I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago. The
second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that had
been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after about 6
feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread flavored
with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them with
commercial yeast.

Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it to
1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of sugar
and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and appearance,
set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the end
of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just flattened
itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home and
came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft to
make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my surprise, I
had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and texture.
I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up and
encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast was
a reality. Ah, success!

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com

On Thu, 20 May 2004 20:50:45 -0500, "Fred"
> wrote:

>I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago. The
>second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that had
>been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after about 6
>feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread flavored
>with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
>faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them with
>commercial yeast.
>
>Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it to
>1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of sugar
>and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and appearance,
>set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the end
>of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just flattened
>itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home and
>came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
>fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft to
>make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
>baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my surprise, I
>had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and texture.
>I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up and
>encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast was
>a reality. Ah, success!
>
>Fred
>The Good Gourmet
>http://www.thegoodgourmet.com
>
>

Hi Fred,

Your tale brought a smile!

Continued success,

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On 5/20/04 8:50 PM, "Fred" > wrote:

> I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago. The
> second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that had
> been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after about 6
> feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread flavored
> with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
> faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them with
> commercial yeast.
>
> Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it to
> 1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of sugar
> and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and appearance,
> set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the end
> of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just flattened
> itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home and
> came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
> fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft to
> make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
> baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my surprise, I
> had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and texture.
> I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up and
> encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast was
> a reality. Ah, success!
>
> Fred
> The Good Gourmet
> http://www.thegoodgourmet.com
>
>
Fred,

You've crossed the baker's Rubicon. Toil on! (and clear a space on the
counter for the inevitable Flour Mill).

Will



>
> _______________________________________________
> rec.food.sourdough mailing list
>
> http://www.otherwhen.com/mailman/lis...food.sourdough

I really enjoyed reading your mail. I have been baking all our bread with a
"Sour dough International" culture for many years and have been mostly
successful. I think that this stuff is tempermental according to the weather
etc.
When I made my own culture, it seemed to die after a few months. Probably
because I was so new at it.
Keep it going!

"Ripmarge" > wrote in message
...
> I really enjoyed reading your mail. I have been baking all our bread with
a
> "Sour dough International" culture for many years and have been mostly
> successful. I think that this stuff is tempermental according to the
weather
> etc.
> When I made my own culture, it seemed to die after a few months. Probably
> because I was so new at it.
> Keep it going!

You have more experience than I do. I can tell you the culture is nearly a
month old now and is consistent, stable, sweet and has a nice, mildly
alcoholic aroma. I made a second attempt on Saturday. I mixed up the same
formula I had made before with a little less water and put it in a bowl to
ferment in the refrigerator. I figured if the first one fermented in a day,
I'd need to cool it to be right after two days. This morning it looked like
it hadn't fermented at all. I took it out of the fridge and put it in an 85
degree oven. It fermented and rose a little but not like the baguettes I
baked last Thursday. So I lost patience, deflated it and made it up into a
nice big batard, slashed it and put it back to proof. After an hour it
didn't look all that good. I shrugged my shoulders and squeezed the loaf a
little to get it to grow more up than out. I just set the oven to 375 and
fired it up. 20 minutes later I had a tall, beautiful loaf with those huge
irregular holes in the crum and a nice sourdough flavor. No stretch marks.

This stuff seems to be pretty forgiving. If I were to bake my normally
leavened bread underproofed I'd get a ton of "stretch marks." It didn't
happen with this loaf. It looked beautiful and tasted great. Who knows,
maybe it was proofed enough and didn't know how to tell me.

I fed the culture again today and it is still clean, sweet and aromatic. So
far so good. I got an envelope with some of the Carl's Oregon Trail starter
in it. I may fire that up on Wednesday but I'm pretty proud of having a
locally grown culture that works so well. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'm
headed for disaster.

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com

"williamwaller" > wrote in message
news:mailman.41.1085163716.229.rec.food.sourdough@ mail.otherwhen.com...
> On 5/20/04 8:50 PM, "Fred" > wrote:
>
> > I started my sourdough starter project from scratch about 3 weeks ago.
The
> > second starter stabilized and was successful (rye flour and water that
had
> > been boiled and cooled.) It still looks good and smells good after
about 6
> > feedings with high gluten flour. I baked about 12 loaves of bread
flavored
> > with some of the starter as I fed and stabilized the culture. It tasted
> > faintly sour but wasn't really sourdough because I had leavened them
with
> > commercial yeast.
> >
> > Finally yesterday morning I took about a 1/4 cup of my starter, added it
to
> > 1 1/2 lb. of high gluten flour, about 12 oz. of warm water, 1 oz. of
sugar
> > and 1/2 oz. of salt. I mixed it until it had the right feel and
appearance,
> > set it on the counter, covered it with film and let it ferment. By the
end
> > of the day, it looked like it hadn't fermented at all and had just
flattened
> > itself out. The dough was a little too hydrated I guess. I went home
and
> > came back to the store this morning. Surprise - the dough was fully
> > fermented and had a strong aroma of sourdough. It was a little too soft
to
> > make up hearth bread so I made it up into some baguettes and put the
> > baguette pan to proof for about an hour. I baked it and, to my
surprise, I
> > had some delicious and definitely sour baguettes of normal size and
texture.
> > I fed slices all day long to customers who gave me plenty of thumbs up
and
> > encouragement. My first bread without a single bit of commercial yeast
was
> > a reality. Ah, success!
> >
> > Fred
> > The Good Gourmet
> > http://www.thegoodgourmet.com
> >
> >
> Fred,
>
> You've crossed the baker's Rubicon. Toil on! (and clear a space on the
> counter for the inevitable Flour Mill).
>
> Will
>
Thanks. I don't think I'll get into milling flour. I'll leave that to the
pros. I'll try a few other formulas and then I want to try a pumpernickel.
The 1/2 loaf of sourdough Italian I brought home to my wife this evening got
a smile and a thumbs up. Maybe I'm lucky because I have so much prior (to
sourdough) bread baking experience. It may have helped me get through the
first phases of novicehood without much trouble. Good cooking.

Fred
The Good Gourmet
http://www.thegoodgourmet.com

"Fred" "The Good Gourmet" > wrote=20
in message ...

> [ ... ]

> Maybe I'm lucky because I have so much prior (to sourdough)=20
> bread baking experience. It may have helped me get through the
> first phases of novicehood without much trouble.

Sounds good, Good One!. Luck or experience or both. Can you=20
post some pictures? (Of bread, not merchandise)=20

---
DickA=20

You're doing great! You sound as though you have a feel for this animal! My
first attempts did work for a while, and then seemed to lose their pep. Then I
got Ed Woods book and sent for the Red Sea culture (1990 of 91) and I'm till
using it.
I hope it keeps working for you...........Marge