Brilliant Bread by Morton James

Author:Morton, James [Morton, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448176694
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2013-08-29T00:00:00+00:00

The other problem with too much bacteria and not enough yeast is the enzymes that exist within the bacteria. These enzymes break down gluten, which at first helps in the formation of the signature sourdough crumb, but if there are too many they make the dough overly wet and dense and stringy. Your bread will be flat, which is a sign it’s going to be overly sour, too.

SOURDOUGH STARTERS

Your sourdough starter has two uses. For sourdoughs, it is your raising agent. For all yeasted breads, it is your flavour and shelf-life enhancer.

Starting your starter is the first hurdle to overcome within sourdough making. It’s something a lot of people struggle with, but these methods are near foolproof (the best method is to take a bit of somebody else’s starter). To start off a starter from scratch, use stoneground, organic flour. This is less likely to be have been treated with things that could potentially wipe out the yeast population. Once your starter is going it just needs food, so feeding it with cheap white flour is recommended.

Starting a starter

1. Take 100g strong flour and 100g tepid water and measure into a large jar or pot (I recommend glass or see-through plastic so you know what’s going on inside).

2. Add your ‘starter-aid’ – this is an ingredient that helps kick start the starter. Raisins have never let me down in all the starters I’ve started, as they seem to provide the right balance of nutrients and favourable conditions. Others swear by alternative acidic additions, such as grated apple, lemon juice and crushed vitamin C tablets. I can’t vouch for these. If you want to sacrifice some of the romance, add some dried yeast. It won’t technically be spontaneous, but it always, always works.

3. Cover your jar and leave for 24 hours at room temperature.

4. Whether your starter is bubbling away already or not, add another 100g flour and 100g water to the mix and stir vigorously to combine. It’s possible there’s already too much bacteria to let the yeast grow, so this evens out the playing field a bit.

5. Leave for 24–72 hours, or until you notice plenty of bubbles forming through the mix and that it has definitely increased in volume. Once it has reached this stage, pour away at least three quarters of your starter.

6. Give what’s left a good feed of flour and water – make it up to at least the size it was before you poured it all away. From now on, don’t bother weighing your feeds, as this is faff and faff means I can’t be bothered to feed my starter as often as it should be fed. If you’re struggling to judge how much flour and water to use, always feed your starter using more flour than you think is already in the jar.

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