Somebody doing sourdough breads in home?

Question

I do it amost every days and i love it!What is your best recipe?

Take easy people! Don´t need to fight.
Thank you so much.

Dave C, thank you, i have my own sourdough and i do breads almost every day.

Answer 1

Depp lover, if you are going to steal a recipe, at least source it. http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,164,139189-247196,00.html



I love sourdough for pizza and for sandwiches. When I am making a big deal out of sandwiches I will bake a loaf that uses the following bakers recipe:

63.5% Water
100% Flour
2.4% Salt
8% Sourdough starter (sponge)
.25% yeast

324 g water
510 g four
12.75 salt
48 g sourdough
1.5 g of yeast, or a whole package if lazy
Sometimes I add a bit of olive oil and drop the water accordingly. Or throw in some herbs for flavour.

I use metric and measure everything by weight, this way I can get a more exact recipe every time.

Answer 2

If you really want to dive into sourdough breads then you need to create your own wild yeast starter, experiment around and do not use any packaged yeast.

I've made my own wild yeast starter just using flour, water, a warm place and time. I experimented around with different recipes on the internet - a flour and water mixture, flour and water mixture exposed to air from a window, using grapes... etc.

Surprisingly, the bread turned out really well.

Also, a little factoid, sourdough breads are made from a classic lean dough where the dough is just water, flour, salt and starter.

If you really want to learn about baking, then go for a wild yeast starter. There's no crutch of using packaged yeast, sugars, mixes... etc. Just the ingredients and your skills.

Keep track of your water, flour, starter ratios... using what's known as baker's percentages.

These two websites were helpful for the basic steps - http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/startingastarter.html

Here's another site with more pictures:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=27634

Info on baker's percentages.
http://www.theartisan.net/bakers_percentage_revised_2001.htm

Answer 3

SOURDOUGH POTATO BREAD

1 package active dry yeast
6 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
Instant mashed potatoes (enough for 2 servings)
milk
butter
salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter, room temperature
1 egg white beaten with 2 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In large bowl of electric mixer, combine yeast, 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt. In pan, prepare the mashed potatoes according to package instructions.

Then to the potatoes add 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, and starter; stir until blended. Add potatoes to dry ingredients and beat at medium for 2 minutes, scraping sides. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and beat at medium for 2 minutes. With a heavy mixer or wooden spoon, add enough of remaining flour to make a stiff dough.

Knead dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic (5-20 min.) adding flour to prevent sticking. Place dough in greased bowl, turning over to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled (1 1/2 - 2 hrs.)

Punch dough down. Knead briefly to release air. Divide in half.

Shape each half into a smooth ball and place each on a lightly greased 12x15" baking sheet.

With a sharp floured knife, cut 1/2" deep slashes in the tops of loaves in a tic-tac-toe pattern.

Cover loaves and let rise until almost doubled (45 min.)

Brush loaves with egg white mixture.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 35 min. or until loaves are richly browned.

Let cool on wire racks.

Makes 2 large loaves.