Our Sourdough Saga

As you may know, I (Trista) and my mom Serena have been working with our sourdough starter for quite some time now. We have learned a lot along the way. My mom found out that her starter became stronger with the addition of whole wheat flour. She then shared some of her starter with me and I mixed it in with mine and added a bit more flour and water to it. I have kept it at room temperature for quite some time and it has become stronger as a result. I also did some research and found out that it is necessary to feed the starter once or twice daily (if you don't bake with it that day) in order to keep it going strong. This has made a huge difference and allowed my mom and I to have much more success with our sourdough starters and really enjoy using them!

Here are some of our experiences with sourdough recently:

(Pictured above is Trista's variation on Serena's "Whole Wheat Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread" recipe)

Serena’s sourdough experience on 6/6-7/10

Tried combining a sourdough recipe with the dutch oven beer bread recipe.

Changes:
Left out the yeast
Increased flour
Increased water

Notes:
Dough rose satisfactorily in the first rise of about 24 hours.
In the second rise, I added a warm stone to the bottom to accelerate rise.
The loaf was left in the oven too long, resulting in an overdone, thick and tough crust.
Interior remained moist, but looked as if it needed to rise more.
I added 1 Tbsp per cup of potato flour.

Recipe:
2 cups sourdough starter (whole wheat and water starter)
1 cup water
3 tsp salt
5-6 cups flour, half white and half whole wheat
1 tbsp per cup of potato flour

I mixed the starter with 1 cup of white flour, then added the water and after that was thoroughly mixed in, I added 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1-2 cups of white flour, and then the salt. Check the dough, and add up to 1 cup additional flour – whole wheat suggested.

Shape into a ball and put in a bowl covered with clean towels or plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for a bout 24 hours more or less. Put a piece of parchment paper into a skillet, leaving the edges of the paper overhanging the pan. Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into a round. Place the dough round into the skillet and cover loosely with clean towels or plastic wrap, so there is room for the dough to expand.

At this point you will need to check the dough after about 3 hours. If it is rising, continue rising as is. If it is not rising much or at all, put the pan on a pizza stone. Continue rising 4-6 hours.

Preheat a covered dutch oven at 500 degrees in the oven. Slit the top of the loaf about ½” deep and 6” long with a sharp knife, then lift the bread dough into the dutch oven by the corners of the parchment and replace the lid. Place in the oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, remove lid and bake an additional 30 minutes until 200-210 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, or till well-browned on top and golden brown all over.
Suggestions: To make this again, try decreasing the flour a bit. Try increasing the rise time after shaping the loaf.

Trista's Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread Experience- 6-15-10:

I (Trista) followed the above recipe (putting into practice what was learned) that my mom created for whole wheat sourdough bread but I changed it slightly.

Trista's Variation:

1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of Scottish oatmeal

I heated the buttermilk for 1 minute in the microwave. I added the oatmeal to it and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, I added it to the rest of the bread ingredients.

I let this mixture rise 24 hours.

Then, I transferred the dough to the skillet as outlined above. Because I had to go garden for the day the dough ended up rising for about 8 or so hours.

I then baked it in the Dutch oven in the same way.

It turned out very moist in side and had nice holes in the crumb. It rose nicely and had a nice sour taste to it! I like that it has a lot of whole grains in it yet it is very moist! I think the extra rise time really helped and the buttermilk and oatmeal kept the bread very tender.


Serena's Sourdough Pancakes: 6-15-10


I found a sourdough pancake recipe but I noticed that it had baking soda in it as well as sourdough starter. I didn't want to use the soda because I wanted to see if I could make the sourdough work and leaven the pancakes by itself. So, I modified the recipe by putting in more sourdough starter but otherwise basically following the recipe. I was puzzled by the addition of buttermilk to the recipe but I didn't have buttermilk so I just used sweet milk. I really like the results I got this time. Here is my basic recipe:

Sourdough Pancakes:

Makes: 14 small pancakes

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup flour- unbleached all purpose or whole wheat
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Mix together and either place the bowl allow to come to room temperature. These are the methods I would suggest for this:

-cover the bowl and allow it to rest for an hour or so
-immerse it in a container of hot tap water- making sure that it does not overflow into the bowl
-place it on top of a warm pizza stone
-place it in an oven preheated to 240 degrees F and turned off.

These other methods should cut the time in half.

Bake the pancakes on a hot buttered griddle. Using a quarter cup measure pour onto the hot griddle. Watch for bubbles to appear on the surface and look for the edges of the pancakes to lose their shine before turning them.

Trista's Sourdough Sour Cream Pancakes 6-16-10:

Trista decided to make these pancakes tonight for dinner along with an omelet and some asparagus. Here is her variation to the recipe:

I put a 1/2 cup sour cream and a 1/2 cup milk in the batter instead of 1 cup milk.
I put 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar instead of the granulated sugar

They turned out great! I put the batter in the oven which I turned off after it reached about 200 degrees. I let it rest in there about 30 minutes. This method seemed to work really well! They were sour, moist and smooth and tasted amazing with butter and maple syrup!