Sourdough Starter Part 2

My new batch of sourdough starter began to bubble on Day 2.  Today is the end of Day 3. Between feedings, I am storing my jar in the oven, with the oven light on, and the door ajar.  I have a thermometer in there and the temp is about 24-26 degrees celcius. I don't want it to go over 27-28 celcius (about 80F) and it gets up to 30+ if the door is closed. I'm following the fruit juice method (recipe two posts back). I didn't have pineapple juice in the house the first two days, but I used some yesterday.


Here's what I have done so far:

Nov. 15, after feeding

11/12 - 9pm - mixed 2 T dark rye flour, 2 T orange juice in a pint jar

11/13 - 6pm  - added 2T dark rye flour, 2 T orange juice

11/14 - 6pm - added 2T dark rye, 2 T pineapple juice (some bubbles were visible)
 
11/15 - 4pm - I got a clean jar (just cuz) and added 1/4 cup of the starter mix (threw the rest away), 1/4 cup lukewarm water, and a scant 1/4 cup rye flour.I marked the level on the outside of the jar so I can see if it expands at all.

And now I watch it and wait for it to be able to double in size. Until then, I will feed it every 24 hours - keep 1/4 cup of the starter mix, throw the rest away and add fresh flour/water.  I'm going to keep using rye flour until it seems really strong. Then I will start to switch over to white flour.  Maybe.

Once it can double in size, I will need to feed it twice a day. When it can double in 4-6 hours, it is ready to make bread.

Oh, and I went for a run today.  It's hovering around freezing (zero celcius) but it was sunny and bright so it was nice to be outside.

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

You may have noticed I'm not posting about my workouts.  Um, that's just because I have so many other much more interesting things to tell you.  (I promise I will run tomorrow)   :)

(Photo stolen from their website :)

I was out at my favourite restaurant, The Minstrel Cafe, the other night and in between sets of a local band, a CD was playing in the background. There was one song with a guy that reminded me a little of James Taylor's style, although a little less mellow. I asked the waiter if he knew who was singing and he didn't but he was sure the owner would know - it was his CD.  In short order, the owner, Clare, was at our table with the name "Stephen Fearing".  He told us if we hadn't heard of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, we should go home, and buy every album they have made.  Apparently they are amazing, and knowing Erik's and my taste in music, Clare thought we would like them. He said to start with the album that has the song "Stoned" in it.

So I looked them up on itunes and found they have a whole slew of albums, in a roots-blues-country-rock style. Furthermore, the three members of this Juno award-winning band - Stephen Fearing, the multi-talented Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson, of LeE HARVeY OsMOND fame - are all amazing solo acts in their own right. At this point, I was embarrassed to admit that I had not previously heard of them.

Anyway, I bought BARK (which has Stoned on it) and loved it right away, and tonight I bought Kings and Queens, which is an album of duets with a long list of well known female voices. I am not a reviewer and do not have the words to do justice to their work, so here's a writeup of the album by my twitter pal, @penguinstorm, who writes music reviews for No Depression in his spare time.

http://nodepression.com/article/blackie-rodeo-kings-friends-vogue-theatre-vancouver-bc

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings have caught my attention like no other band has in a long time.

Fuckin' A - I love it when I find someone new to listen to - check them out!

Adventures in Sourdough Bread

I've always found great weight-loss success with a paleo-ish diet - that is, cutting out grains and other high glycemic foods like rice and potatoes.  But I don't really like it.  I miss bread.  I LOVE bread. And eating paleo meant cutting out SOOOO many things that I truly enjoy eating. Like bread.

So this blog post is about bread.  I love cooking and I love making bread.  I don't eat bread all that often and I avoid sandwiches, but it just seems wrong to cut out that gorgeous rustic artisan bread whether I make it at home, or buy it in a speciality bakery.

I was doing some reading and I've learned that if you're going to eat bread, the best kind to eat is sourdough.  Why? Because the flour in sourdough is fermented, breaking it down into basic amino acids.  The longer the bread is fermented, the more broken down the starches and proteins become, and theoretically, the healthier it is for you. Some believe if it's fermented long enough, even celiacs can eat it safely, but there hasn't been enough research done to know if that's true or not.  Of course the "healthiness" of a food is a relative and debatable term so keep that in mind.  IF you believe that fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chee, and sourdough are good for you, then you might find this worth trying. (Check out the Mark's Apple site link below for more info)

So - the problem is - you can't make sourdough bread with regular yeast. You have to make it with "wild" yeast which is found in the ground grain (and some believe, in the air, and on other items in your kitchen).  Supposedly easy to make, you simply mix ground flour and warm water and leave it out on your counter for a week or longer until the yeasts begin to take hold and multiply.  And of course, you need to "feed" it every day, and then later 2-3 times a day - you dump out half of your starter, and stir in more water and flour.

After a week or two, you should have a starter that doubles in size within a few hours of a feed, and it's ready to made into bread.

Of course, it's not as simple as that. I've read a ton of websites and recipes (links below) and have been trying to get some sourdough starter going for the past two weeks, without a lot of success.  But I've just started my third batch now and I'm planning to use the citrus fruit juice method and see if it works.  The science behind this method can be found here.

Apparently, within a few days of starting a flour/water mixture,  it starts to bubble and bloom but it's not actually yeast growing yet, it's just growing normal gas-producing bacteria. The yeasts can't grow in this environment. Supposedly, once you wait for that stage to pass, it seems to die and stops doing anything. Then, finally the yeasts start to grow.  Mine doesn't seem to want to reach that stage though. It dies and doesn't do anything else. So what to do?

Day 2 - Do I see bubbles?

The flour with the highest success rate is supposed to be rye flour, which I am using. Many recipes say to use distilled water, which I have not tried (tap water only so far).  But the pineapple or orange juice method is supposed to work because the bacteria that produces the gas in the early stages, can't grow in an acid environment so supposedly the yeast is able to start growing right away, and doesn't have to wait for the bacteria to die off. I dunno - I'll let you know how it goes. I'm on Day 2 right now.

And it's important to note, that once you have good starter, you need time to make the bread.  Plan to start it two days before you want to bake it.  You make a sponge with the starter and let it ferment for 6-12 hours, then you mix the dough and let it sit for 12 hours, then you form and let it rise for 4-6 hours, and then bake. If you put it in the fridge for a day or two, it takes even longer but supposedly tastes even better. I can't wait until I have starter and can try some of these....

Here are links to some good websites I've found

Two excellent, very comprehensive bread making websites with a focus on sourdough.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233/wild-yeast-sourdough-starter

http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=sour

Another guy's 5 steps to sourdough starter
http://www.nickmalgieri.com/category/sourdough-starter/

Mark's Daily Apple talks about fermented foods in general
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fermented-foods-health/#axzz3J1L4woko

Five Reasons to Make Sourdough Bread
http://realfoodforager.com/5-reasons-to-make-sourdough-your-only-bread/

Michael Pollan talks sourdough in this anti-paleo article (read #2 and #3)
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/01/michael-pollan-paleo-diet-inquiring-minds

And apparently, this is THE book to have if you are in to bread making. But the kindle version is over $80 so I won't be buying it soon. It's cheaper on the US Amazon site.

 http://www.amazon.ca/Taste-Bread-Raymond-Calvel-ebook/dp/B000PY3SY6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415946723&sr=8-1&keywords=the+taste+of+bread

And $100 for the soft cover
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/the-taste-of-bread-a/9781475768114-item.html?ikwid=the+taste+of+bread&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

Crazy.

November 12, 2014

November 11, 2014