Welcome to April Fool's weekend!
Let me tell you about my recent discoveries with Sourdough Starters and baking 100% Whole Wheat bread. I'm a new fan to MaryJane's Farm, she has a magazine and website, and has written about this topic, so adventurist that I am, I decide it would be great to bake homemade bread without any of the extras, no yeast no gluten or bread flour, just good for you ww flour and water, a little salt and honey. Well, there's a definite science to this and much patience is needed, but I know in the end it will be worth it : )
Only flour and water is used here to attract "wild" yeast in the air. I have a good starter but it has a more sour taste than we prefer and it's not raising the bread as it should, yet...?
Above you'll see my second attempt at the baking process, more successful than the first mind you, but not quite a success story as of yet. I'm not actually impressed with my first instructions, as were many other pioneers with this project through MaryJane's, so I have researched online and read many variations and measurements and am going to let this first starter rest, and continue on trying a new one. I'll still bake with my old one, resting it in the fridge, but not adding to it for active baking for the time being.
It makes good sense to me, since I'm trying to create good bread with as few ingredients as possible, instead of baking with yeast, to add yeast to the begining starter to build a stronger raise with less sour taste.
Armed with my new information and thoughts, here is my new starter recipe and it will be fed for the next week and used next weekend. I'll be back then to give you the results. Meanwhile, keeping a starter going is so incredibly easy, and if you think about it, its the way bread was made so many years ago, and so much better for us than eating the bread with the list of ingredients a mile long and most we can't even understand or pronounce! Baking on the weekend for the rest of the week is pretty easy to find time for too, you can set your bread to rise Friday night before going to bed and bake Saturday morning. You can set to rise Saturday morning and bake Saturday night etc.
Another consideration is I love to knead bread and it's also supposed to help the rise. The recipe on the MaryJane site is for no knead, and well, I can't help myself, I need to knead! Not that I like to play with my food, but there is something relaxing and stress releasing about kneading bread, do you agree?
This will be an ongoing journey for me, to experiment and find what works best and takes best. I'll be sharing information from time to time at how it's going, and you may want to join me in the journey? I'm here for questions, concerns and help anytime!
Sourdough Starter Recipe #2 (the first is on the MaryJane site www.maryjanesfarm.org/recipes and is on the back burner for now)
2 1/2 cups warm water (distilled)
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 tbsp raw honey
2 1/2 cups all natural King Arthur unbleached white whole wheat flour
Using a glass bowl, pour all in and stir with wooden spoon until yeast disolves. Begin adding flour a cup at a time stiring well. Cover with light weight cloth (I use flour sack cloths). Let sit for 5 days, mixing well each day. Then store in frig until ready to use.
1 cup of starter will be used for 2 loaves of bread. Replenish starter by adding equal amounts of flour and water and replace what is used each time, repeating the process of sitting for a week, and storing in the frig unless your using it right away.
The Bread Recipe for Honey White Wheat Sourdough/Starting the night before is recommended : )
4 1/2 cups white whole wheat King Arthur like used in the starter
3 3/4 cups warm water
1 cup starter
1 tsp baking soda (I think this helps cut the sourness a bit too)
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbls raw honey
1/2 cup olive oil
5 cups bread flour
Mix ww flour, warm water, and starter. Cover and let sit overnight, covered with a light towel.
Morning, stir down the spongy texture and mix in soda, salt, honey and oil (I add all to the oil first).
Mix in bread flour reserving that last half cup if you have very stiff dough, if not go ahead. This sometimes depends on how you measure your flour! Spoon flour into cup, don't use cup to dip flour it compacts it and you end up with more flour that way. Dough should be sticky but holding together well.
Knead on floured surface 5 min, with floured hands. Let rest 10 min, while greasing two loaf pans with olive oil or butter. (I save my butter wrappers to use for greasing pans) (I use seasoned stoneware loaf pans).
Divided dough in half and knead into a nice log shape with crease facing down side, place in pans.
Cover with towel and let rise 2 hrs or until dough is up over edge of pan. Set some real butter out to soften because anyone within wafting range will be ready to dive on this bread when it comes out of the oven!
Bake at 425 for 20 min, reduce to 375 and bake another 30 min until sounds hollow when tapped on. Turn loaves out of pans to cool.
After all of my research I have high hopes for this starter and recipe I'll be working on this next week.
I hope you decide to join me in my sourdough journey!
Janie
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