December 4th, 2009 Adventures with Sourdough-Part 1
BarBBQ Bill asked me to make some sourdough rolls. Easier said than done.
First, you need a sourdough starter.
I’ve never had much luck with starting my own, so I bought some from King Arthur Flour.
Add 1/4 cup lukewarm water to the jar containing the starter, and stir it around to help get the starter out. Then scrape out the starter with the water into a bowl (use glass or ceramic – not metal).
Mix in 1-1/4 cups lukewarm water (no chlorine, please) and 2 cups of unbleached flour.
Mix it up well and loosely cover the bowl (I use my trusty free-from-a-hotel shower cap). Put it out on the counter for about 8 – 12 hours.
It’ll get all nice and bubbly. Now it’s time to feed it again (and yes, I had to hear BarBBQ Bill’s “Feed me, Seymour. Feed me.” imitation every time he would go peek at the bubbles).
Stir the starter and throw half of it away. Yes, you throw half of it away. I know. But do it anyway (I lessen the guilt slightly by putting it in the compost bucket).
Add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup of unbleached flour. Mix it in well, and let the starter sit on the counter, loosely covered, for another 2 to 4 hours.
Then repeat the feeding cycle – discard half the starter, add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup unbleached flour. Let sit another 2 to 4 hours.
Now the starter is ready to use and we’re finally ready to bake some bread. It’s not really sour yet – that comes with time, but it has a nice clean “sorta sour” smell.
We’re having burgers tonight, so BarBBQ Bill wants rolls. I’ll use the KAF Rustic Sourdough Bread recipe that came with the starter and cut the recipe in half. This will make one loaf of bread or four burger-type rolls.
In a mixing bowl, combine:
1/2 cup “fed” sourdough starter
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar (I used a bit less)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2-1/2 cups unbleached flour
Mix it well. Dump the dough out on a board or countertop and knead until the dough becomes smooth and soft (about 7 to 8 minutes for me). Try not to add too much additional flour – the dough should be soft.
Put it into a greased bowl (I used butter), cover and let rise about 90 minutes.
Divide the dough into four pieces and shape into rounds. Put the rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or you can lightly grease it) and cover. Let rise until very puffy (mine took about an hour and 15 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Slash the tops of the rolls and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Here they are out of the oven. My slashing technique needs some work, but the rolls were very good. I used a pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam for the first 15 minutes of baking, as I like my crust a bit softer. I think these could have baked a wee bit longer, but I have a new oven and I’m still trying to get used to it.
The rest of the starter (of course, its name is Seymour) is in the fridge in a quart canning jar, loosely covered. What’s next? No telling – whatever BarBBQ Bill comes up with today!
