Sourdough bread

[srkruzich]

does anyone make sourdough bread around here??

[dnalexander]

I do and I live in the home of the best sourdough bread in the world. San Francisco Sourdough is the best. What do you want to know.

David

[Diane Amberg]

Yummy! I love San Francisco Sour Dough Bread. Every time we visited we would bring several loaves back. We usually got Boudin's but I'll bet you know of even better ones.

[dnalexander]

Boudin's is the original San Francisco Sourdough and top of the heap. Just as good is Parisian and Columbo. Next are Acme Baking and Grace Baking. I got my starter by sitting in Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf with a mason jar full of flour, water, and a touch of milk. The San Francisco yeast culture is available now from several baking supply companies. I thought I would harvest it straight from the source and save a few bucks.

David

[Diane Amberg]

Aha! Clever boy, that David.

[srkruzich]

Well i have been having major problems getting mine to rise. 
i have starter, it tastes wonderful!  Its got yeast in it and works when i mix my flour into it.  Now i take my starter, 1 cup and mix with 105 deg water 2 cups and 3 1/2 cups of flour. work it together and let set for anywhere from 8 - 15 hours.  Once it has worked and soured, i then add 2 tsp sugar and 2 tsp salt and 3 1/2 cups flour and knead dough.  Lay it in a lightly oiled bowl til it rises.  once it rises, i punch down and put into loaf pans and they sit there and do nothing!  just flat hard and nothing.

[dnalexander]

Steve a couple of things first then I will dig out my sourdough notebook and give you some things that work for me.

Lower your water temp to no higher than body temp.
Increase sugar to 1 1/2 Tablespoons(2 Tablespoons max.)
Lower your salt to 1/2 teaspoon to a max of 1 teaspoon.
Gentle on the punching down. More of just a folding\gentle kneadingto redistribute the yeast. You want to keep as much of the air bubbles in the dough as you can.
The starter needs to be replentished every week even if you are not making bread. (Sounds like the stater is a little tired)
Keep old starter but take some out and put in a new mason jar or crock. In the new jar put in
2 Tablespoons old starter in new jar along with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups body temp water. Let it sit at room temp on counter for 12 to 24 hours until it starts to bubble good. Best to do in a room 70 to 80 degrees Farenheit. I see it is hot in Elk County so do your best to find a cool spot in that temp range. I will dig out my notes and give you more info later. Also, if you private message me your mailing info. I will send you a pamphlett that I have that is very usefull

Check out this website that I used when I was just starting making bread.


http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-sourdough.html

More later when I dig out my notes. Good Luck

David

[Teresa]

I posted this waaaay back when:

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,321.0.html

I make sourdough also. 

[Teresa]

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php/topic,360.0.html

[dnalexander]

Steve, after looking at my troubleshooting notes and what problems I had and what fixed them I think your problem is that your starter is tired or there is a yeast problem. The cause is probably that many of the yeast are killed off by your use of 105 degree water. What little yeast survives that temp combined with the bacteria that provides the "sour" taste have enough oompf for the first rise and not the second rise. Here is my suggestion to fix the no rise problem:

Water temp. down to 70-90 degrees.  Make sure rises are in a room of same temp. Make sure that you cover the dough during rise to keep a skin from developing that also would inhibit the rise. Slower rises take longer but produce a better texture and flavor in the bread. When it is rising in the loaf pan it may take 2-4 hours to rise as much as 6-12.

Keep you overall recipe the same. Still make the second starter. If the old one doesn't work you can use it to make sourdough pancakes or biscuits. You could even use the old starter and add a little regular bread yeast to your recipe. The old starter for flavor and the bread yeast to make it rise.

Gentle on the kneading after the first rise you want to keep as much of the air in the bread as you can. The punch down is just so you can gentle knead the dough to redistribute the yeast.
Test batches can be made in half or quarter size recipes to conserve ingredients until you get it right. You can use the baked mistakes to make toasted bread crumbs, feed the pigs\chickens, or to make meatloaf etc.

Remember to "feed your starter" each week even if you don't use it. The more you use the starter the better it will work.

Each starter has its own personality I would rather have a slow rising starter with flavor as yours seems to be. I looked at all of the trial and error tests as a learning experience. What I learned helps me make bread now without a recipe. Good Luck.

David