The Bread Thread!

[frustratedearthmother]

@wyoDreamer - whole wheat sourdough sounds relish. Yum!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

All this talk about sour dough: old fashioned vs. buying a culture has me wanting to so a SD culture here, just to say I've succeeded. Bee, would you advise me to try with the white flour I have on hand (it's not very fresh) or buy some organic WW flour at my health food store? And, once I get my culture going, does it matter whether I use white or WW to feed it? My typical forays into bread products are usually about 3/4 white, and I add 1/4 heavier grains. Typically WW, oats, corn, or 6 grain (usually a combination of those).

 

[rodeogirl]

I would love to have a sour dough starter but sadly mine never turn out.

 

[Beekissed]

I had made a good sourdough starters many times before attempting it in Wyoming. It was just the one attempt that went so wrong. Somehow I just caught the wrong yeast on that attempt.

I am going to attempt to use the starter I have now on homeground whole wheat and see if I can get some sourdough whole wheat bread that is edible. I would like ot be able to make bread from whole wheat without using any white flour. Right now, my attempts are producing a very, very heavy loaf.

Could be WY has an arid climate that doesn't hold much yeast to capture? I think it's easy for us here in these damp and humid mountains, as yeasts abound. Could be why some of the best sourdough back in the old days were among the old trappers and gold miners, as that is normally done in the mountains and along rivers, where there would be yeasts aplenty.

 

[Beekissed]

All this talk about sour dough: old fashioned vs. buying a culture has me wanting to so a SD culture here, just to say I've succeeded. Bee, would you advise me to try with the white flour I have on hand (it's not very fresh) or buy some organic WW flour at my health food store? And, once I get my culture going, does it matter whether I use white or WW to feed it? My typical forays into bread products are usually about 3/4 white, and I add 1/4 heavier grains. Typically WW, oats, corn, or 6 grain (usually a combination of those).

Typically they suggest not using any bleached or highly processed white flour, but a regular, unbleached all purpose white flour is what many use. I've made one using that and it went well enough.

The organic whole wheat would likely be quicker as it tends to have its own yeasts already captured on the grains themselves before you even grind them. The least processed the grain, it seems the closer one is to making a good starter.

They say to continue with the one you started with, but I didn't, as I haven't ground any new flour yet...my grinder is having a small malfunction. I had one cup to get it started and then fed it with the all purpose.

 

[Britesea]

This reminds me of a beer that Rogue Brewery tried making... using the yeasts in the brewmeisters beard! LOL it worked... he's been in the brewery for so many years. If you happen across it, it's called Beard Beer, and it's surprisingly good considering its weird inception.

 

[Mini Horses]

I've never heard of Carbalose flour

Me either...now, I have to do research

I tried making a starter from the "yeasts in the air" when we moved out to Wyoming. Those yeasts are nasty! It was pink and smelled bad within a week.

Sorry -- BUT

 

[Marianne]

I had made a good sourdough starters many times before attempting it in Wyoming. It was just the one attempt that went so wrong. Somehow I just caught the wrong yeast on that attempt.

I am going to attempt to use the starter I have now on homeground whole wheat and see if I can get some sourdough whole wheat bread that is edible. I would like ot be able to make bread from whole wheat without using any white flour. Right now, my attempts are producing a very, very heavy loaf.

Have you tried adding some vital wheat gluten? My all whole wheat loaves were pretty dense, the wheat gluten helped lighten the loaf.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

This reminds me of a beer that Rogue Brewery tried making... using the yeasts in the brewmeisters beard! LOL it worked... he's been in the brewery for so many years. If you happen across it, it's called Beard Beer, and it's surprisingly good considering its weird inception.

Glad I've had breakfast.

@Beekissed , what do you use for a grinder? I've been thinking it would be great to get one. Knowing that whole grains have a very long shelf life, and immediately start to oxidize when the seed coat is breached.

 

[Beekissed]

Glad I've had breakfast.

@Beekissed , what do you use for a grinder? I've been thinking it would be great to get one. Knowing that whole grains have a very long shelf life, and immediately start to oxidize when the seed coat is breached.

I have a grinder that was given to me some years ago, along with the tins of red turkey wheat~a Magic Mill III and it does a GREAT job, but it's old and brittle, so I broke a piece off the housing that now lets flour get blown into the engine compartment, so need to either jimmy rig it to not do that or try and order a part for it.

I grind my flour and immediately seal it up tight and place it in the freezer until I need to use it. Then I get it out and let it sit until it's room temp before using it.

I mixed my pizza dough today that I'll be using on Monday, using my still young starter...will let y'all know if it actually works in this dough. It was freshly fed last night and nice and bubbly this morning, so we'll see if it will do the job.

Not supposed to really use it until it's 12 days or older but I'm going to take a chance. It's still a mild starter, so it may not have that true sourdough flavor going on yet, but that's okay for pizza. All the toppings will pretty much drown out the flavor anyway.