Sourdough Baking

While Ali has been growing a bun in the mummy oven, I've been learning about the rewarding world of traditional sourdough baking. I did try this out during summer with very little success, however with one crucial step missing. Ali finally worked out what I was doing wrong (being too gentle with the starter mix instead of vigorous mixing) and since then every weekend has seen steadily improving loaves.

Sourdough  baking revolves around the starter, also known as a leaven or mother. This interesting beast is the raising agent for the bread and is the source of the chewy texture and slightly sour flavour.

There is a fair amount on the web around this topic but I found most success working from books such as 'Wild Sourdough' by Yoke Mardewi (a local WA author), kneading and shaping techniques from 'Dough' by Richard Bertinet and  inspiration and some recipes to explore in 'The handmade loaf' by Dan Lepard.

Our starter began with a simple mix of 100 grams filtered water and 100 grams organic rye flower, which was left to ferment for 2 days until bubbles began to appear. Then each day after bubbles appear a further  1:1 mix is added for the rest of the week. All this needs to happen around the twenty-five to thirty degree mark anything much hotter and the process stalls.

A rye starter by day 2.
First bubbles have started appearing and the shiny appearance indicate things are happening.

Eventually you are left with a mixture about the consistency of a pancake batter full of bubbles. A big factor I found around this time is the temperature. I was attempting to get my starter going during summer and I think high temperatures were killing off the natural growth of the yeasts. Now winter has come things are a lot easier and it seems we've now sussed it.

About 12-24 hours before baking a 1:1.5 mix of flour and water is added to activate the starter. This is done by mixing it in vigorously which adds air into the mix. The starter will then foam up to almost double its size over the next 6-12 hours, and then collapses. The collapse is the indicator that it is time to bake as the starter is now hungry and is ready to be fed again - this time it will feed on your loaf thereby raising it!

The active starter following collapse after doubling.

Our starter has now been running for a couple of months living in the fridge when not in use. Apparently it can also be frozen or dried out to be stored but it will keep in the fridge for anywhere up to a month. If I have any issues I throw 4/5ths of it away and add filtered water and new flour at the ration 1 water : 1.5 organic rye flour and possibly repeat a couple of times if things are really bad.                                                   

A successful, free form, Pain au Levain.

The sourdough process is not a quick one, but with some planning beforehand it is actually not time consuming. Really there is just a need for your presence over the whole day but never for more than about ten minutes. If you're really stretched for time try out the dough retardation methods which can allow you store partially risen bread for up to five days in the fridge. (I've also noticed you get a slightly different result using this method too, must be something to do with the extended fermentation).

Some of the useful things I have learned, with many more to come.

1. Accuracy counts. Use digital scales to weigh dry and wet ingredients. 100 grams of water is the same as 100 mls. The measuring jug is not your friend as it can be quite inaccurate.
2. Organic flours are the simplest way to ensure your starter actually contains the wild yeasts needed to start things off. A tiny bit more expense makes the whole thing possible.
3. For the flour for each loaf buy the best premium flours you can find, I think the best way is from a specialist shop like 'Rising in the yeast' in Myaree WA who can let you know which flour will really suit your needs, another good option is a wholefoods supermarket which can supply organic flours. The results are worth it.
4. Water quality counts. We have had problems with loaves failing to rise when we've used tap water. Sometimes our water has a slight chlorine taste so now I use bottled water and this has made the process a lot more reliable. 
5. Persevere and don't get too worried about early failures. After all it is mostly just flour and water and even the failures are usually at least edible. Sourdough is a pretty natural process and everybody should be able to make it happen with a little desire and perseverance.
6. Explore french style kneading. Instead of pushing the dough around, the french have a method where you slap the dough down onto your board and then flip over the top half of it onto the other which introduces air into the mix while stretching the dough. This is good fun and speeds things up a lot and for me has made me actually enjoy the process. I am still learning but I picked up a lot from Richard Bertinet's book 'Dough' which has a really handy DVD included which is a massive help to learn the technique or there are videos like this on YouTube.