I have been working more and more with my sourdough, a lot of trial and error. When I find something that really works I am ecstatic. I am up to three recipes now that earn the Taste is Trump stamp of approval. The stuff really baffles me. I am more of a cook than a baker. I like to just throw in what suits my fancy without dirtying any measuring cups. This often presents a problem in baking.
A long time ago I began working on making whole grain sandwich bread with sourdough starter. I have nearly given up. The only success I have had is when I use half white flour in the dough. Otherwise it is too sour, dense and crumbly. I have been following Kitchen Stewardships series on whole grain bread baking and am eagerly waiting for sourdough to show up.
In the mean time I have this recipe on my to-do list. Anyone want to join me in trying it out. The method is different than any I have tried, so that is promising.
So I have my pizza recipe, which turns out every time. Thanks, no doubt, to the white flour. I also have an awesome sourdough waffle recipe that I will be posting in a couple weeks to pump you up for my sourdough class. I have made this recipe every week for months now because it is the best! I don't know why I haven't posted it yet. Also, stay tuned next week for an amazing sourdough cake recipe that I am making for Kate’s birthday.
I'll try that recipe! I have had no luck w/ a sourdough sandwich bread either. I've had luck with rolls and hamburger buns and artisan bread (all whole grain, no white). My standard might be different than yours though. I'm eager to find a good sandwich bread recipe though...the last was too dense and sour for our tastes!
ReplyDeleteI'll be very curious to see what type of luck you have with this recipe. I've tried a making some whole wheat sourdough sandwich bread and didn't have the greatest success.
ReplyDeleteIf you want an extremely easy sourdough bread recipe, no kneading or anything, check out my post for a rustic sourdough bread. The post has several recipes, so scroll down a bit to get to it. It's so worth the try and is why is share it. I just love it, especially because it's so easy. I make it at least once a week now and use it for all of our bread. The original recipe is from StoneSoup. There are only 4 ingredients in it, starter, flour (I use 100% whole wheat normally, but have tried various flours), water and salt.
http://artistta.blogspot.com/2010/10/nutritious-and-delicious-on-go.html
I think I'll have to give the sandwich bread recipe a try too. Good luck with it and thanks for sharing!
Kami and Artistta, do you use hard red or hard white wheat? I would guess that it makes a difference, but most recipes don't list which one.
ReplyDeleteArtistta, I have made that no knead recipe with a pinch of yeast instead of starter and half wheat half white. It was really good. I am going to try it the way you suggest. I have nothing to loose, cheap ingredients and barely any time put into it. Thank for sharing it.
I have the Fresh Loaf recipe rising right now, it is the driest dough I have ever worked with. I am going to weigh my ingredients next time!
Hi Kara, I always use a hard winter wheat, that's how the classify it at our co-op. I'm not sure the difference between the two you mentioned. I know that soft white wheat has a lower gluten level and is less suitable for bread.
ReplyDeleteI measure all my ingredients, or weigh them depending on the reipe and am pretty precise with my sourdough starter. I always maintain a 100% hydration starter. The more precise I've been with it the better the success I've had with it, which in this case equals a lighter loaf. I hope you have success doing the 100% whole wheat.
HI Kara, I thought I'd do a quick web search of the differences between the two wheats, since I've seen this question asked before. Here's two things I found:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6985/wheat-red-vs-white-spring-vs-winter
http://www.wheatfoods.org/AboutWheat-white-wheat/Index.htm
I grew up on 'Fred'! Love him! Rye flour works very well for feeding sour dough. You can grind rye berries for fresh flour :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Artistta, I am ordering some hard red wheat from azure this month so that I can play around with it. When I started makeing bread everyone insisted that hard white was the way to go. I use soft white for muffins and such and have found it to replace white flour in non yeasted recipes really well.
ReplyDeleteAnnika, someone told me that rye was the best for starter and that's what I have been using :)
So, I tried that recipe when you first posted it, and it didn't work very well for me. Of course, I don't think I measured very well (still need scales), but it was too sour and dense. I just made some bread today that rocked! I used some organic spelt and some hard white wheat from the cannery. I used the recipe from here as a base: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/03/12/sourdough-recipes-galore-honey-whole-wheat-sourdough-bread/
ReplyDeleteBut I used water instead of milk, cut back on the eggs, used part coconut oil, part olive oil-
Anyway, I've been on cloud 9 all day because it was THAT good ak, soft, light, not too crumbly, not too dense. It literally worked out better than my no fail SAF-instant recipe. Hope I can duplicate it.
I tried it too and the dough was so dry, very hard to work with. The bread turned out okay. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe that rocks! I am going to try it. I have made my sourdough pizza recipe with all wheat flour instead of spelt and white and it turned out really good. Hardly even sour because of all the honey.
ReplyDelete