First things first;
Jean Misko you are our Budget Buster Queen of the Month!! Congratulations and please call the office to arrange delivery of your fantastic box of organic fruit and vegies! (Plus brace yourself for a photograph with your colorful prize for this blog as well as endless other public appearances!) Thanks to all others who contributed and a special mention to Trudy Olive whose amazing use of the Thermomix for all things is blog worthy all by itself. (We should talk Trudy!!)
After a fantastic class with Jude Blereau (see http://www.wholefoodcooking.com.au/)in Perth on Sunday and after much resulting interest in the lovely Sourdough demonstrated by Elisabeth Higgins, here is the whole enchilada on Sour Dough making from head to toe! You could call this a tutorial, and thanks to all who have contributed to this great array of sour knowledge!
Starters are easy to make, easy to maintain and easy to use. Your sourdough 'pet', once successful, should be lovingly looked after and like one of our consultants in WA (Izabela Marach) you could be enjoying sour dough bread for literally years to come from this one starter!
Sourdough culture is a yeast living symbiotically with a friendly lacto-bacteria. Starters can be made many ways and from varying ingredients. Our starter recipe is easy, but feel free to vary this recipe as you explore this amazing bread making method.
Step One:
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup rye flour, with 1/2 cup warm water. Stir until no lumps are visible. This will be the beginning of your starter. Leave it for several days at room temperature covered loosely with a tea towel or paper towel. Stir twice a day and after around 3 days start 'feeding' your plant with additional flour and water. The ratio of flour and water should always remain equal at this stage. Stir 1 or 2 tablespoons of each into your mixture ensuring there are no lumps. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature. (Temperature is all important at this stage as should the starter drop below 21oC it will instantly halve the activity of the yeast!) This now becomes your starter. A few tips for adding fermentation would be either to add a little honey or sugar to the mixture. You could also use water from cooking potatoes that has been cooled until tepid instead of tap or filtered water. The starchy sugars will speed up the fermentation process for you, but remember, you cannot 'quickly' make sourdough!
OK...so you have a healthy, yeasty smelling and bubbling starter...now what?
Over to Izabela for her not so secret Thermomix recipe;
Step Two:
50g Sourdough Starter
220-230g Rye flour
480g warm water
Place all ingredients into TM bowl and mix for 30 seconds on Interval setting. At this stage it should have the consistency of very thick cream. Pour into separate bowl, cover and leave to rise for 8-9 hours or overnight, in warm place. This is what is known as a 'sponge', or 'poolish' the pre-ferment to the sourdough itself. When it is ready to be used, it will be bubbly and sponge like to touch. Reserve your remaining starter and continue to feed as directed in Step One to keep it happy for the next time. (It can be put to 'sleep' in the fridge if this is all getting too much for you!)
Step Three:
Now to the loaf;
500g flour of choice or mix 470g flour with 30g seeds milled in TM
620g sponge from Step Two
1 tsp salt
120g tepid water
Place all ingredients into TM bowl and mix for 2-3 seconds on speed 6.
Set dial to closed lid position and knead for 3 minutes on Interval speed.
Transfer dough to bread tin and allow to prove for at least 3-4 hours or until doubled. Slash the top of the risen dough with a sharp knife in pattern of choice...this will aid appearance and give a lovely crust. Brush with water, cream or egg wash, sprinkle with seeds of choice for different finishes.
Preheat oven to 200oC+ oven and bake for 50 minutes until loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
Congratulations you have made your first sourdough and I am confident that once you start on this exciting journey (for indeed it is a long journey!) you will be very excited to do it all again. Bread making is so rewarding and starting with sourdough is even more so. Can you imagine, you never need buy yeast again? Now there's a budget busting tip!
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