Greetings from SFO!
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wrote on 10 Mar 2025, 20:58 last edited by Steve Miller 3 Oct 2025, 21:03
Maybe bottled drinking water?
Maybe I’ll take some of the discard and feed it with tap water and see what happens. I have lots of jars and the tap water doesn’t smell like chlorine so…
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wrote on 11 Mar 2025, 15:40 last edited by
You can just boil your tap water and cool it and then use it. Keep container in the fridge. Most tap water has chlorine added. Even if you can’t smell it. And wtg said her tap water works, so maybe yours won’t have enough to matter and will too. I’ve just always let it dissipate out of mine because that’s what was suggested.
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wrote on 12 Mar 2025, 17:30 last edited by wtg 3 Dec 2025, 17:35
I've never tried drying starter. If you get desperate, I can dry some of mine and send it to you. King Arthur has instructions for the whole process, from drying it, storing it, and reviving it:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2015/05/01/putting-sourdough-starter-hold
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wrote on 12 Mar 2025, 19:33 last edited by
I dried some of mine a couple of years ago. It’s easy here, we are so dry. Keep meaning to set up a test with it, and one from scratch to see if it goes faster.
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wrote on 13 Mar 2025, 15:54 last edited by wtg
First attempt at sourdough challah in the oven. Meant to take a pic before it went in, and when I remembered, didn't want to open the oven and drop the temp.
Recipe was not good. The dough was more of a batter after I got to the end of the mixing stage. Had to add a ton more flour to get anything resembling the proper consistency. Rose modestly overnight and after I cut it into pieces and braided it into a loaf.
We'll see how it turns out, but I think I'll go with the King Arthur recipe for my next loaf.
I didn't need another baking utensil, but I bought a pullman loaf pan. That's the next bread experiment, probably next week.
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wrote on 13 Mar 2025, 16:01 last edited by
Getting there. Smells fabulous.
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wrote on 13 Mar 2025, 16:20 last edited by
Wow! Looks great!
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wrote on 13 Mar 2025, 17:09 last edited by
Tastes quite good. I should have tented it a little earlier because it was getting brown pretty fast. But still eminently edible. Just schmeared a little bit of butter on it.
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wrote on 13 Mar 2025, 17:12 last edited by
Looks great!
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 14:49 last edited by
Now to the point where the rye one doubles in size in 24 hours The wheat one gets fluffy but doesn’t change size much.
The rye one is much easier to work with than the wheat one. The wheat version sets up like concrete on whatever it touches while the rye one stays softer even if it sits on a counter or something.
Both seem to require more water than the 1:1 ratio everyone recommends. 1:1 gives a consistency something like peanut butter so I’ve been adding water until the surface of the starter will level out in the jar. The only reason I do this is to make it look like the pictures on line. Your thoughts?
I see people slowly switching their rye starter over to wheat before baking with it. Is this necessary?
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 15:31 last edited by wtg
I think my starter is more like peanut butter; I follow the 1:1 ratio.
Not sure what to say about the rye starter conversion. From what @Jodi said, seems like the rye may be better for getting the starter rolling. Your observations of your two starters seem to bear that out. I only recently started experimenting with rye, but I fed a wheat starter some rye, so I'm doing kind of the reverse conversion. The bread I made with the rye-fed starter was good but I'm not sure it's worth the effort to keep multiple starters going. I think if I want to do a rye bread, I'll just use some rye in the loaf I'm making. I find the rye flour makes the bread much sticker and harder to work with, so I only do it occasionally. Lazy bum!
This first week of getting the starter going is kind of like having a newborn or a puppy in the house, isn't it? They all need constant attention! I promise it'll get easier....
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 16:08 last edited by wtg
A pumpkin-shaped sourdough loaf. How cool!
https://www.mydailysourdoughbread.com/pumpkin-shaped-sourdough/
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 16:23 last edited by
So. Much. Carving!
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 17:47 last edited by
Tear and share?
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 18:07 last edited by wtg
Today's experiment: Honey Oat Pain de Mie
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/honey-oat-pain-de-mie-recipe
Not a sourdough recipe. Super easy to throw together and the dough was lovely to work with.
All risen, ready to form into a loaf:
I formed the loaf and put it in the pan. You're supposed to let it rise to within an inch of the top, but I got distracted and when I went to check it I found it was all the way up to the top. I sort of gently pulled the dough from the edges of the pan and gently patted it down till I got it to the right height. Of course I could have baked it without the lid, but hey! The pullman loaf pan was the whole idea here!
End of baking:
Cooling on the rack. Still haven't tasted it. Can't wait!
We're thinking egg salad sandwiches for dinner...
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 18:48 last edited by wtg
The results are in....totally awesome!!! Lovely crumb, a little sweet, and the oats give it a bit of texture. Even if you don't have a pullman loaf pan, give this recipe a try!
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wrote on 15 Mar 2025, 20:58 last edited by
It certainly makes a nice loaf!
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wrote on 16 Mar 2025, 03:03 last edited by
I gradually put a good wheat flour in my starter. Now I just feed it with the wheat flour (the same one I bake with. I think once I took too much starter out - back when I had it in a much smaller jar - so I added back in rye flour to make sure it stayed zippy. Frankly you could probably mix your two starters together.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2025, 03:09 last edited by
Oh, and you could lay bricks with sourdough starter. That stuff holds like superglue. I try to remember to rinse my utensils and bowls immediately. Otherwise it takes forever to get that stuff off!