My order from King Arthur came on Thursday morning. I got my crock, the sourdough flavor enhancer, a small bottle of citric acid and the starter. At that point, the sourdough starter was just about a tablespoon-sized blob of yeast dough. That was it. I had to add 1/4-cup of lukewarm water and stir well. You're supposed to pick out a name for your starter; hey, you're going to be spending a lot of time together! My starter's name is Issac (I don't know why; it came to me and I went with it).
Issac, the Starter, is descended from a sourdough mother starter that is 250 YEARS old. (I find that amazing....I really do.)
And then Issac needed to be fed. 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water and 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
Issac sat out on the counter for about 12 hours, loosely covered with plastic wrap. After about five hours, he started to bubble. After the 12 hours were up, I needed to discard half of the starter. I weighed it all out, removed half and threw it away; that keeps the acidity of the starter at the proper level. Another feeding of 1/2 cup water and 1 cup flour. All nicely mixed in. And then he sat on the counter for another 2 hours or so. Discarded half the starter again, fed the remainder and Issac sat for another 2 hours. At that point, I put him in the stoneware, covered him with plastic wrap, and then put the top on. Stuck him in the fridge. And he stayed there until around 7:00 last night.
I took Issac out of the fridge last night, stirred him down, and fed him again. I let it go overnight on the counter and when I got up this morning, he had outgrown his crock. There was starter that had bubbled out over the crock, down the crock, and on the counter. Lesson learned.....put the crock in a bowl.
I took one cup of starter out of the crock, cleaned everything up, and put the cup of starter in my bread bowl. I fed Issac again, kept him on the counter for about 3 hours, then put him back in the fridge and he will stay there now until next Friday night.
Added all the ingredients for the sourdough bread....the dough is mixed and ready to be covered and to rise for about 1-1/2 hours. Issac is in his crock and is bubbling away before he goes in the fridge.
And the dough is ready for shaping! Issac is ready for the fridge! You can really see the difference in volume between the above and below pictures. It smells amazing, very yeasty, and kind of an alcohol scent. It smells good. Caution: Do NOT ever eat raw starter.
I gently punched the dough down and it started bubbling again. I love big bubbles in my dough.
I decided to make rolls instead of bread. Rick and I prefer rolls over bread loaves; it's easy to run down to the freezer and bring up a couple rolls to have with a supper of soup or chili. And then all we have to do is wrap the rolls in paper towels and nuke them in the microwave enough to defrost. I formed the dough into 15 3-ounce rolls and plopped them into my baking pan to rise again, this time for about an hour. After the rise, I brushed them with a bit of egg wash and sprinkled some Artisan Bread Topping overtop the rolls.
A little over 35 minutes at 425 degrees and we had rolls. I dumped them out onto a wire rack about ten minutes before Rick got home from church. He walked in the door, took a deep whiff, and immediately headed out to the kitchen. He ate three as a snack. They are delicious. Nice chewy crust. We don't like our bread and rolls deep brown, so I got them out of the oven a little early. I kept a couple out to give to Rick's mom to try as I need to see what she thinks. The kitchen smells wonderful. After the rolls cooled down, I tucked them into a freezer bag and tossed them into the freezer.
Meanwhile, Issac the Starter, will remain in his stoneware crock for the week. On Friday night, I'll take him out and feed him. And then make something next Saturday. I'm thinking of trying sourdough bagels next weekend. I'll probably need Rick's mom to come down and talk me through it, just for the moral support (there's a lot of work to bagels, or maybe that's just me). Stay tuned!
Issac, the Starter, is descended from a sourdough mother starter that is 250 YEARS old. (I find that amazing....I really do.)
And then Issac needed to be fed. 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water and 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
Issac sat out on the counter for about 12 hours, loosely covered with plastic wrap. After about five hours, he started to bubble. After the 12 hours were up, I needed to discard half of the starter. I weighed it all out, removed half and threw it away; that keeps the acidity of the starter at the proper level. Another feeding of 1/2 cup water and 1 cup flour. All nicely mixed in. And then he sat on the counter for another 2 hours or so. Discarded half the starter again, fed the remainder and Issac sat for another 2 hours. At that point, I put him in the stoneware, covered him with plastic wrap, and then put the top on. Stuck him in the fridge. And he stayed there until around 7:00 last night.
I took Issac out of the fridge last night, stirred him down, and fed him again. I let it go overnight on the counter and when I got up this morning, he had outgrown his crock. There was starter that had bubbled out over the crock, down the crock, and on the counter. Lesson learned.....put the crock in a bowl.
I took one cup of starter out of the crock, cleaned everything up, and put the cup of starter in my bread bowl. I fed Issac again, kept him on the counter for about 3 hours, then put him back in the fridge and he will stay there now until next Friday night.
Added all the ingredients for the sourdough bread....the dough is mixed and ready to be covered and to rise for about 1-1/2 hours. Issac is in his crock and is bubbling away before he goes in the fridge.
And the dough is ready for shaping! Issac is ready for the fridge! You can really see the difference in volume between the above and below pictures. It smells amazing, very yeasty, and kind of an alcohol scent. It smells good. Caution: Do NOT ever eat raw starter.
I gently punched the dough down and it started bubbling again. I love big bubbles in my dough.
I decided to make rolls instead of bread. Rick and I prefer rolls over bread loaves; it's easy to run down to the freezer and bring up a couple rolls to have with a supper of soup or chili. And then all we have to do is wrap the rolls in paper towels and nuke them in the microwave enough to defrost. I formed the dough into 15 3-ounce rolls and plopped them into my baking pan to rise again, this time for about an hour. After the rise, I brushed them with a bit of egg wash and sprinkled some Artisan Bread Topping overtop the rolls.
A little over 35 minutes at 425 degrees and we had rolls. I dumped them out onto a wire rack about ten minutes before Rick got home from church. He walked in the door, took a deep whiff, and immediately headed out to the kitchen. He ate three as a snack. They are delicious. Nice chewy crust. We don't like our bread and rolls deep brown, so I got them out of the oven a little early. I kept a couple out to give to Rick's mom to try as I need to see what she thinks. The kitchen smells wonderful. After the rolls cooled down, I tucked them into a freezer bag and tossed them into the freezer.
Meanwhile, Issac the Starter, will remain in his stoneware crock for the week. On Friday night, I'll take him out and feed him. And then make something next Saturday. I'm thinking of trying sourdough bagels next weekend. I'll probably need Rick's mom to come down and talk me through it, just for the moral support (there's a lot of work to bagels, or maybe that's just me). Stay tuned!
