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Sourdough bread
Sourdough starter, Landbrot wheat sourdough loaf, Sourdough starter discard seed crackers.
9th - 21st August, 2021
Sourdough starter
For this first Landbrot wheat sourdough loaf, I have modified, referred to and adapted the methods from four web sites, as follows:
Starter:
Note: Because I have had disappointments in the past with starters going mouldy; I have adopted meticulous cleanliness and the use of two ½ liter Kilner/Mason jars in this method.
Wash and sterilize 2 x ½-Litre jars (30mins. at 140°C). Always thoroughly wash your hands, utensils and bowls before proceeding.
Step 1. Measure into the first jar, 115 g of wholemeal wheat flour (preferably organic), as well as 115 ml of tepid water (you may wish to go the whole hog and use spring or filtrated water) - mine comes from a well, so it has no additives.
Mix into a paste and put on the lid, without the rubber sealing ring. Store at room temperature.
Step 2. Put your second sterilized jar onto the scales (zeroing them if you can) and put in 115 g of the starter culture. Add to this 115 g of the same flour and 115 ml of water. Mix into a paste and put on the lid, without the rubber sealing ring. Store at room temperature.
As for the discard, after 5 days you can start using it in recipes - there are many on the World Wide Web. I include a few in my later blogs eg. Seed crackers see here:
Repeat step 2 every 24 hrs.
Days 3 - to about day 9.
Depending mainly on the warmth and characteristics of the flour you are using, you will reach a point when the starter doubles in volume within about 8-12 hours of feeding. It will have a strong fermenting smell and should have visible bubbles on the surface.
You can also test the readiness by taking a teaspoonful of the starter (don't stir it beforehand) and dropping it into a glass of cold water. If it rises to the surface the starter is ready; if it sinks, continue the daily feeding regime.
Maintaining your starter:
Once you have used the amount of starter required in your bread recipe, add 115 g of flour and 115 ml of water to the remaining starter, leave it at room temperature for 4-5 hrs and then transfer the jar to the fridge. Every 10 days or so feed it again with 115 g flour and 115 ml water and again leave it at room temp. for 4-5 hrs. before putting back into the fridge.
At some stage the jar will become too small and all you need do is remove half of the contents (use them in a recipe or give the starter culture to a friend) and then continue the maintenance feeding regime every 10 days.
On the day before you wish to make another loaf, take the starter out of the fridge, give it a double feed of 230 g flour and 230 ml of water, stir and leave at room temperature for 4-5 hrs before putting it back in the fridge for 12-18 hrs. After which, bring the starter back to room temperature before starting your baking.
Landbrot wheat sourdough loaf
Ingredients:
118 ml of starter
Handful of wholemeal flour
164 g wholemeal flour
17 g white flour
408 g wholemeal flour
312 g white flour
20 g salt
Landbrot wheat sourdough loaf
Method: Using a dutch oven Vegan
(I started at 16:00hrs.)
Take 118 ml of the starter and enough wholemeal flour to make stiff dough - about a handfull, cover with cling film and Leave 4-6 hrs (I left it 6 hrs)
Levain...
Use 38 g of the above rested stiff dough and mix thoroughly with 113 g water and then mix in 164 g wholemeal flour and 17 g of white flour. Cover and leave to rest 12 hrs.
Mix 636 g water, 408 g wholemeal flour and 312 g white flour. Stir well, cover and leave for 1 hr to "autolyze".
Sprinkle 25 g salt over the dough and add the "levain" in several pieces. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes in a mixer or 5 minutes by hand. The dough is very loose. Cover and leave for 50 mins then "stretch & fold" ( See ). Leave a further 50 mins and stretch and fold again. Leave a final 50mins.
Form the dough into a loose, round shape. Oil and coat a baking sheet with semolina and set the sheet into a steel bowl the size of your dutch oven. Cover the bread loosely, without the cover touching the dough. A cardboard box works well. Let this dough rise 2 to 2 1/2 hours at room temperature. (I used 2½ hrs, my room temp. is only 18⁰C)
An hour before baking, preheat the oven and dutch oven (sides oiled) to 227° C.
Once risen, score the loaf see 4 x 4 criss cross, 1 cm deep. (The dough is still very wet and sticky so try your best not to deflate it). Lift the loaf out of the bowl, cut away all the parchment except under the base and transfer quickly to the preheated dutch oven. Put the lid on and bake (227⁰ C) for fifteen minutes, then lower the temperature to 212° C and bake for a further 10 mins. before removing the lid.
Bake until done, about 55 to 70 minutes more. Test the bread with an instant-read thermometer and make sure that it has an internal temperature of at least 90.5C. Mine was ready after only a futher 50 mins.
Let the bread cool for several hours on a rack. The longer the bread sits, the more intense its flavour will be.
You may freeze this bread.
19th August, 2021
Seed crackers from Sourdough starter discard (Vegan)
See here for sourdough starter.
Pre-heat the oven to 175⁰C
Ingredients:
85 g unfed sourdough starter discard
25 g wholemeal flour
56 g flaxseed meal
2 tsp onion powder
3 sprigs of Rosemary - leaves finely chopped
20 ml olive oil
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tbl sesame seeds or any (mix) you care to try
Method:
Thouroughly mix all the ingredients to form a dough.
Spread as thinly as possible onto a parchment lined baking tray using a small rolling pin and sprinkling the dough with flour to prevent sticking.
If it's too crumbly, add more starter until the right consistency is achieved.
Score into squares with a pizza cutter or very fine, sharp knife.
Bake for 15-18 mins, til golden.
Leave to cool before breaking apart.
Store in an airtight container.