Friday, January 28, 2011

Adventure in SOUR DOUGH Land

Well this was a fun conquest for me anyways.... Does anyone love sour dough as much as I do? Come on, its an AMAZING flavor! Reminds me a good beer.

Anyways, I've never been able to master it. I did finally figure out how to make my own 'starter' though, so I've given it a whirl, and I loved the results.

The Starter:





2 cups warm water
1 package dry active yeast
1 tbsp sugar
(let sit for 10 minutes)
mix in 2 cups of whole wheat flour (or rye or whole grain)
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to sit in a warm dark spot for 2-4 days before use.
Always reserve 1 cup of starter to 'feed' for another batch of bread later.

(Store your 1 cup starter in the fridge if you chose to wait to feed your starter another day. Feed consists of 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of warm water. Do this when your starter has come to room temp first.)

So I've found a good sourdough recipe I wanted to try, and let my dough have 3 rises before I baked. I used the steam method for a HARD crust too. I was very happy with the hardy, rustic, finished product.




So delicious... perfect when its a cold winter and you crave to have the oven on warming the house, and smells of bread filling your nose.

3 comments:

  1. Bravo!! I've been contemplating the whole "starter" thing lately. Eventually, I'll get there. I hope I'm as successful as you are :)

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  2. Looks Great.... I love sourdough bread :)

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  3. Thank you guys! It came out wonderful, and my starter is now amazing! Long as I keep it in the fridge and feed it (1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup flour) it keeps souring more and more, and I'm getting flavors I really appreciate.

    Danielle, Cathy told me you were in test kitchen mode for the Pillsbury Bakeoff competition this year as well. I hope we all get to go... I'm working my tail off to get in this time! :)

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