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Originally Posted by Canada 02
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anyone use sourdough starter? Can it be used in place of yeast in any bread recipe, and if so, in what amounts, assuming a well fed, and growing starter
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I have a sourdough starter that I started on my own about 25 years ago. As long as it is fed regularily, or else refrigerated when not being used, it will pretty well last forever. I saw a documentary on the History Channel one time, about Egypt. They found some urns in a pyramid with some white caked sort of powder in it. They scraped some out and added water and it was sourdough starter!!!
The sourdough starter can indeed be used in place of yeast because basically, it is a wild yeast. You ferment water and flour and try to capture live yeast in the air.
This is what mine looks like. It was very fresh and activated at this point because I had company and made sourdough waffles for breakfast.
Basically, it looks like proofed yeast and mine is about the consistency of pancake batter. It smells like proofed yeast too because that is what it is...a natural yeast. I try to keep about the amount shown. If I am planning on using it for quite a few recipes, I just grow it bigger by feeding it more. To feed mine, I add about 1/2 cup lukewarm water, 3/4 cup flour, and 1 tsp honey. You can keep adding this ratio until you have as much sourdough starter as you need. If I am travelling or just not using it on a weekly basis, I refrigerate it.
It is hard to give a recipe because of various factors. All sourdough starters are different and behave differently as well.
A lot depends on how active and fed your sourdough starter is. If it has been dormant or refrigerated, it should be fed and activated before using. The longer it has been dormant, the longer it will take to reactivate. It has to be fully activated before it is used. Otherwise it will be sluggish and it will take a copious amount of time for the bread to rise to the proper volume, like maybe even a full day, or worse yet, the dough might not rise at all.
Then all sourdough starters have a different hydration. Some are 100% hydration, meaning the weight of the water and the weight of the flour are the same. Other sourdough starters are wetter, some are drier.
It will also depend on what kind of recipe you are making. If you are using heavier flours, you will need more sourdough starter.
Proofing times vary too. Most sourdough breads require a longer proofing time. Some sourdough breads use a starter as well as some bought yeast. You use the starter for the flavor and a bit of yeast to hurry the process along. Also, when I make sourdough bread, I normally only let it proof once in the bowl, then shape, proof and bake.
If you would like to make your own sourdough starter and try some loaves of bread, this site is a pretty good starting point. Making your own starter and sourdough bread has been very popular on a lot of cooking blogs and this is what this person did.
http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread/
I can't really give you a recipe for the bread I make. When I use my sourdough starter, I just kinda go by look and feel. However, I did make some basic sourdough bread about 10 days ago, and will run you through the process of what I did. Keep in mind, I never wrote down the amounts, I am just estimating what I remember using. I think I started with 3 cups of starter and probably the equivalent of that in lukewarm water. The bread was about 60% wholewheat. I used maybe 3 to 4 Tbsp honey and oil, maybe 2 Tbsp salt, 2 Tbsp gluten, and then probably 8 to 10 cups flour.
I used my Bosch Universal Mixer to make this bread as this was a large amount of dough. A KitchenAid stand mixer could not handle this amount of dough. After the dough had proofed once, I turned it out onto a lightly floured surface and used my bench scraper to cut it into 5 pieces that were roughly equivalent in size. I never used a scale, just went by feel.
I took each piece of dough and flattened it and shaped it into a rectangle that was roughly the length of my bread pans.
Then I rolled each piece of dough into a log, pinched the seam and the ends. You should be able to see that the dough is nice and soft but not tacky and I have hardly used any flour on the surface that I turned the dough out on. Try to use the least amount of flour possible.
I rolled the loaves a bit to smooth them out and to make sure the seam was indeed sealed, and put each piece into my bread pans.
I proofed the loaves until they had roughly doubled in size. This took about 40 minutes at my end, but will depend on your dough and the warmth of the area you are proofing your bread in.
Then I baked the loaves in a preheated 375F oven until the loaves were golden brown on the top as well as the sides and bottom, about 30 to 40 minutes. When the loaves are getting to about the right color on the top, you can remove one from its pan to see how the side and bottom crust are coming along. This was plain bread. I never slashed the tops nor did I baste the loaves with an egg wash, sprinkle with seeds, or anything else along that line. I wanted plain bread for sandwiches, toasting, and the like.
This is the inside crumb of the loaves.
You can of course make sourdough bread freeform as well.
Inside crumb.
Or any shape that you wish..... When I have company, I like to make cluster rolls. Then I put the whole pan of rolls in a basket that has been lined with napkins and just let everyone tear off a roll. By the way, I baked these cluster rolls in springform pans.