Thread: Sourdough starter and bread making tutorial

Originally Posted by gadgetman

It's separated with flour at bottom and liquid on top. No signs of life at all. Looks almost as dead as a politicians cranial cavity.

Cold shouldn't kill it it just slows the process down heaps.
Make sure you are feeding it 50/50 flour to water by weight not volume other,wise you will have too much water.

[QUOTE=spada;975033]Good to see the interest in this topic. But be Warned it's as addictive as the black art of reloading.
Here are some links I've found useful.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7e...MdiNYJg/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M&t=195s

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRK...u44Uzvw/videos

Plenty of good tips in there. I did not realise how much the information on making sourdough bread was available out there.

Gadgetman, keep on feeding flour to your liquid and keep it warm and it is going to get there eventually.

You will notice that after a couple of weeks of regularly making bread and refreshing your starter it will activate better and faster.

Remember that as we are going toward winter months, the ambient temperature gets colder and the bread don't rise as fast.

Mine starts to gently bubble up as well but needs a few more days to get up there.

There is the option to make a dryer sourdough starter if you want.
The one I was using professionally was 2 of flour for 1 of water by weight( 50% hydration). And you can go up to 200% hydration .
In high hydration environment there is an increase of the lactic acid and in a dryer environment it is an acetic acidity that develops.

Looking lifeless, but will keep feeding it.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Looking lifeless, but will keep feeding it.

Attachment 134733

Dump a bit of flour on top and stir it in while in a sink of warm to hot water, get the glass up to warm to touch like a good woman in a cold bed and stir til mix is warm cover and put up high (warmest place in house).
once going warmth is not so much of an issue.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Dump a bit of flour on top and stir it in while in a sink of warm to hot water, get the glass up to warm to touch like a good woman in a cold bed and stir til mix is warm cover and put up high (warmest place in house).
once going warmth is not so much of an issue.

That's what I did, figured it was probably 'drowning' under liquid. She's away.

Mine is not taking off very fast either. I keep feeding it twice a day and hope to be able to make a loaf this week end. Keep record of how much flour you put in, as it will be used to calculate the quantity of salt required for the recipe.

Impatient or just bored I went with a dry dough mix from one of those links today.
Suffice to say my dough handling skills are well short of that guys and I lack suitable equipment.


My starter was going ok but probably could have had a few more days.






Tryed a new to me method and while it looks great I think the combination of not quite ready starter and cool ambient temperature I didn't get as much rise as I would have liked.
Will cut in the morning when cool for a look.

Could've done with 5 mins more.

Nice loaves guys. My starter is cranking now, ill feed it this morning and mix this arvo.

Also if you end up with lots of starter dont discard it, fry it up like a pikelet its delicious!

I must admit that my starter is really struggling at the moment despite feeding it twice a day. Hence why have not wrote much about it.
I ll try a mix this avo and see how it goes.
The sourdough mix can be used to make pan cakes as well.
Don't forget the salt, about 2% of your total flour weight( sourdough flour and bread flour combined).

First loaves from the sourdough starter.

rightho...whats the recipe/how to proceed from here to loaf of bread please......

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

rightho...whats the recipe/how to proceed from here to loaf of bread please......

Have a look at some of those utube links Micky Duck.