Anyone here into making sourdough bread?

[John_C]

It should rise just as much, it just takes longer.

I make a sponge with all the liquid and half the flour and leave that overnight. I work the rest of the flour in the next day and, from there, it takes about 5 hours to rise & prove. Once it's risen fully, your bread should be as light as one made with dried yeast.

[Hop Bomb]

Ive got a starter en route to me from San Francisco right now. Excited to be eating lovely bread again. My old housemate used to make this all the time. I miss him & his cooking.

[Bubbles]

Nice! From "Boudin"? 

[Eoin]

My starter went off, damned fruit flies.

[Hop Bomb]

Nice! From "Boudin"? 

Its originally from the Parisian Bakery which closed in 2005 (or so the seller says). http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290930458910?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
The seller is thorough anyway as I got 10 follow up emails with every possible scenario covered & what to do & not to do + recipes etc.

[Will_D]

Ive got a starter en route to me from San Francisco right now. Excited to be eating lovely bread again. My old housemate used to make this all the time. I miss him & his cooking.

Can you please offer some samples to the various yeast banks that are in operation here?

[Hop Bomb]

Gladly 

[Rossa]

Wooooo.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I started making sour doughs, and I find they are not as light and fluffy as my OHs commercial yeast home baking.

I haven't been able to resolve the issues with them, they do taste good, but are very flat and dont rise much.

Timing seems to be a key issue - they take longer to rise and you have to build your day around them. Point taken on 'refrigerator proving' though.

I was thinking of getting a proving basket to see if it helps much with keeping a rise.

[Eoin]

I started making sour doughs, and I find they are not as light and fluffy as my OHs commercial yeast home baking.

I haven't been able to resolve the issues with them, they do taste good, but are very flat and dont rise much.

Timing seems to be a key issue - they take longer to rise and you have to build your day around them. Point taken on 'refrigerator proving' though.

I was thinking of getting a proving basket to see if it helps much with keeping a rise.

I have a few baskets, they improve the buzz of the whole process, no other advantages really. It's cool to have the right tools.

Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.

[Hop Bomb]

My SF Sally starter is flying it. On day 4 now of feeding it. How is everyone baking theirs? Have any of you bothered buying a dutch oven or are you baking  normally in the oven with a tray of water at the bottom for steam?

[Hop Bomb]

My bread is going okay. Girlfriend loves it but Im a perfectionist so not happy yet. Great sour tang off it. Good hard crust on it. Just cant get those nice big holes in it I see in other peoples loaves.

Whats your recipe?

[Rossa]

My bread is going okay. Girlfriend loves it but Im a perfectionist so not happy yet. Great sour tang off it. Good hard crust on it. Just cant get those nice big holes in it I see in other peoples loaves.

Whats your recipe?

Same here. I make a sponge. 250g flour 275 water and 100ml yeast starter. Leave that to bubble for a few hours then add 300 g flour. Knead, leave to rise, knock back, leave to rise again and bake with the water bowl in the over.
Its been working well. White flour worked best and spelt was very tasty but didn't rise as much as I hoped.

[Hop Bomb]

Ive been doing the same Rossa (following Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalls recipe http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/10/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-recipes-sourdough). 5 loaves in & I still find the bread too dense & not very crunchy.

I decided to try Tartine bakerys country bread recipe today & OMG! Ive almost nailed it. Its by far my best bread to date today. Its a no knead recipe. You just turn it on itself every half hour. Super crunchy crust, all brown & blistery. Bread was super soft & fluffy with loads of holes in it. It didnt rise that much but thats down to letting it rise for way too long today (8 hours). It spilled over out of my proving baskets like some gloopy monster. Still well pleased. Will nail it next time hopefully with a 3 to 4 hour rise time in the proving baskets.

Recipe is here  http://www.marthastewart.com/907240/chad-robertsons-tartine-country-bread  & you can read almost all the recipe from the book on the amazon "take a look inside" feature here http://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Bread-Chad-Robertson/dp/0811870413/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384733218&sr=1-1&keywords=tartine+bread


Tonights bread:

[Eugene O'Brien]

Thanks Hop Bomb. Going to try again.
AxBrew