Talk to me about sourdough - The Fermentation Club!

[purple_dress]

Where and in what do you store your sourdough starters, please?

[Cosmopolitan]

Plastic, earthenware or glass is best apparently. There are holes popped in the lid. Lives in the fridge most of the time, fed once or twice a week.

[purple_dress]

Thanks. I used to keep mine in a plastic container with loose clingfilm over it but I'd rather have a lid on it.

And do you use it straight from the fridge?

[Mountain Goat]

Mine's in a preserving jar type thing, with the lid cracked open a bit. No idea if this is ok but seems to be working for now.

[Mountain Goat]

A plastic pot with holes sounds ideal.actually as I need this jar next week ( I'm making sour cream which will ultimately be cultured butter and I don't have another spare).

[Duophonic]

I'm going to have a shot at this.

I have a kilner jar and if Goat's is working then I'll do that too. My kitchen's cold but I have a sort of pantry in the dining room which our hot water pipes are hidden. I'll stick it in there.

[purple_dress]

A pantry is ideal. I wish I had one. I kept mine out because it seemed to go too lethargic to bake with if I kept it in the fridge but I didn't really like having it just on the side in the kitchen all the time... I need to figure out a home for it.

[overthehill]

After nearly 2 years of regular baking for my sewing classes, I moved into the shop and didn't need to provide lunches anymore. Somewhat inevitably, I eventually forgot to feed the starter and it died. I had forgotten all about this thread and tried using the method in Emmanuel Hadjiandreou's sourdough book to create a new starter, but it didn't work nearly as well. Whatever I tried, my loaves never had the lovely bubbly texture that I'd achieved before, so I gave up in favour of instant yeast. On the plus side, though, I haven't bought a loaf of bread in nearly 3 years!

I might re-trace my steps with the recipe/method given at the beginning of this thread and see whether I can reproduce my earlier successes.

My [mature] starter always lived in an unsealed le Parfait preserving jar (like a Kilner jar) in the fridge. It was called Claude and came on holiday with us.

[Cosmopolitan]

And do you use it straight from the fridge?

No, usually take it out of the fridge on a Wednesday morning, give it a few hours to warm up, feed it and then start the process on a Thursday morning, which allows for an overnight prove in the baskets over Thursday night and baking Friday morning so there is bread for the weekend.

We are running late this week however and the bread is about to be baked now.

[purple_dress]

Thanks!

[Cosmopolitan]

Yesterdays bread is lovely, about 2/3rds white and 1/3rd wholemeal, it folded a bit when it went into the Dutch oven hence the ridge but super tasty, nice tang, soft crumb and good holes but not loads of holes.

Also some sauerkraut and some carrots in pickling mode.

[Mountain Goat]

That looks lovely! Also, I like your routine.

My Tartine Bread book arrived yesterday, and my starter is sitting out on the hob with the oven turned on to slowly warm it up as it's so bloody cold, so hopefully it will activate enough to start a loaf today. I'm also planning to have another go at crumpets, this time with an actual recipe. I guessed mostly correctly, but it's getting the right quantity to heat ratio that's a bugger, and last time I had one lot that was burnt on the outside and still wet on the inside, and another where there wasn't enough batter in the ring to get more than a sort of holey pancake effect.

[Cosmopolitan]

Gotta write the routine down cos it's complicated! And we use a retarded method with a long cold overnight prove so timing is pretty important.

Do let me know about crumpets because they are one of my favourite bread products

[Mountain Goat]

I was planning on a long cold overnight, as that's what's worked best for me in the past (with yeasted starters or standard yeast at least).

[Edith Bacon]

Not a ferment question but when you do a retarded, overnight fridge prove, do you do that with the shaped loaf? If so, do you put it straight into the oven from the fridge or allow it to come to room temp first? Because I tried the latter and it over-proved in a very ungainly manner whilst it was out of the fridge

[Cosmopolitan]

I do the overnight prove in proving baskets, then first thing in the morning heat up the dutch ovens in the oven for like 20-30 mins, then tip the proved doughs into the dutch ovens and then straight into the oven, no coming up to room temp at all. Since we started baking in dutch ovens/ pots then we've had much better bread. I just bought a couple from Sainsbury rather than the expensive Le Crueset ones.

[Edith Bacon]

Thank you, Cos. So you don’t need to shape other than in the baskets? Does the baked loaf come out dutch oven shaped? I have an old Le Creuset that I don’t use because someone used to wash it in the dishwasher and it’s very dull/matte/ruined. I will try with that. Thank you!

[Cosmopolitan]

Thank you, Cos. So you don’t need to shape other than in the baskets? Does the baked loaf come out dutch oven shaped? I have an old Le Creuset that I don’t use because someone used to wash it in the dishwasher and it’s very dull/matte/ruined. I will try with that. Thank you!

Not really, I do a couple of folds when I put it into the baskets and that's it really. And yes, the baked loaf comes out slightly dutch oven shaped, which I prefer because I get a slightly taller loaf which means I get better slices.

dishwasher fear

[Mountain Goat]

I used a Le Creuset for my one with discard the other day, and it turned out much better than I expected (my expectations were low because it was discard, not because of the pot, but it was first time I tried that method and it was great given its poor materials).

I did the float test on my starter and it passed with flying colours, so I've started. Currently autolysing. Aiming for bulk prove today, followed overnight prove in the banneton in the fridge, to be baked in the morning and to be eaten for tea tomorrow.

Next up: crumpet attempt which may become my lunch, and then to start on souring cream.

[Mountain Goat]

Crumpets need work, and are fiddly and messy, but I suspect are the kind of thing that can be churned out quickly once you've got the hang. This one has too much batter in it and needed longer on the bottom.side before flipping to allow the bubbles to set: they're in there but the top isn't very open. Also I need to really grease the damn rings, as when they stick it's a huge faff to get them out without burning yourself.

So now I have a mediocre crumpet, drips of batter over the hob, and burnt fingers. But it's getting better with each one.

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