[Fleecewife]

Does anyone make sourdough bread?  Wessex Mill sell a frozen 'mother' and I would like to have a go.  The Hairy Bikers made sourdough bread on their latest European travels but I wasn't paying enough attention to be able to make it from that alone.  Any advice please?
ps I've made ordinary bread all my life so I just need to know the differences.

[SallyintNorth]

Can't give any advice but would love to hear how you get on - I love sourdough bread!

[FrostyM]

I am no expert in making sourdough bread but have been making loaves for the last few months and I am starting to get the hang of it. I use a recipe pretty similar to this one

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/river-cottage-sourdough

I think this one would be a good place to start anyway. I have made this recipe about 10 times and it gets better each time I make it. As advice goes I don't have much to add, except that it's not a good idea to leave the dough on any spoons or work surfaces, it sets like concrete  I hope this is of some use, let me know how you get on.

Happy Baking 

[aliceinwonderland]

I make sourdough pretty regularly (about once a week, sometimes more often, sometimes less often).
The trick is (for me, at least), is to have the dough as sticky and wet as possible, as this allows for good, air-bubbly, light but chewy sourdough. That's how I like it! I've made it in the past using more flour/less water, and while the dough is much easier to work with the end product is more dense and solid. I use a slight variation on the river cottage recipes - in that I can't be bothered measuring exactly and just mix it til it feels right. Make sure you use bakers/strong flour - I use either wholemeal or white, but I haven't used spelt before.

The other thing is to make sure that your oven is really nice and hot before you put it in - 250 degrees (celsius) is good. After about ten minutes, turn it down to 200 degrees, then cook until it's brown and sounds hollow. The timing is totally dependent on how wet the dough was, how big the loaves are, and how hot your oven is. If you want to get a nice crust, stick a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to create lots of steam. Leave it in for the whole baking process, and limit the number of times you open the oven (as this will lose heat/steam).

Nice variations are:
- Fruit loaf - i throw in about a cup full of chopped up dried apricots and dried figs, as well as some walnuts (as many as you like). This does tend to make the bread a little bit heavier.

- Roast pumpkin and walnut or pepita loaf - roast some pumpkin with a little bit of olive oil - I like it when the edges are a little bit caramelised. If you're doing a roast (lamb, beef, whatever) with vegies, just make extra pumpkin. Whatever doesn't get eaten, put it in the bread! Also add either walnuts or pepitas for a nice balance. One of my friends requests this pumpkin sourdough for her birthday instead of a cake - it's pretty popular.

I add these extras normally just before the last prove, as if you add them sooner they get a bit broken up during the kneading process.

I would also recommend the River Cottage Bread Handbook - I've had a look at a few other recipes and books but this one just makes sense to me. They explain the whole process quite well - it's much better to have an understanding about how the yeast/gluten/heat/everything works, I find.

Oh, and have fun! Get sticky and gooey and then enjoy the results!

[aliceinwonderland]

Just realised you already know how to make bread....

The only major difference between sourdough and normal bread is the time, and using a sponge.

The sponge is a ladle of the starter (make sure it's very active before you cook with it - try feeding it 12 hours before, and 12 hours before that - it should be very bubbly and sometimes foamy on top), with some (about half) of the flour and all of the (warm) water. It should be like thick pancake mix. Mix it together and leave it for 6-12 hours (I normally make the sponge before I go to bed, and bake in the morning). To my way of thinking, the sponge is just like giving the yeast a super-feed before it needs to do its job.

After the sponge has been sitting for a while (or when I'm awake and moving), then mix/knead in the rest of the flour, salt and olive oil (if using), knead til smooth, then do the rest as for normal bread. I allow it three or four short (hour long) proves, and then one longer one to get all the air bubbles nice and big before I bake it. Overprooving is ok for the last one before it goes into the oven, especially if you want big, chewy air bubbles.

I usually find that I allow the sponge to sit for 8-10 hours or so, then with three or four (hour long) proving sessions, then another 30-40 minutes of baking, plus kneading time and getting the dough off my hands, so that in total if you make the sponge at 9 or 10pm, you should have a loaf or two by lunch time the next day. So yeah, longer than normal bread, but super-amazing flavour and texture.

Hope that helps!!
Alice

[FiB]

a slight deviation ...I have a sourdough cake (herman the german friendship cake) on the go most of the time and if I feel like a break - the 'mother'/starter does freeze perfectly.   Sucha  lovely texture and taste.  Sourdough is brill.

[Fleecewife]

Thanks everyone, esp FrostyM and Alice - loads of info there    I have ordered the River Cottage book so I can understand what I'm doing in that huge long process making the mother.  For the past few years I've cheated and just shoved everything into the bread maker, so making the sourdough will be a huge change.  But I've always loved making bread, and the tasty results - I started when I was four, making a little white loaf while my mum did the family wholemeal four loaf bake, and I never really stopped.
Thanks for the tip about not letting the dough dry onto anything 

So there will be a few days before the book arrives and I can get going.
Sally - are you going to try it too?

[SallyintNorth]

Sally - are you going to try it too?

Errrmmm....  making it, probably not just yet.  One step too far at the mo.  Eating it, however,  should I chance by... well, yes, thank you very much!   

[ArosP]

I got given a Herman friendship cake starter and i didnt fancy that so kept it going by adding flour and water and made bread with it. HFW book is useful ,thats what i used and i used a shallow mixing bowl with a floury teatwel as a mould and tipped at onto a hot baking tray. It baked to lok like a big beret hat! Made some with cheese and onion too-yum
My starter went off thoughand i need to start a new one

[Fleecewife]

I have recently discovered that sourdough bread does horrible things to my insides, which you REALLY don't want to know about    so that's that off the menu.  What a shame, I really like it 

[Sylvia]

Sourdough is o.k. if you have no way of getting fresh or dried yeast and are desperate for bread but given the choice I would go for yeasted bread every time.

[Anke]

I have just gone back and started another batch of starter culture, using HFW recipe. Works a treat and I am liking that much better than yeasted bread. (I have grown up on sourdough anyway.) At the moment using wholemeal spelt, rye and white flour mixture. Not too dark, but also not white.
 
I would have thought that most people will digest the sourdough so much easier than yeasted bread .