Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sourdough

Should I bake my own bread?

jaguar — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:31:13 -0800

I absolutely hate baking. I really love good bread. No vendor in my area has good bread. Should I try making bread? My absolute ideal bread is "When Pigs Fly" bakery's Six-Grain and Pumpkin Seed bread. My runner-up would be a good, chewy sourdough. Are these reasonable goals for a non-baker? Any recipes or suggestions?

Does Wonderbread hurt my stomach?

peter1982peter — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:19:53 -0800

Help us settle a dispute. Is cheap, supermarket white bread made with finer flour than artisanal sourdough bread? And if so, does the fine white flour lead to more gastrointestinal upset because "it becomes glue in your stomach"?

Kefir is the mind killer.

Think_Long — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:53:58 -0800

So I got these kefir grains, but what the heck do I do with them? I was given some kefir from a friend and have started fermenting some small jars of regular 2% milk. So far, I've really only used the product for things I would normally use yogurt for - oatmeal and the like.

I'm looking for some other creative things to do. I'd especially be interested in fermenting other things besides just milk.

I've heard it's possible to make a sourdough bread using the bacteria from the kefir, so if you've got some experience with that, I'd appreciate it.

Sourdough in the Big Smoke

roofus — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:26:24 -0800

Is there good sourdough available in London? I want to eat moist, chewy, flaky deliciously sour sourdough, in London UK. I want sourdough like they make it at Boudin in SF. This must exist, surely?

How to make injera at home?

parudox — Sat, 14 May 2011 21:34:24 -0800

How to make injera at home? I've tried before and failed miserably, but I want to try again. I would like a workable facsimile of injera, preferably one that doesn't take over a day or two and which I can make on a cast-iron griddle pan. And which is hopefully easy enough that it can be made on a regular basis. I have access to regular sourdough starter and teff flour, but am open to combinations of flour.

Sourdough, pukey but delicious!

nadawi — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:40:56 -0800

Why does all sourdough bread leave me feeling nauseated? I love sourdough bread so much, but even a single slice will have me sick at my stomach for hours. This is all sourdough, commercially made, homemade, fast food, upscale restaurant, all of it. Is it related to my mold allergy or another food allergy? Is there any way to make it not do that?

What do I do with all this sourdough bread?

ORthey — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:34:02 -0800

OK. What can I make with all this homemade sourdough bread? I've recently developed a really great starter and have become a sourdough bread-making maniac, which is incredibly fun and delicious but leaves me with a lot of excess bread. I give some of it away, but not all, and I wonder - what are the best uses?

Ideas I've had already are: French toast, croutons, strata, bread pudding. But what am I missing? Keep in mind the bread has a very strong sourdough flavor. I'd love suggestions for uses of stale as well as fresh loaves!

Help me invent my own bread recipes!

ORthey — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:38:47 -0800

I'll go ahead and call myself an experienced breadmaker. Now, I want to invent my own recipes. What should I keep in mind? After a couple years of honing my craft, I've gotten good at making bread. I'm no virtuoso, but I can pretty reliably bake some tasty bread. White bread, nan, pita, English muffins, cinnamon rolls, bagels, pita, etc. I also finally have a healthy and vigorous sourdough starter (after a few failed attempts!). I've gotten to the point where I'd love to start experimenting, and before I just dive in, I thought I'd query AskMe's awesome breadmaking denizens! Are there some essential ratios/ingredient combos/definite no-nos/etc that I should be aware of?

For reference: assume a fairly complete set of baking tools, a knowledge of what dough is supposed to feel and smell like, a fair amount of time on my hands, and a very open mind about what ingredients can go in/on bread and what shape it can be in.

Thanks!

Sourdough muffins? Sourdough...cake?

Adridne — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:25:39 -0800

Besides bread, what else can I make with my sourdough starter? I have now successfully gotten my starter going, and I hate throwing half of it away every time I feed it, but there's only so much bread two people can eat. Please give me your tried and true recipes for anything besides plain sourdough bread. Thanks!

Want to make Sourdough Bread

Upon Further Review — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:33:25 -0800

Help from our sourdough bread experts.I want to get my wife a sourdough bread starter and whatever goodies to help in baking a tasty sourdough. Please pass along any tips, books, or info available to get the dough rolling.. By the way can you make a starter at home or is there a really good place to order a starter. Thanks!

Will my sourdough sponge wear out before I get to bake with it?

chowflap — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:59:12 -0800

Sourdough baking and time management: Did I start my sponge at the wrong time? I have a nice looking sponge, but I won't be able to bake until after work tomorrow (20 hours or so). What should I do with it, at this point? So, I have started some sourdough starter about a week and a half ago. It was nice and bubbly and smelling fine, so today, to make a sponge, I mixed it with a cup of bread flour and a cup of water about 8 hours ago, and it's looking pretty good. At this point, you're supposed to mix a portion of your starter with more flour, a bit of water, and oil, and knead it into a nice bread dough. But I need to go to bed soon. Should I put the sponge in the fridge to slow it down, then make the dough before work tomorrow morning, and let it rise until I get home (9 hours or so)?
Or, should I mix up the dough tonight, and let it rise until after work?
Or am I letting my yeast feast and peak too early, and should treat this sponge as a huge starter (going back a step, basically)?
I've read the other AskMes about sourdough but none answered this exact question for me. Obviously, I am very new at sourdough... Thanks for your help!

