Ever since I started my experiments in making bread, I realised each time, that there is something missing in texture. I had kept making whole wheat multigrain breads which made them denser in texture. And I used ready bakers yeast. The fermentation was quick and I was happy about it fermenting well. But they did not taste like the artisan breads I had in Europe. This is when I decided I will work on the starter myself and make wild yeast. This post is about my first ever candid experiment and inspired from the book Tartine Bread.
So enjoy my truthful candid experiment with making the bread starter and the making of homemade Sourdough bread
How is a culture created: A culture is created by combining flour and water and the microorganisms that are present in the flour, in combination with the air and my own hand. I use my hands to mix the culture and feed it as well.
I combined 50% flour and 50% wheat flour. I placed luke warm water in a bowl and added some 50:50 flour into the water to make a batter of thick consistency. Once the culture is mixed, cover it with a muslin cloth and allow it to rest for 2 to 3 days until bubbles have formed in and around the sides and surface. Once this step is crossed, the next step is to begin feeding the culture to mature the starter.
In less than 24 hours, you will begin to see bubbles/ air pockets developing in the sourdough starter. This means, in another day you will be ready to feed the sourdough starter.
The first feed for the starter will have an acidic smell. The next step is to feed the sourdough starter with the first batch of fermented batter.
The process is to discard 80% of the original culture and then mix an equal amount of 50:50 flour and luke warm water as we did in the first step.I used my judgement to make a thick batter and it reached the same level in the bowl. The consistency of the batter before the feed felt fluffy when i mixed it with my hands. So I am thinking the culture is working its way into a starter. I let this rest covered with a muslin cloth in a warm place for another 24 hours. Notice the image below, it has formed a layer of crust.
Continue the process of using the current feed and make another batch of 50:50 flour to make the sourdough starter. After having fed the culture three times in a row you should see a rise in the batter. It is an amazing feeling to see that the culture is working its way, in the way it should. I continued this process for 5 days.
Here are the steps for the 5 days on what you should do
Day 1: Mix 50:50 flour with luke warm water to make a thick batter. Cover with a muslin cloth and keep it aside for 24 hours. This is Batter-1
Day 2: Discard 80% of Batter-1 and keep the rest aside. In another mixing bowl, mix 50:50 flour along with luke warm water and Batter-1 to make thick batter. Cover and allow it to rest for 24 hours. You will notice that bubbles are getting formed because of fermentation of the batter and the batter will begin to get an acidic smell. This is Batter-2
Day 3: Discard 80% of Batter-2 and keep the rest aside. In another mixing bowl, mix 50:50 flour along with luke warm water and Batter-2 to make thick batter. Cover and allow it to rest for 24 hours. This is Batter-3
Day 4: Discard 80% of Batter-3 and keep the rest aside. In another mixing bowl, mix 50:50 flour along with luke warm water and Batter-3 to make thick batter. Cover and allow it to rest for 24 hours. This is Batter-4
Day 5: Discard 80% of Batter-4 and keep the rest aside. In another mixing bowl, mix 50:50 flour along with luke warm water and Batter-4 to make thick batter. Cover and allow it to rest for 24 hours. This is Batter-5. By now you will notice the batter is rising. At this stage we are ready to make the leaven for the sourdough bread.
So what is the leaven? It is 1 tablespoon of starter (Batter-5) and 200 grams of 5050 flour in 200 grams of lukewarm water. combine All of them to form a thick dough and set it to rise the night before you are ready to make the bread.
The next day (below image) you will notice the leaven would have risen in volume. The next step is the make the dough with the leaven.
To make the sourdough bread dough, I combined 1000 grams of flour to 750 grams of water along with this leaven and let rise is for 3 hours.
Once the dough had doubled in volume, I removed the dough from the container and placed it onto a surface, dusted with flour, did a series of turns and allowed it to rest and rise for another half hour - this was the second rise. After which it got transferred into a dutch oven or into a sheet that you plan to bake the sourdough bread to rise for another two hours - this was the third rise.
Preheat the oven to 180 C and added water to the bottom most tray of the oven to create steam for baking and then set the sourdough to bake in the oven in the steam. The steam helped the dough first rise, bake then slowly brown. If the steam wasn't there then the bread would have got browed faster and it could have been under baked as well. For this reason a dutch oven helps. You will get two loaves from the 1000 grams of flour. After cooling, was a beautifully aired and crusted bread. Super duper delicious, just like the ones i had in europe and the restaurants and in artisan bakeries in the US.
