January 21, 2008
It is a real pleasure to buy something that is exactly what it is supposed to be and that is why I’m pleased to report that we have an excellent new sourdough culture. We make most of our bread at home and have for years. For the last three years we’ve used a starter we got from the best bakery in Maine, Black Crow Breads. With Ellen at work I’ve been doing more of the bakery and at some point I forgot to keep some starter and we lost our line.
Fortunately the intertubes came to the rescue and we got a San Francisco sourdough from sourdo.com . It’s been 20 years since I tried a dried sourdough culture and back then the results were terrible. I’ve learned a lot about sourdough since ( and beer, mead, lactobacilli etc. ) and this worked out really well. Following the instructions it took three days to really come alive but after a couple of trial batches I’m prepared to give it my unqualified approval.
Sourdough bread making takes endless repetition to be able to recognize and count on the growth curves involved. The way we do it is to take the starter from the fridge in the morning, feed it and let it come to room temperature. Then we make a sponge with two cups of starter, two of flour and one and a half of water, stirred, it sits for 2-4 hours. The remaining cup of starter is fed and after those same 2-4 hours returned to the fridge. The sponge is worked into 5-6 cups of flour and another cup or so of water, kneaded for 12 minutes by hand and left to rise over night. The fridge will do but it is better to have it in the forties (F). Cold rising lets the flavors develop a depth and interest. In the morning the dough is allowed to reach room temperature, formed into loaves and allowed to rise at 70F usually for about three hours, followed by baking in the usual way. The results:
