Sourdough Bread.... why ????

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Dave7

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Right. We will try some 'proper' sourdough.
Number one problem being we can't think of a proper local baker.
We have a Waterfields...... .I wonder if theirs is any good (if they do it at all).
 

Eziemnaik

Über Member
Sourdough is great
Making a starter is cancer
So much wasted flour
So much wasted time
With commercial yeast a available in every corner shop I do not see a point
Just make a biga or polish if you want longer fermentation flavour
 

newts

Veteran
Location
Isca Dumnoniorum
I have to eat a low fodmap diet, many foods are off limits or very small portion sizes.
Sourdough fermentation reduces the fructans & allows me to eat bread everyday without bloating (& other side effects). It also has a lower Gluten content, more is broken down during the longer fermentation of the dough. Proper sourdough made by an independant baker tastes better than any supermarket bread imho.
 
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Dave7

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Search the web for bakers in your area who support the Real Bread Campaign, or search their site. There will be one!
Tried that. Cannot find a single one.
Found a few that claim to be bakers but only do pies and cakes etc.
Found one that does bread (Devonshire Supplies) but a) they are 12 miles away and b) it appears they dont do sourdough.
Googled making it but what a pain it is :sad:
 

sleuthey

Legendary Member
Having never tried it we got an M&S one**.
We tried it lightly toasted.......rock hard.
Tried it as it comes, with butter on. Terrible texture.
What am I missing here ?
**I admit, it was on its sell by date but that surely means its fine to eat.
It’s allowed on the GI diet thus presumably good for diabetics
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
Sourdough is great
Making a starter is cancer
So much wasted flour
So much wasted time

With commercial yeast a available in every corner shop I do not see a point
Just make a biga or polish if you want longer fermentation flavour

There’s no need to waste flour!

Assuming you’re referring to the initial creation of the starter, I can have a viable starter in about 6 days using 175g of flour. The part that is removed each day to be replenished can be set aside and used for other baking at the end of the week. No waste.

Once the starter is active and healthy, I maintain it in a sufficient quantity for what I want to bake. I will have 175g of starter to make a loaf, using ~165g of that as my levain and leaving ~10g (often much less) in the tub to feed up the following week. In fact I have left the tub with just scrapings around the side and easily refreshed that with a feed the next time I needed a starter.

As for time, there’s very little involved. It’s about two minutes to put together the first mix and the same each day until it’s ready. Total = 12 minutes. After that, it’s two minutes per week to do the single refresh before baking.

There are methods out there that use more flour, give the impression that it’s a tricky, laborious task of daily nurturing and suggest just throwing away the discard element, but those are misleading.
 
Excess starter makes excellent waffles :hungry: Sometimes I deliberately generate too much so I can make waffles. :blush:

To be fair, I don't always have a starter on the go, but I keep a jar of dried culture in the cupboard and use it to seed a fresh batch whenever I do want sourdough. It takes a couple of days off the time @glasgowcyclist mentions, but the principle is the same really.
 

Wookee

Well-Known Member
Location
East Herts
I make my own every week using a recipe from a friend. It's the only bread I eat now, absolutely superb.
9oz wholemeal flour
3oz plain white flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp bicarb
1 tsp salt
1 carton buttermilk
a good squirt of golden syrup
a splash of milk

Mix the dry together then combine with the wet and shape into a tin then cook for 45 mins on 160. Beautiful bread in less than an hour^_^
 

rustyroger

Active Member
One of the few foods that the USA are good at. When I visit america I always try and source bread from local artisan bakeries. If I'm in a small town without one and I have to buy supermarket bread my default choice is sourdough.

Roger.
 
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