Difficult?!
Complicated?!
Read the article till the end and then reach a conclusion!
See SOURDOUGH and products prepared with it with different eyes!
Intro
Preparing and using sourdough is a proof that with few ingredients and some wating time we can have incredible tasty bread – cookies – briose etc.
No need for real effort since in most of the houses today exist a mixer to do the hard job.
From our side we need to take care about proper quality, quantity (for this it is preferable to have and use a scale) and a planning when we will need to bake in order to calculate when we will start the process.
However before start using sourdough we have to create it.
And YES it is very easy to create sourdough from scratch.
We will need some flour, some water, and the peel of an apple (this is not mandatory, though assists in the preparation process).
And we have to respect the timing proposed below in order to have the best result.
Chemistry and Ingredients
Before starting with the scheduling and the quantities few words about tools, chemistry and the needed ingredients.
Tools
We need a scale in order to be accurate with the quantities we will use.
We need a jar – like the ones we use for jams – in order to store safely our sourdough.
A nice bowl from glass and of course spoons to help us in mixing.
Microorganisms
These are needed in order sourdough to be created and to grow.
Where they exist? In the AIR!
How to attarct them?
By offerring them food!
Flour
The food we offer to the microorganisms is the FLOUR!
What kind of flour?
The one we prefer, no need for special flour. So, we can use flour from: wheat, whole wheat, barley, rye, a mixture of and it can be soft, hard …
The only thing we have to take care when preparing and afterwards feeding the sourdough to use the same flour type because microorganisms like habits!
Microorganisms need food = flour; when they are few they need a small quantity; when they multiply they need more. Therefore we have to take care of the quantities otherwise our sourdough will starve!
And how to “activate” the flour and put it together?
Adding water!
Water
Preferably “soft” water, filtered or high quality bottled water.
We don’t want chlorine in our water and we don’t want high ratio of minerals.
The day before starting the process for preparing the sourdough we can put water in a glass and let it overnight aside, covered with a piece of paper.
Preparation process
1st day
Start the day with an apple!
Peel the apple and put the peeling in the glass of the water; keep it for 1-2 hours and then take it out.
Choose a clean jam jar with cap – not small but not big as well.
Take its weight and write it down to remember; this will help us when we will need to take the weight and to calculate the quantity of sourdough available in the jar.
Add 100 g of flour and 50 g of the water.
Combine by mixing thoroughly with a spoon.
Place the mixture in the jar and put the cap – not tight – because we need the air, as we said in the beginning to bring the microorganisms!
Place the jar in a warm, with no wind, dark space for -2- days. Preferable temperature is about 25 – 28 C.
Sourdough is in its way to be created!
After 24 hours we should see some small bubbles on the top of the mixture. During these 2 days it is useful but not mandatory to stir 3-4 times per day.
3rd day
After 48 hours in addition to the small bubbles we will feel, when opening the jar, a little sour smell – like vinegar.
However, even if there are no signs like the ones described above we don’t worry. The important factor for having bubbles is the temperature. If it is not 25 – 28 C the process goes more slowly. We just need to be patient.
Keep 100 gr from the mixture, transfer it in the bowl, and dissolve it in 50 gr of water by stirring thoroughly. Then add 100 gr of flour and stir till totally incorporated.
Clean thoroughly the jar and then place the new mixture in it.
Repeat the same steps: put the cap but not tight and store the jar in the same warm, with no wind, dark space.
Let the mixture to rest for another 48 hours.
5th day
Repeat the steps followed during the 3rd day.
Start using the sourdough!
6th day
Starting with the 6th day we are ready to use the sourdough for preparing our recipes!
Up to now we should have a lot of bubbles and a quite strong sour smell.
Storing and refreshing the sourdough
Starting from this point the quantity of the sourdough not used can be kept in the refrigerator – if we don’t prepare recipes daily.
We should feed / refresh our sourdough at least on a biweekly basis: 50 gr of existing sourdough, dissolved in 50 gr of water and then add 100 gr of flour.
We put it in the jar, and we let it aside for about 5 hours and then we place it in the refrigerator.
Schedule for refreshing
Let’s assume that we would like to prepare our sourdough bread every Saturday.
In this case our schedule should look like this:
- Thursday morning
Take out form the refrigerator the jar with the sourdough and let it for an hour to reach room temperature.
Take 50 gr of the existing sourdough, dissolved in 50 gr of water and then add 100 gr of flour.
Clean thoroughly the jar and then place the new mixture in it.
Put the cap but not tight and store the jar in the same warm, with no wind, dark space.
- Repeat the same steps on Thursday evening.
- On Friday morning repeat the same steps.
- Friday evening, we are ready to prepare our dough – using our strong sourdough – for baking our bread on Saturday morning.
The part of the sourdough we are not going to use for preparing our dough can be kept in the jar and in the refrigerator in order to be used in the future.
Tips & Tricks
We can refresh the sourdough even every 3 weeks but we have to keep in mind that if we want to use it for “heavy” doughs (having butter, eggs like a sweet bread for example) then it is better to make it strong by repeating the refreshing process at least 2 times before usage with a difference of 5 hours between them.
If we don’t want to knead then we let the sourdough to rise for 5 -7 hours depending on the temperature (the colder the longer) and then you place it in the refrigerator.
With the quantities mention above we will keep our sourdough with 50% water (always our basis is the flour).
This helps us with the recipes because in some cases there are different ratios water / flour and we should know what our sourdough is.
Photo cover and recipe provided by Periklis Giavasoglou, #homemadebyPeriGiavas
parenting, home cooking
