70 to 75 degrees F.

At the 4-hour mark, the volume in the jars had increased and it was fully active and ready to use in the next step. I forgot to take a photo of the fully active starter in the jars. I was ready to move on.

 

Step 2: Create the Culture Proof

The next step is to create a culture proof using the fully active culture. The reason you do this is to prepare the culture for use in the sourdough bread and to optimize the flavor and leavening abilities.

To create the culture proof, you start with a fully active culture (Step 1 above), then you stir it vigorously again and divide it in half. You’ll have two jars of culture at this point. Of course, I had 4 jars since I doubled the initial step.

 

Feed each jar with 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour and about 1/2 cup of water. Then proof the culture for 8 to 12 hours at about 70 degrees F. I proofed the culture for 2-3 hours at 65 degrees F. which was the temperature downstairs. After about 3 hours, I placed the culture in my proofing box and proofed it for the remainder of the time at 70 degrees F. My proofing box doesn’t go any lower than 70 degrees F. so that’s why I let it proof at room temperature for a few hours. This is supposed to help produce good flavor and leavening without making it too sour or inhibiting the yeast.

After the culture has proofed for 8 to 12 hours, it is ready to be used in bread. 

The next post features a Buttery and Cheesy Sourdough Surprise made with this culture.  I also have something special planned for the other jars of sourdough. So stay tuned…

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Flexible, Fermented and Fun! Spelt Sourdough

Flexible, fermented, and fun!  That’s how I would describe this Spelt Sourdough with Popped Amaranth and Potato. It’s flexible due to the timing as well as the ingredients. I started the process Thursday night, but didn’t finish the bread until Sunday afternoon. In addition, I was able to easily adapt the ingredients and the method to suit my schedule and taste.

 

It’s fermented due to the sourdough sponge, and the final dough resting in the refrigerator for two days. This extended fermentation time, along with the popped amaranth and potato, is what gives this bread it’s unique texture and flavor. 

It’s fun to pop the amaranth and watch it jump out of the pan (if you’re not careful), but it’s also fun to see all of the ingredients come together to form a beautiful and tasty loaf of bread. 

Although it takes a little while to make this bread, and even longer if you’re like me, it is a fun bread to make and worth the effort. Another benefit of this bread is that it has a longer shelf life. I’ve been enjoying this bread for the past week and it still tastes good.

 

Spelt Sourdough Bread with Popped Amaranth & Potato

Adapted from: Amaranth Potato Sourdough Dinner Rolls by Chef Brad

Makes: 2 Large Loaves

Ingredients:

Sourdough Sponge:

• 1 cup Spelt Sourdough starter
• 2 cups White Spelt flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 2 cups water
   

Dough:

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cooked, reserve the water
• 1 1/2 cups reserved potato water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 cups popped amaranth (1/2 cup of amaranth grains)
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups White Spelt flour, plus more for sprinkling if necessary
• 2 1/4 – 3 cups Whole Grain Spelt flour

 

Directions:

1) Creating the Sourdough Sponge

The night before you plan to make this bread (or early in the morning if you prefer), take your sourdough starter out of the refrigerator and add one cup in a large mixing bowl. If you don’t have enough starter to use a cup and still have some starter left, you’ll need to feed your starter before you start this process. This is what I had to do.  I fed my Spelt starter in the early evening with 125 grams of whole grain spelt flour and 125 grams of water.

 

After a few hours, the starter was ready to be used so I put one cup of the starter in a mixing bowl and the remaining starter in a quart jar and placed it back in the refrigerator. 

To the starter in the bowl, I added the White Spelt flour, sugar, yeast, and water and let it rest in a warm place for 8 to 12 hours. This is the active sponge.

 

2) Popping the Amaranth Grains

To pop the grains, heat a deep pot over medium heat. Test the heat by placing a pinch of grains in the pot. If it pops, then it’s hot enough. You’ll need about 1/2 cup of grains to yield 2 cups of popped amaranth. Pop the grains by placing no more than 2 tablespoons at a time in the pot. If you use more, the grains have a tendency to burn. Be sure to use a pot that’s deep enough so the grains don’t pop out.

 

3) Mixing the Dough

Add all of the ingredients, including the sponge, but just half of the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix on first speed until the ingredients are well incorporated. Add more flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Increase to second speed and mix a couple of minutes more. Resist the temptation to add too much flour. The dough will be slightly tacky.

 

4) Bulk Fermentation

Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it proof for an hour or so until it is doubled in bulk or do what I did and place it in the refrigerator to ferment overnight or for a couple of days. 

 

If you placed the dough in the refrigerator overnight (or longer), remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature before proceeding to the next step.  I gave the dough a couple of quick turns in the bowl before I let it sit on the counter for an hour or so.

