My Bread Journey - Sourdough and Others

LOL @HK_User .... probably won't have a crispy crust when it reaches you... LOL....

Thanks for the comment... old fart bears in hot humid Hawaii need all the encouragement they can get from the Texas cheering section...

Have a great weekend!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

I love fresh honey direct from the hive @Dont .... you bring the honey... I'll bring the bread LOL....

Have a great weekend!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Well done... experiment accomplished!

 

Aloha Gang....

Sorry this took a while... here is the second bread out of the dutch oven with the coals...

Dang it... ran out of coals and the bread was not done... never follow the recipe... nah... I take that back....
Good lesson... should have gone with my instinct and put enough coals on for 500 degrees instead of 400...

Oh well... here's the result... crust not as crispy... but Grandma liked it better ... easier on her teeth... the first one was too hard for her... so I guess I did learn something... #1 about Grandma... and #2 about how to make bread with a thinner softer crust...

Still rose well with lots of holes... and still chewy inside with lots of flavor...

This is good stuff indeed....

Gonna master this charcoal dutch oven thing... more coals and or a smaller dutch oven with legs....

Thanks for following along... this loaf went to my Uncle down the street who loves sourdough bread.... a few slices off it to make sure it was cooked through and edible... but still warm when it was delivered....

Learned another thing.... Baking Bread is all about SHARING

On that note... got a question and a request for you @Ganado ... would you mind sharing your procedures for capturing wild yeast... be kind of specific... cause this old bear is kinda slow with new things... LOL...
I want to see if I can catch and grow some in from my shop/forge... LOL... Bear Forge Sourdough... who would have thought?

Have a great weekend all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Video link please? "Brokor vrs The Bear - BBQ Bread Making 101"
You've been vid slacking for like a year...
Hoser.

MG

 

Making a wild yeast and Managing a wild yeast are two different things with similar steps. Mostly in this post we are talking about experimenting with finding a 'wild yeast' sourdough flavor that you like. Its much easier to use a commercially established yeast like @Bear did.

There is a great basic recipe here in the resource section page 25.
Cooking & Food - Anglo Saxon Recipes | Survival Forums

When I was experimenting with different 'wild yeast' flavors I used less flour to start, just in case the experiment went bad.

WARNING: some of you will be grossed out by some of the things I will say below but remember we are experimenting with wild yeast and yeast is on everything, including your skin.

BASIC EXPERIMENTING RECIPE

• 1/4 cup flour with 3 tablespoons of filtered water
• whisk 'til smooth pour into non metal jar and let sit for 12 hours, then
• add 1/2 cup flour and 1/3 cup filtered water, repeat every 12 hours (or you can do morning and night) until your starter is brisk and bubbling

INGREDIENTS

• water must be unchlorinated, the chlorine kills the yeast
  
• flour - this is a personal choice, you can use whole wheat or any whole grain flour, I use unbleached flour, not whole grain on the starter. (see notes below)

Beat the flour and water together till smooth. When you are beating it you are aerating the mix which is key. So every time you add flour and water to feed the yeast, whisk it until smooth.

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:
After much experimenting, I found that using unbleached flour gave the most consistent flavor for the sour dough. For me the whole grains in the starter gave an 'off' taste after a few days. So if you want a whole grain bread use whole grain flour when you make bread but don't use in the starter, this includes rye or sprouted wheat.

Occasionally you get an alcohol smelling brown liquid on the top of the starter, just pour this part off and continue to follow the steps for feeding the starter. (this liquid typically indicates that your starter had too much liquid at the last feeding)

MAINTENANCE:
After about a week, your sourdough should be strong enough to store in the refrigerator.

The 'wild yeast fermenting process' can take up to 10 days if your house is cool (think winter temps in your home = cool) if your temperature is above 70 F then 7 days should be enough. You are looking for strong bubbly mix with that yeasty smelling yummy goodness.

Store Sourdough in refrigerator if you bake only once a week. When you get ready to use it, bring your starter out of the refrigerator at least 12 hours before to bring to room temperature. After removing half the mix to use in baking, then refeed your starter refeed before putting back in the refrigerator.

NOTES ON EQUIPMENT
All equipment should be non-metal, wood for mixing (and you can use a metal dough whisk I like this one Danish Dough Whisk) For the sourdough container you must use glass or ceramic containers. I use a quart wide mouth canning jar, with cheese cloth cover,

JARs - your jars should be only half full each time you feed the yeast so that you can accommodate the expansion of the sourdough. (this is true for wild yeast and established yeast.)

MISC NOTES:
This is the gross experimental part.

Yeast is everywhere, on your hands, on bugs, in the air. So try different locations and see what flavors you get. (as long as you can keep the mixture warm and covered with a breathable cloth you will be fine).

I have used different locations, laundry room, back porch, stove top, living room, and in between my house plants.

One of the best sourdough starters I ever had was an accident. I only had large weave cheese cloth to cover it so I put on several layers and at the same time I had gnats from some fruit. Several gnats found their way into the mix. After I picked out the gnats a day or so later, I made some bread delicious! I am assuming the yeast from the fruit was what made the difference. So if you want to do the 'Ganado Bug' method then use a course or large weave cheese cloth and let a few bugs into your mix!

For those of you who now have queezy stomachs. ALL FOOD has bugs in it. Its so common the FDA has guidelines called 'FOOD DEFECT ACTION LEVELS' if you click on the link you can read the guidelines. Chocolate and cocoa are allowed the most bug parts per million.

Yeast is a good thing, your body has yeast, uses yeast for digestion and protection. Using your nose and your taste buds to determine what agrees with you is a beautiful form of experimentation. If it smells bad it probably is bad for you.

Finally, with yeast and bugs, when you cook it, you kill it.

 

NOTES ON SOURDOUGH MAINTENANCE:
After I find a wild yeast flavor I like, I change the 'feeding' up a bit. This is all personal preference.

I like a thicker starter, I'm lazy and don't like to have to add as much flour when I bake, so I let my starter run a bit thicker by feeding 1/4 cup water and at least 1/4 flour (plus a bit more to make it thicker for bread and english muffins) when I feed it.

Your starter is a living breathing organism so its natural to see it rise and fall. You will know this by the sides of your jar, will have lines on it sometimes.

If you have been refrigerating your starter, put it on the counter, feed it and let it set 12-24 hours before you bake so that the yeast is going strong. Otherwise you will have flat bread with no yeast action.

ON BAKING DAY
pour 1 cup of your starter into a clean new glass jar and put it back in the refrigerator for next time.

If your starter is like mine you usually get 3 to 4 cups of starter. You can get more if you feed it more flour and water. Whatever amount you have, after you reserve one cup for the future. Then whatever is left use one cup for each recipe.

When I bake I make 2-4 things at once. So if I have 2 cups left (after I put one cup in the refrigerator) then I use one cup of starter for each recipe. One cup for bread and one for cake. or whatever you are making.


This is where you add whole grain flour to your baking. I find half whole grain and half unbleached flour to be a good mixture. The more whole grain you use the heavier the bread will be. I like light and fluffy unless its winter and we are having stew or chili and beans. Then I like a heavier, crusty bread. Whatever your personal preference enjoy!

Cooking is basically a big chemistry experiment! Its fun and delicious with occasional disastrous mixed in.

EDIT: I added this part for @Bear

CLEAN UP
Kneading the dough on wax paper or one of these makes cleanup easier. Below is the amazon link but a dollar store will have them as well.
Amazon.com: CounterArt Flexible Cutting Mat with Food Icons, Set of 4: Cutting Boards: Kitchen & Dining

 

Aloha Bear,

At the end of a day of SCOUT adventures, we (Scout Leaders) provided a special treat to the scout Troop.
The Scouts prepared their meals as did the Leaders, so our treat to them was always a surprise to the new scouts.
We did a Peach Cobbler in a dutch oven over a wood fire/coals.
We started with a typical cobbler and did not preheat the Oven.
Near the end, just before they finished their meal we removed the Dutch Oven, placed it near the coals but out of that source of heat,totally covered the top with burning embers and waited about ten minutes.
If timed correctly we would open the top to see a delicious roasted brown dome of fresh pastry and a finished bottom with a firm but not stuck base with a liquid goo of Peaches.

Gotta love Dutch Oven Cooking.

Thanks for rekindling that memory.

HK

 

Wonderful tale, Bear.....and well told. I've tried the technique of using fresh whole wheat flour/water/sugar to make my own starter down here in SENM. It worked pretty well. The bread came out about like the one you did in the oven. Tasty. Unfortunately, when I put the starter in the fridge to slow it down, it died. Same thing happens when I put pizza dough in to let it slow rise over 3 days. Drat!

Your story reminded me of my attempts to make yogurt. Success the first time using plain store-bought yogurt as a starter, but much better with a starter I bought online. Trial and error. Learn from errors! LOL!

Thanks for sharing.

Kajun

 

Mum did it the same way for the church potlucks.

Just remember to add time for the rise (I let it rise a 2nd time) and to add time for the baking at your altitude

Excellent Post @Bear! Enjoyed it a lot. Made me think back on my Mum's baking

 

Winter I can keep it going on the kitchen counter for months, summer I keep it covered in the Fridge. Went for a whole year one time, till I had to go on a trip and I put it out the door.

Started my bread making trip after a serious injury, neighbors almost got tired of fresh bread.
The need to use the starter and bake bread gave me something to do each day.
Man's gotta have a purpose, it's the nature of the beast.

 

How did you get it to marble like that? I work my molasses in when kneading the dough.

@Bear please keep us posted when you do another batch in the dutch oven at the hotter temp.

 

And apparently your Ego is alive and well too.

 

The ID is highly overrated.

 

Wow... great posts everyone...

Here's the last loaf I baked... actually two of them ... upped the temperature to 450....

One went hot and crisp to my Uncle and Aunt down the street and the other we devoured....

A bit of flour inside from my over zealous use of flour in a bandana to roll the edges I'll do better next time... still tasted great! (Bears eat anything with lots of butter on it!)

Used my smaller dutch ovens... one Lodge and the other a Wagner...

Came out great!

Still need to redo the camp dutch oven with the coals... feeding the critters tonight out of the fridge... left them in there for a week to see how they do... ugly brownish black hooch on top... poured it out and fed them... if it rises... I'll make the dough tonight and to the charcoal thing tomorrow....

Gonna also look for a smaller camp dutch oven... a 2qt or #8 depending on how you size them....

wish me luck on the charcoal thing!

Also gonna make a ring for the top of my none camp dutch ovens to hold the coals and a stand to keep it up off the coals on the bottom... should be easy to make accessories out of mild steel rather than buy the store bought stuff...

Maybe a lid lifter, trivet and top holder too .... lol....

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear