It’s only one loaf that I’ve made, and it took ages, and I’m a bit obsessed about my starter. But I have successfully completed my sourdough (after many failed and disheartening attempts in the past)The trick seemed to be waiting around and let nature do its work. And I guess I’d have to thank the book that made it all happen a little easier as well.
About a week ago I found the book “wild sourdough: the natural way to bake” by Yoke Mardewi in my local library. I got it, I read it and it made it all work for the better.
It seems the first handy trick is to measure everything by weight and not mass.
I put this theory to practice and made my starter from equal weight in water and flour (organic white and about 20% rye) and kept feeding it every couple of days as well.
The crazy thing keeps bubbling away and asking for more food. And I keep giving it to the sloppy looking thing.
After waiting for about 5days I decided there was enough activity for bread to be made. So out came the book again and the basic recipe was followed, with success.
I made the best looking loaf of bread I’d ever made with the texture and flavour to match it. It did take hours and hours to make though. That was a bit of a pain.
Basic bread theory in this book’s told me that it’s all about maths. If the flour was at 100 then you’d use 55-70 water, 15-30 of the starter and about 2 of salt. (ripped off and modified from the book)
I guess the best thing for someone to do though is find the book. It’s got some really good stuff in it.
By the way, I also made a whole batch of pork fat for my ham, bacon and preserving experiments. Got a whole lot more than I was expecting. It stank the house out a little bit though so maybe next time I’ll do it outside with more pork fat…
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