Things are better if left for longer.
It isn’t hard work but it needs time to develop.
Like brewing the magic takes place if you leave it alone.
Brewing and baking are ancient, almost forgotten skills.
Up until recently, they were part of everyday activity in every home.
The yeast and bacteria that does the fermentation is already there.
Each fruit and seed has it’s own built in culture that starts to work when left wet and warm.
First bacteria feed and create an acidic home, which wakens up yeasts which then produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. These give us our alcoholic drinks and the means to make baked goods lighter and risen.
Mankind cultivates these ever present wild things and reaps the benefit.
Creating a starter is an exercise in micro-biology that needs no laboratory and scarcely any equipment.
The methods and secrets were passed on through the generations for maybe tens of thousands of years and only very recently have they actually begun to be forgotten.
Ancient methods using sugar, salt, alcohol, vinegar and smoke are nowadays viewed as toxic and life threatening when at one time these methods preserved food for periods of shortage making survival possible.
Which is better than munching on your toe nails when there is nothing else to eat.
You need to ask @BakersBunny for the historical details - ancient Egypt she says - like 3000 years ago or 3,000 BC but what’s a couple of thousand years compared with the age of San Francisco
The ‘earliest’ identified bread has been recovered from present-day Jordan and is over 15,000 years old; this predates the emergence of agriculture and domesticated cereal crops.
A work in progress
That piece up there is a bit more recent, appearing around lunch time the other day. I would have liked the crumb to be a bit more open, but at least the starter I made this week is working okay. The crust was a bit too crisp for me but inside was deliciously soft.
I think San Francisco bread is more a product of the local climate. As with brewing and wine making, local conditions define and distinguish each product.
Ingredients
The bread I am making, including the starter, is just supermarket strong flour, filtered water, salt, warmth and time. Oh and a couple of bowls, a spatula and some scales.
I had a stroke twenty months ago. I am limited but striving to get something out of life with what I have. From bed-bound to here has been an eventful journey that is not over yet.
At last my mini micro starter culture is leaping into action.
Doubled in 90 minutes, unbelievable.
Another ten or twelve days or so and I’ll call it done.
My investment in a pH meter is giving me a much better view of what is going on.
No longer navigating in the dark.
I hope this will give my bread the edge it needs.
Patience wins through at last.
@BakersBunny I just realised, that’s the very recipe my sister-in-law makes every year for the family Boxing Day get together
She got the recipe from that book, but she does them as individual cup cake size and just dusts them with icing sugar rather than water icing. And they are to die for…they just get in your mouth, as my mother-in-law would say
Baking bread and mince pies too much for me but did do acceptable tray bake last night. Left overs to be transformed to soup. Now a good chunk of wholemeal would be good with that.New Years resolution? Bake bread.
Hello @Bobbi. I am watching with interest. My sourdough starter is over 10 years old, and I bake every 1-2 weeks. I found it comforting, if hard work, in the early days, but I could follow a process at my own speed, and you can’t rush sourdough. Perfect.
Your loaf looks pretty good. I get so excited when I cut into a loaf and it is filled with lots of good holes, but I’ve never studied it to really work out why some are denser than others. I just go with the flow, as so many factors at play.
Happy baking, Julia x
@JuliaH
Thank you, I value your comment, Julia.
I messed about with sourdough and starters for a number of years but I still have a lot to learn. The quality of what I produce is variable but like you I find it to be an interesting and absorbing activity. I feel that I have made some progress over recent years in understanding the process.
I’m looking forward to more and better loaves.
These are a set of step by step videos with a very full description. The demonstration takes you day by day right through the process for 14 days. You get to see exactly what happens.
I’m working through it myself right now. Why not join me and give it a go? It is not too challenging and the result is well worth the effort.
I could hold a few Zoom sessions to compare notes and discuss making a starter if anyone is interested.