 

5) Shaping and Proofing the Loaves

After the bulk fermentation, shape the loaves into round or oval loaves and place them on parchment paper for the final proof.  Or, place them into proofing baskets heavily dusted with flour.  I used one 10.5” oval basket and one 10.5” round basket and sprinkled them with a mixture of rice flour and all-purpose flour.  Cover the loaves with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let them proof at warm room temperature (about 70 degrees F.) for an hour and a half.  They will increase in volume during this time, but won’t double in size.

 

6) Prepare the Oven for Hearth Baking

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. and place a baking stone on the middle rack and a steam pan on the bottom rack. Let the oven and baking stone preheat for at least 30 minutes before you bake the loaves.

 

7) Scoring the Loaves

Carefully remove the loaves from the proofing baskets onto parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal or sprayed with oil.  This part was a bit tricky.  The dough stuck to the baskets in a couple of places even with the flour, but I managed to keep them from getting completely out of shape.  You can see where I salvaged the loaf in the photo below.  Fortunately, the damage wasn’t too bad.

 

Score the loaves using a serrated knife or lame. I scored the round loaf using a square pattern, but it ended up being a little bit off-centered.

 

I scored the oval loaf using a long stroke right down the middle.  The dough was still pretty sticky.

 

8) Baking the Loaves

Slide the loaves (with the parchment paper) onto the baking stone.  Add one cup of hot water to the steam pan.  Spritz the walls of the oven with water and shut the door.  Repeat the spritzing process two more times in the first couple of minutes of baking.  This will help the loaves open up (oven spring) during baking.  Since my loaves were pretty big, I baked them one at-a-time.  Bake them for 25 – 30 minutes until they are golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow on the bottom.  Remove the parchment paper partway through baking so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.

 

9) Cooling the Loaves

Cool the loaves completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

 

10) Slice and enjoy!

This bread has a delicious and slightly sweet flavor.  The popped amaranth gives it a light texture and the potato gives it plenty of moisture. I like it!  I’ve enjoyed it with butter and toasted with cheese.  It makes a great accompaniment to soup.

 

These loaves are so big, I decided to save one for another day.  I wrapped the round loaf in foil and placed it in a plastic bag.  Then I put it in the freezer.  I’ve been enjoying the oval loaf.  It definitely has good keeping quality.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Developing a Sourdough Rye Starter

Since I’m focusing on Sourdough this month, I decided now would be a good time to revive and repurpose two of the sourdough starters that I’ve been neglecting.

I’ve been using my Apple Starter exclusively for the past several months and hadn’t even fed the other two starters. They were begging for my attention. So I gave it to them.

My first experiment was to convert the starter we created in the BBA Challenge to a sourdough rye starter. The BBA Starter was a mature starter that I created in 2009; it just wasn’t active at the moment. Rather than getting rid of it, I wanted to bring it back to life and convert it completely to a rye starter. The BBA Starter was originally created with a portion of rye flour so it seemed like a natural progression to convert it to a sourdough rye.

 

Developing a Sourdough Rye culture

Adapted from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman

Day One: Initial Mix

If you are making the starter from scratch, for the initial mix, use 450 grams or 6.4 oz (1 3/4 cups) of whole rye flour and 450 grams or 6.4 oz (3/4 cup) of water. Mix the ingredients to a smooth paste, cover with plastic, and let it stand in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees F.) for 24 hours.

 

Day Two: One Feeding

I already had a mature starter so I began the process of converting it to a sourdough rye at this point.

 

I took 3.2 oz of my mature starter, 3.2 oz (7/8 cup) whole rye flour, and 3.2 oz (3/8 cup) Spring water and mixed the ingredients until they formed a smooth paste.  Then I covered the bowl with plastic, and let it stand in a warm are (75 to 80 degrees F.) for 24 hours.

 

Days Three, Four, Five, and Six:  Two Feedings

Take 3.2 oz of the initial mix (one-third of above) and mix it with 3.2 oz (3/8 cup) of Spring water to break it up.  I use Spring water because tap water has chorine in it.  If you want to use tap water, leave it out overnight to remove the chorine. 

 

Add 3.2 oz (7/8 cup) whole rye flour and mix until it forms a smooth paste, cover it with plastic, and let it stand in a warm place (75 to 80 degrees F.) for 12 hours.

 

Repeat the feedings every 12 hours for 4 days. The culture can be used to make bread on the 7th day, but will develop better flavor if you continue the feedings for 2 to 3 more days.

 

My next experiment was to convert my first starter to a stiff levain cuture. I’ll tell you more about that in a different post.

Now, I have three different types of starters, a liquid levain, a stiff levain and a sourdough rye starter. You don’t necessarily need three different starters; I just wanted to go through the process to document how it worked. It was fun.

 

Thanks for visiting The Bread Experience bread baking blog.  Be sure to check back to find out what bread I made using bread crumbs from the 66 Percent Sourdough Rye Bread and my newly converted sourdough rye culture.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

66 Percent Sourdough Rye

It took me awhile, but I’m becoming a fan of rye, particularly rye breads made with sourdough.  As the name suggests, this 66 Percent Sourdough Rye Bread is made with 66 percent rye flour. 

There are many advantages to using sourdough in rye breads. Besides providing good leavening ability, sourdough provides the benefits of good eating quality, increased nutrition, and good keeping quality. What’s not to like about that!

I didn’t have an appreciation for the complexity of rye until recently.  Rye flour is totally different from wheat in virtually all aspects… from the way it’s grown, to mixing, fermenting, proofing, steaming, baking, and eating breads made with rye. It’s a very unique grain with unique requirements.  I’m looking forward to experimenting more with this grain.

 

66 Percent Sourdough Rye

Makes: Two Large Loaves

Adapted from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman

Ingredients:

Sourdough:

• 12.8 oz (3 1/2 cups) whole-rye flour (sifted once, see * below)
• 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) water  (I used a little more water than the original formula suggested due to the absorption rate of the whole grain rye)
• .6 oz (2 T) mature sourdough culture

Final Dough:

• 8.3 oz (1 1/8 cups) whole-rye flour (sifted once, see * below)
• 10.9 oz (2 1/2 cups) high-gluten flour
• 13.8 oz (1 3/4 cups) water
• .6 oz (1 T) salt
• .1 oz (1 tsp) instant dry yeast
• 1 lb, 7 oz sourdough (all of the above minus 2 T)

 

* The original formula called for medium rye flour, but I didn’t have any so I used freshly-milled whole rye flour and sifted it once to remove some of the bran and germ. 

 

The flour milled from the whole rye grain would actually be closer to a rye meal, but after removing some of the bran and germ, it looks more like flour.

 

Directions:

1) Preparing the Sourdough:

Prepare the sourdough by mixing all of the ingredients together.

 

Let it ripen for 14 to 16 hours at 70 degrees F.

 

2) Mixing the Dough: 

Add all of the ingredients to the mixing bowl.  In a spiral mixer, mix for 3 minutes on first speed and about 2 minutes on second speed.  When you pull on the dough, you will feel a bit of gluten strength, but the overall dough strength won’t be very much.  The desired dough temperature is 80 degrees F.

 

3) Bulk Fermentation:

30 to 45 minutes.  Rye doughs ferment more quickly than wheat doughs so be careful not to overproof the dough.

 

4) Dividing and Shaping the Dough:

Divide the dough into 1.5-pound pieces; shape round or oblong.  I shaped mine into batards.

Shaping Batards: Gently divide the dough into two pieces and shape the pieces into boules.  Cover and let them rest on the counter for 15 minutes.  I used wet hands for this part because the dough was rather sticky.

 

To make the batard shape, gently pat the dough into a rough rectangle.

 

Fold the bottom third of dough, letter style, up to the center and press to seal, creating surface tension on the outer edge. Fold the remaining dough over the top and use the edge of your hand to seal the seam closed and to increase the surface tension all over.

 

Form the other ball of dough the same way, then transfer the loaves to a parchment-lined baking sheet for proofing. 

 

5) Final Fermentation:

Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap. Let them proof for 50 to 60 minutes at 80 degrees F.  I placed my loaves in the oven with the light on.

 

6) Scoring the Loaves:

Score the loaves down the middle using a serrated knife or lame.

 

 

7) Baking the Loaves

Prepare the oven for hearth baking by placing a baking stone on the middle rack of the oven and a steam pan underneath.  Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.  Slide the breads (on the parchment paper) directly onto the baking stone and pour 1 cup of water in the steam pan. After 30 seconds, open the door, spray the walls with water, and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals.

 

Bake the bread for 15 minutes, then lower the oven setting to 450.  Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes.  Check the breads during the bake and rotate them 180 degrees for even baking.

 

8) Cooling and Slicing the Loaves:

Remove the loaves to a wire rack to cool completely. The baked bread should rest for up to 24 hours before slicing in order to improve its eating quality.

 

This bread definitely has good keeping quality. My version is a little bit heavier due to the whole grain rye, but the flavor is really good. I let the bread rest on the counter for 24 hours as suggested. It has a very deep flavor and goes really well with cheese. It also tastes good just plain.  It has just a hint of a sour flavor. I like that!

 

I think this bread would taste good in Tomato Bread Soup or Sourdough Strata. However, I found something different I’m going to try. It’s a unique Christmas Bread made with bread cubes from day-old rye bread.

 

Mellow Bakers was started by Paul at Yumarama. We’re baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy