Time for an Update

We did it! Baked our first successful sourdough.

The crumb was a little dense, perhaps, not as holey as sourdough is supposed to be. But we’re getting there. It tasted great and the texture was nice, just more like a regular yeast bread than sourdough, moist rather than chewy.

This was our second attempt at sourdough baking. The first attempt was a huge flop. We produced our first bricks. The sponge didn’t expand much, and I should have just started over at that stage.

This time around, the sponge doubled in two hours, and we were so excited. We’re getting better at reading our starter.

Here is one of the finished loaves:

As you can see, I need to improve my slashing technique. I’m too timid. Gotta get bolder with the blade!

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Comments

1. 

   Jennifer says:

   Our first attempt with this starter flopped too. It just would not rise. 24 hours and nothing. Your loaves are beautiful.

   On January 15, 2007 at 11:11 am

2. 

   CityMom says:

   We had our first successful loaves of whole wheat bread this weekend — we had been making rocks in the past, but this time we got two free form loaves for dinner at home and four mini bread pan loaves for sandwiches! What fun!

   On January 15, 2007 at 4:58 pm

3. 

   JoVE says:

   So what starter is this? Is it the potato one you mentioned on the carnival blog?
   I just came across a recipe for sourdough started in a book about pioneer cooking that I thought I’d try. (Skillet Bread, Sourdough, and Vinegar Pie byt Loretta Frances Ichord) but I might come and wander through your links a bit.
   We’ve just been playing with Wisteria’s recipe (usually using molasses instead of honey because we like it and because we know she uses honey because she keeps bees) and trying different combinations of flour.
   It seems odd that my post about trying that got you and Jane started 🙂

   On January 20, 2007 at 4:11 pm

4. 

   Susan Och says:

   I’ve been experimenting with sourdough, also, but nothing to blog about, yet.
   I have saved a few batches of “just won’t rise” sourdough by kneading in a tablespoon of fast-acting yeast with the last cup of flour, and then kneading the heck out of it after that. It rises nicely and still has that sourdough tang.
   But I found your blog after someone Googled “danger of yeast bread baking” and both our blogs came up. What do you think the person was thinking of?

   On March 5, 2008 at 6:59 am