Sourdough Starter & Bread

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User121314

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Copied here from my "Day #24" of lockdown - I think it will last longer & be of more benefit here.

Sourdough Starter:

You need the following:
2 x glass jars (I use consol 1 litre jars)
Flour. Unbleached is preferrable. Otherwise wholewheat or bread flour is good. Or even a mixture of some/all of them.
Water. Bottled is best. Not tap water as it's chlorinated.

Method:
Clean jar well. Dry it. Rinse with bottled water.
Take half a cup of flour & a third of a cup of bottled water.
Mix together in jar. Make sure it is properly mixed, not lumps of flour.
Cover with a cloth & leave in warm (room temperature around 22 to 25 degrees c is good) dry place for 24 hours.
I normally put my glass jar into a large tupperware bowl in case it overflows towards the end of the process.

Check after 24 hours, if you see bubbles continue as per below. If not, wait another 24 hours & check again.

Once you see bubbles on the surface add another half cup flour & a third of a cup of water. Mix well again.

NB: If you see a brownish layer of liquid on top then there is too much water. Reduce water to a quarter cup when you add the flour.

Leave for 24 hours & check for bubbles again.

If there are bubbles, remove half the contents into a new (cleaned) jar. Add half a cup of flour & a third (or quarter, see comment above) of water. Mix thoroughly again. Discard the contents of the original jar & clean it.

Repeat above process every 24 hours.

After about 7 or 8 days you will notice that the mixture starts to rise - once it doubles overnight (I use an elastic band around the jar to measure initial level) it is ready!

Note: You can use different flour for each addition if you want to.

After about day 6 you can use the discarded 50% to make another starter if you want to.

Starter can be stored in fridge for future use - needs less feeding/attention. Take out of fridge a day before you need to use it.


Bread:

1 cup starter (you must then remember to top the starter up again as per instructions above)
3 cups flour (I use all purpose or cake wheat flour)
1 and a half cups warm water (tepid, so around 40 degrees c)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey

Add all ingredients together in a bowl, once mixed knead on a floured surface (flour your hands too, as it is a sticky dough) for about 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a medium sized bowl, pop dough into it, cover with glad wrap & leave for 3 hors.

After 3 hours fold the dough in on itself in the bowl. So lift up edge of dough, fold toward centre. Rotate bowl 90 degrees & repeat. Do this for at least 5 minutes. (I do it for the count of 400 "folds").
Cover again & let rise for another 3 hours.

After 3 hours remove dough from bowl & place on a flour dusted counter. Repeat the folding action for another 5 minutes. If you need to add more flour you can do so in small quantities every few folds. Turn dough over  & it should be smooth on what is now the top. If not repeat the folding & add more flour. Once it is nice & smooth on top dust with a little flour & put it on baking paper on a baking tray.

Then you have a few choices.

If you have a dutch oven heat it to 230 degrees & then place the dough on the baking paper into the dutch oven with lid on.
After 15 minutes take lid off. Leave for another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, leave for 15 minutes, remove from dutch oven & you can eat.

Or

If you do not have a dutch oven you can place it on the baking paper into a skillet (in which case it is best to have the dough more or less the same diameter as the skillet. I leave about 2cm space around the edge).
Preheat skillet to 230 degrees, place dough on baking paper in skillet, put in oven.
Put another  skillet in the oven as well, and also heat it to 230 degrees.
When you put the first skillet in with the dough, put 10 ice cubes into the second skillet at the same time & put it in the oven as well. if you don't have a second skillet any thick metal baking dish will do. Do not use glass or ceramic, they will break.
Remove bread after 25 to 30 minutes & it will be done.

Or

If you have a big oven proof stainless steel or aluminium pot you can place the dough (yup, still on baking paper) in the COLD pot & place a metal baking tray over the top of the pot. But, the pot must be deep enough to allow the bread to rise, otherwise what you get is a squished mess!  :ROFLMAO:
Remove baking tray "lid" after 15 minutes, remove pot from oven after another 10 minutes.
I have found if I pre-heat the pot it burns the bottom of the bread. Only tried this twice, second time I used a cold pot & it was fine. But it's a crappy method IMHO.
Oven temp 230 degrees c as well.


In all 3 of the above what you are looking for is steam during the initial cooking process, as the steam creates the nice crispy crust.
 
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