Dough in TO?

anthill — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:58:49 -0800

I love sourdough. It doesn't seem like anyone else in Toronto does, though. Could anyone recommend a TO bakery with a bread that's

thick, flaky crust-ed
moist, spongy on the inside
sour, real sour

Basically what Boudin makes in San Francisco. Or what Venice Bakery sells as "Vancouver Sourdough" out west.

I've tried Future Bakery and Stonemill Bakehouse, both of which make look-alike sourdoughs with all the flavor of a baguette.

I could bake my own bread or air-freight Boudin's, but I'd much rather just support a local bakery... help!

Is my sourdough starter supposed to do that?

esilenna — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:49:48 -0800

DumbQuestionFilter: Is my sourdough starter supposed to shrink? A couple of days ago, for the first time ever, I made a sour dough starter from a recipe I found in a book. I followed the instructions to the letter and used 375g flour, 3 tsp yeast, and 4.5dl water, all mixed well in a glass jar and then covered with a kitchen towel and left it out on the counter top. For the first 6-7 hours it grew and grew, was all bubbly, but then it collapsed to a quarter of it's largest size.

It has tiny bubbles throughout and smells a lot like beer, has a cm thick layer of goopy frothy bubbly liquid on top, so I *think* it's doing well, but is the shrinkage supposed to happen? Nothing I've read about sour dough starters mentions any collapses so I was wondering if there are any MeFites who have made their own sour dough with experiences to share?

Also, I want to use this sour dough to make sour dough no-knead bread. Any and all favourite recipes are gratefully accepted.

Sweet and Sour Bread?

TuxHeDoh — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:18:09 -0800

I've got some Amish Friendship Bread starter that i've been keeping in 1 gallon zipper bags. The directions state to add 1 cup of flour, sugar and milk on the 5th day, and bake on the 10th, after feeding it another cup of flour sugar and milk. What else can this starter be used for? What's the best way to store it, do I have to split it into 4 before using 1 cup for bread? Any other sourdough tips?

Scary waffles

umbú — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:22:19 -0800

How do you know when sourdough starter goes bad? This morning ms. umbú and I had some sourdough waffles using our jar of her family's 40-year old sourdough starter. They were great: airy and tangy, as they should be. If you've never had sourdough waffles or pancakes, you should. They're amazing.

The thing is, we almost didn't make them because it has been a while since we used the mason jar of starter, and sitting in the back of the fridge it has gotten pretty scary looking. There was some black liquid settling on top, for example, more dramatically than usual.

Now I know the starter is supposed to be alive and changing. However, is there a certain point where it passes a point of no return and you should no longer eat it? If so, how do you know when it has passed that point?

Sourdough started, now how to finish?

otherwordlyglow — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:40:06 -0800

Is my sourdough starter ready? I've been building a sourdough starter for the last few weeks, starting with organic rye flour and then transitioning to organic bread flour. Usually feeding once or twice a day, about a half cup each of flour and water (having dumped out an equal amount first). It smells the way I think it should (fresh, sour, kinda like fresh paint) and is nice and bubbly and is clearly doing something good but how do I know when it's ready to go? I've heard that it should rise up to double its size after feeding and it's not doing that at all though it does rise a slight bit and bubbles up. It's been about 3 weeks of minding the starter and I'm wondering how long it could possibly take......sure I know that they continue to mature and change over many many years, if you treat it well but I want sourdough bread now!! Does it matter that I'm doing a batter-style starter as opposed to a firmer dough style?

It usually sites out on my kitchen counter in a mason jar with the lid loosely closed. Once or twice when I know I won't be around for more than 24 hours, I've put it in the frig after feeding and then brought it out again when I'm back to resume a regular feeding. That doesn't seem to present any change in behavior.

Any and all tips to sourdough starter success are welcome.

But that's different.

ilsa — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 16:03:42 -0800

Some sourdough recipes advise against using metal utensils and bowls. Why? And then why do these same sources turn around and tell you to put the dough in the (metal) workbowl of your stand mixer?

does the culture that makes sourdough sour have any nutrition benefits?

wendell — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:34:50 -0800

My favorite kind of bread is Sourdough (it's Californian, dude!), and I know I should be eating something more wholegrainhighfiberlowcarbwhatever. But I'm curious... if the cultures in yogurt are healthy for you, does the culture that makes sourdough sour have any nutrition benefits over plain white bread? And does Sourdough really take 2-3X as long to get stale and moldy than other bread, or that just me?

Or can anybody reccommend a best-tasing Whole Wheat Sourdough?