| Archive for JACKS SHED. the REAL countryside and REAL country folk. |
| Gareth |
Sourdough making through to Sourbread bakingHere is my attempt at sourdough.I had been interesetd in sourdough for a few weeks. Now here in the UK sourdough is not that popular, so I had a google, and found this. http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm Bare in mind that not only had I not prepared a Sourdough starter before, but neither had I tasted sourdough, or baked any kind of bread. This has been one whole learning experience for me, and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I decided to stick to the basic instructions that I obtained from the internet. My starter; 2 ladles of Plain white wheat flour, and two ladles of filtered boiled and cooled tap water. [img]  [/img]
I soon found that my starter was too thick, having the consistancy of a dough rather than a batter. So at the first feeding, I removed two ladles of my dough, replacing them with one ladle of flour, and two ladles of water. This resulted insomething that more resembled a batter, exactly what I was looking for. I left my sourdough batter in the uncovered mixing bowl out on the Kitchen work top for five days. Feeding it each day by dividing in two, and adding a new batch of one ladle of flour, and one of water. By leaving it out in the open, it caught and cultivated the natural yeasts and bacteria floating about my apartment. It is winter here in the UK, and my heating thermostat is set at 10 degrees C, so I was quiet surprised to see that the Cultrure had taken so quickly. After five days, I needed to use my large mixing bowl to mix another batch of Scotch eggs. So my batter was transfered to a clean and sterlised Kilner Jar. [img]  [/img]
When it was in the jar, I continued to feed it for two further days, this time with the lid securely fitted. So my batter did it's thing in a sealed envoriment. The only time that it was opened was to remove two ladles of the batter, replacing them with premixed new flour and water. For two days I watched the batter froth up and receded on almost 12 hour cycles. Rising for the first 12 hours after the feeding batter was introduced and then receding to the normal level. Doing it's thing inside the Kilner Jar. [img]  [/img]
On the 7th day (the creationists will love this .... .... LOL), I removed two ladles of batter placing them in my mixing bowl with two more ladles full of plain white wheat flour, and two of water, along with 2 tablespoons of Olive oil, and 3 tablespoons of granulated white suger. This I kneaded into my first ever sourdough sponge. Because the temperature in my apartment is reasonibly low (12degs C +/- 2degs C), I decided to leave my starter out overnight for at least 12 hours before baking. During this time, it almost trebled in size. Getting the stuff together to make my sourdough sponge. [img]  [/img]
Due to domestic chores, relaxation, and downright laziness on my part, the sourdough sponge had the opportunity to rest, rise, or whatever else you want to call it, for almost 18 hours in my mixing bowl. In the meantime I had removed all of my starter mix from the jar, replenished it back to the original mass, and allowed to sit on the work top in another bowl, while I cleaned out the jar. [img]  [/img]
So I gave it another good kneading. Tip; coat your hands in Olive oil before kneading, it makes the whole sticky process so much easier. Then I punched it out flat into a baking tray. [img]  [/img]
I managed to get two baking trays worth of dough from my sponge, which I baked in a pre-heated oven at gas Mk 5 for 15 minutes. [img]  [/img]
After clearing up, the jar of starter mix was placed in the refridgerator, ready for next week's sourdough baking escapade. I spent the rest of the evening watching one of my favorite films: "Kingdom of Heaven" on the TV, while snacking on bite size morsles of Sourbread, dipped in Blackforest fruit vinegar, with Scotch Eggs, washed down with Home-made Mead |
| Gareth |
My sourbread had a very short shelf life, and did not last me very long; only until lunchtime today (LOL).
Here is the last piece of it. A drizzle of fruit vinegar smoothed over the surface, a few slices of mature Chedder place on top, and 5 minutes under the grill. [img]  [/img]
On Wednesday evening, it is my turn to host the monthly Backgammon night. I have just added 3 fl/oz of Black forest fruit vinegar to the sausage meat for the scotch eggs. Which I will serve hot, covered with a Cauliflower cheese plus, in sourbread bowls, all to be washed down with the first bottling of my January's batch of home-made Mead. |
| Gareth |
Sourdough & Sourbread update.
Yesterday, before the onslaught upon my allotment, I prepared my latest batch of sourdough for baking. This time had decided to deviate slightly from the original dough mix, and produce a Garlic Sourbread. used a home-made garlic oil that I prepared a few weeks ago, and had decided that it had matured enough to try for the first time. 500ml extra virgin Olive oil. 5 crushed cloves of Garlic. Add to the oil, and stand the bottle in a bowl of hot water for a few hours. Cap and forget for a few weeks. The Garlic Sourbread; 200ml of Sourdough starter 400ml of Plain flour 200ml of filtered, boiled, and cooled water. 1 Tablespoon of white sugar 2 tablespoons of garlic flavoured Olive oil. dissolve the sugar in the water add to the flour and stir well add the Garlic oil, and stir well. Stir in the sourdough starter. stand at room temperature to rest for 12-18 hours. Knead and punch the dough into a shallow baking tray. Bake at gas Mk 5 for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy. I have eaten a considerable amount of this sour garlic bread today, hope that it wears off in time for my date tomorrow lunchtime. |