Sourdough

What I've been up to:

It's the holy grail of bread! SOURDOUGH... I was so excited and happy to receive this batch of starter, because to me sourdough is a bread that all true bakers tackle at some point or other. My personal goal is to start my own starter from a batch of flour, but I'll only have time to do that over summer. For now, I'll practise feeding and maintaining this batch of starter!

I transferred this over to my own tupperware container. Following instructions, I converted this culture into a firm mother starter. I didn't take any pictures, but the starter is basically almost like a dough, the soft pliable kind you get when you make french bread. You leave that out for as long as it's necessary for the starter to double in size, then you degas it and leave it in the fridge to hibernate.

This starter basically replaces the biga you need in baking bread. I halved the recipe for the bread since this was just a sample. It took 5h for the final dough to double in size and after shaping, 3h rising time. I think I probably need to wake up the starter more, it's so sleepy :( I hate wasting flour though, so the thought of discarding everything but for 1 ounce and then rebuilding from that is so painful. Thankfully, I'll be doing that with cheap Gold Medal flour and not my prized KAF (o-so-painful on the wallet).

I left it to rise a bit too much, as you can see from the huge air bubble near the top of the bread. The recipe was meant for a free standing boule or baguette but I just put it in my baking tin like a sandwich loaf, and even baked it at 375F.

It's certainly a start, but nothing much. I'm just glad it didn't turn out to be a brick of dough! I was so worried because the initial 3 hours didn't produce any activity in the final dough... Oh well, I'll keep working at it!

Spring break's almost here, so happy holidays to all! Have a wonderful restful break. :)

Kamosuzo!