Sourdough for Idiots

[webbaldo]

Howdy,

Id like to try some sourdough, possibly even pizza bases?

But being a bit dense, I dont actually have a good recipe with how tos? I know you make a flour water mix first but ive not seen any good guides complete with times/grams etc.

Anyone have one or know of any links?

After seeing the londonstreetfoodie.co.uk/sellers/the-well-kneaded-wagon link i posted im now intreagued to see if it would taste much nicer than a normal bog standard oliveoil dough base?

[Carl Legge]

Responding to this after a request by Terry on Twitter:

I have a blog post with videos about how to make sourdough simply here www.carllegge.com/2011/11/sourdough-bread-simply/with a link to an article I wrote about making a starter.

Hope that helps

[cannyfradock]

"Hope that helps"......that's brilliant.

Thank-you Carl.

Terry

p.s....Webaldo....I'm always looking for sourdough help as well.

[webbaldo]

Brilliant!, thanks very much for posting, having a read now. It was making the starter that I really need the advice on and this is ideal.

[Breadandwine]

Hi webbaldo

I've just started a new batch of starter - which, believe it or not, is the easiest part of the whole process. I've detailed my saga on here:

nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/sourdough.html

The trouble I've found with sourdough, for me, is that, a wholemeal loaf doesn't seem to deliver the huge increase in flavour which is evident in a white loaf.

Plus I'm very disorganised and tend to forget about it after a while. However, along with Terry, I'm going to be in the company of some very knowledgeable, experienced sourdough bakers over a weekend in July, so I'm brushing up my skills in anticipation!

Do have a go, you'll have a lot of fun - and eat a lot of pikelets if you follow my advice in that post!

Cheers, Paul

[Breadandwine]

Oops! Didn't see the post from Carl. I had a look at his method of creating a starter
and it's basically the same as mine, except I use twice the amount of water. This is a personal thing - I've tried it both ways, and, mainly because you can pour out the starter with the increased water content, that's what I've gone for.

And sourdough pikelets are gorgeous from the get-go!

I'm also taking half of my starter to a men's coffee morning tomorrow, for anyone who would like some.

Cheers, Paul

[webbaldo]

My worry is that is all the extra work actually worth it for a pizza base? My normal base recipe takes minutes then its quick to rise and tastes fine. Im not so much into the bread/loaf side of things.

Are companies just using sourdough for bases cause its 'hip and cool to be different?'

[turkey]

I think the trick to a sourdough starter is pineapple juice, aparently its ph balance keeps the wrong bacteria in check and helps the yeat strains get a stranglehold.

www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2

it has all the details and then at the end of the first post the "recipie" to follow, it still takes a few days but I think its supposed to be almost fool proof this way.

[Breadandwine]

May 14, 2012 14:33:55 GMT @webbaldo said:

My worry is that is all the extra work actually worth it for a pizza base? My normal base recipe takes minutes then its quick to rise and tastes fine. Im not so much into the bread/loaf side of things.

Are companies just using sourdough for bases cause its 'hip and cool to be different?'

I think that's a valid point. After all, if you have a good bread base, most of the taste and flavours come from the topping, right?

Let's say, for the purpose of argument, that a sourdough base will 'lift' the pizza by 10%. The question then is, is all that extra faffing around (and it is a bit of a faff) worth it?

Not sure that it is.

Cheers, Paul

[cannyfradock]

Paul

With me, it's sometimes the case that "that recipe"....or a twist on another recipe sometimes pesters me that much, that I end up trying it anyway.......trial and error on trying other peoples recipes is sometimes a great way of improving your own knowledge.

Terry

[matt]

I wouldn't want to put you off webbaldo - I'm a sourdough obsessive - but I wouldn't bust a gut to make sourdough pizza dough. I agree with Paul, the difference isn't worth it.

… but if you feel an inclination to try sourdough bread baking I bet you nine quid you will be hooked from the first loaf.

[conic]

You would change your mind about sourdough pizza If you were to try a one from Franco Manca in Brixton market London, it is the best you can have, outstanding.

francomanca.co.uk/

conic

[webbaldo]

I may give the bread a go anyway. See whats in the cupboard this coming weekend!

[scottme]

I've just got home from browsing in the bookshop and I noted a couple of nice bread books which I am tempted to get. They are these:

The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard
Sourdough: From Pastries to Gluten-free Wholegrain Breads by Yoke Mardewi

Neither is terribly expensive on Amazon, and there seems to be lots of helpful advice and recipes, including sourdough from scratch, in both of them.

[cannyfradock]

...I've had "The Handmade loaf" for a while now. Brilliant book, and I made a successful sourdough starter from his well explained method in the book. Great recipe's also, but most of them lean heavily on using the sourdough starter.

Terry