I've had a few goes recently.
The flavour is great, but I'm still experimenting to get the texture right.

Anyone else trying who'd care to share their secrets?

Lyndon makes this Colin. Happy to share his recipes if that helps.

Hi Tigger, good to "see" you again.

Yes I'd love some recipes. I'd also be interested in any tips he's got. The technique seems to be slightly different from ordinary bread made with standard yeast.

I've got a couple of books by Dan Leppard and he recommends handling the dough as little as possible (i.e. don't spend 5-10 minutes kneading it and don't knock it right back before it's final rise). I can see the point of this because whilst I haven't had any trouble making my starter, my early attempts often didn't rise that much.

This weekend however we made a sourdough granary and that not only rose well, but carried on rising another inch or so in the oven.

Hi Tigger, Lyndon and Colin,
Could you please post your Sour Dough Bread recipes on forum as I would like to have a crack at making some.
JB.

With pleasure JB.

First thing is to get your sourdough "starter" going. You won't be ready to bake anything with this for up to a week, till it's ready. In addition, the method below seems to work fine, but don't worry if you see variations on it elsewhere in books or the web.

Day 1
50g water @ 20ºC
2 rounded tsp rye flour
2 rounded tsp strong white flour

Mix in a medium bowl or ideally a 500ml Kilner jar. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2
50g water @ 20ºC
2 rounded tsp rye flour
2 rounded tsp strong white flour

Nothing much will have happened at this stage. Stir in first the new water, then the flour into the mixture, cover leave at room temperature for 24 hours.


Day 3
100g water @ 20ºC
4 rounded tsp rye flour
4 rounded tsp strong white flour

You may start seeing & smelling slight changes. Stir in first the new water, then the flour into the mixture, cover leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 4
100g water @ 20ºC
125g strong white flour

There should be some signs of fermentation by now. Now the strange part!
Remove & discard 3/4 of the mixture. Stir in first the new water, then the flour into the mixture, cover leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 5
Repeat as for day 4.

Variations on the above

• This should work fine with the natural yeasts that already exist in the flour. Some people like to give the mixture a kick start, so add some raisins or yoghurt to the Day 1 mixture.
• If your kitchen doesn't stay warm all day, you may need to keep the mix somewhere that does - an ideal temperature is 20ºC.

What happens next?
The process for making sourdough is slightly different from using commercial yeast. Without care, it may not rise as well, however it will repay you with bread that smells & tastes quite different. You will find plenty of recipes on the net, otherwise I can recommend The Handmade Loaf and also Short and Sweet, each by Dan Leppard. Maybe worth adding to your Christmas lists

I will try to look in towards the end of the week to see how you are going. If anyone wants to give this a go, please post your results.

Hi Colin,
Many thanks I will have a go but this coming week is a very full week but the following week just might be a little clearer. It is years since I tasted my mothers Sour Bread and thinking back its about 65 years but the taste still lingers.
Thanks once again,
JB.

Of course.

Just a point for anyone else concerned about what looks like a complex process:
- The activity on each of the first 6 days probably only takes 5 minutes each time.
- It's important to keep the daily "refresh" going.
- For longer term gaps, you can put the "starter" in the fridge. Then , when you're ready to use it, get it out 2-3 days before and resume the refreshing process at room temperature. This gets the culture up & active again.

Sorry if this is turning into a monologue

I just wanted to say that I stored a recent batch of sourdough starter in the fridge last month. Got out on Thursday and re-started the "feeding" process (you effectively jump in at day 4 or 5 above).

Within 24 hours it was racing away and is looking very lively this morning. I'm going to try a proper 100% Rye sourdough loaf from Dan Leppards book this weekend. The reason I mention this is that, although the initial process sounds a bit of a faff, after that, you can effectively have a small tub of starter stashed away in your fridge and be ready to bake a day or so later.

Has anyone taken the plunge yet, or does it look like too much trouble?

I made sourdough bread for the first time last week.

Ten days earlier, I had been given Herman, a German (sourdough) friendship cake - or rather the starter to make it with. When I got to the final stage of actually making the cake, I wondered what it would be like to make some bread from the leftover starter.

Using a combination of both the River Cottage website and another (both are below), I gave it a go.

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/river-cottage-sourdough
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/sour.htm

I used the River Cottage bread recipe, but followed the instructions on the other site for "proofing the sponge".
As for the rest - the rising, shaping, baking etc, it really was a matter of picking the ideas I liked best from the two websites!

The bread was very nice - a little sweet, although I hadn't added any sugar to the dough, but I guess that was because the cake starter had had sugar added at one stage. Despite that, it was good.

I am going to try another loaf tomorrow. It should be less sweet as the sugar in the starter should gradually become more diluted.