Welcome to week 5 of self-isolation! If you are anything like me, you are starting to go crazy from lack of socializing and work. Some days I get up, have my coffee, and go back to bed. Other days, I bake all day long. I miss human contact and talking about anything other than COVID-19. Luckily, no matter what happens I will be starting an internship in Madison, WI at the end of May! I am looking forward to moving and starting my life again!
The last two weeks have been a messy science experiment with flour and water. The process of making sourdough bread is long and painful...and was ultimately disappointing for me. A few projects turned out great, though, so I will share my experience of late night feedings of my flour pet.
Starting the Starter
After doing extensive research on Pinterest, I found a combination that sounded promising. Basically, your starter needs to be equal parts flour and warm water (weight!). Here's what you need if you want to copy what I did:
A few mason jars
a food scale
flour
water
paper towels
rubber band
rubber spatula
big deep set spoon
two weeks of your life
I did 1/2 cup of water to 3/4 cup of flour (about 4oz each). Definitely try and weigh it if you can, I think it will help your starter be more consistent each day. To start, sanitize your jar so you know there isn't anything in there that might cause a reaction with the bacteria you are creating. Add your flour and water to the jar a stir VIGOROUSLY until it is well combined. You want to beat that mixture to no end to incorporate air into it. Scrape down the sides and try your very best to keep the jar clean...it starts to get messy as you go. Finally, cover your jar loosely with a lid or use a paper towel with a rubber band. Keep this jar of paste in on the counter at room temperature for 24 hours. Congrats - you just completed day one of 10-14.
Day 2-14: Feed your new yeast baby
The next two weeks will require determination and passion for this project. If you don't think you have it, maybe don't try. I want to note that this honestly hurt me because you throw away so much flour throughout the process. I saved as much as I could, but you can only do so much with the discard. I made the mistake of starting this project at noon...meaning I was feeding my baby at midnight every day. Don't do that...start earlier.
After the first 24 hours, you should start to see some bubbles in you jar. It won't be much, but you should see some activity. If not...you probably already failed, but don't give up! It might just need some more love. At the start of day 2, you will need to discard half of your product. I would recommend weight this out because this will likely be the only day you can actually see into the jar. This first discard isn't really worth keeping because it doesn't have enough activity, so unfortunately you can just toss it. I would recommend putting it into a ziplock baggie or something because it could leak out of the garbage bag and end up giving your cat a stripe down its back! After discarding, you are going to add in the same amount of flour and water that you started with. This is the "feeding" process. Stir it all in and cover it back up. You are going to do this process every 12 hours for the next week and a half, or longer. On the bright side - your discard will start to be more active (more bubbles) and you can actually keep it and use it in other recipes.
Discard Recipes
While you continue to feed your yeast baby, you might as well try out some recipes that can use its discard instead of wasting it. I made some incredible pancakes and some muffins with my discard. I also made pasta dough that turned out beautifully!The pancakes were HUGE and weren't too sweet. Definitely some of the best pancakes I've made...especially without buttermilk. The slightly sourness that came from the discard gave the pancakes the same flavor as traditional buttermilk pancakes and they had crazy rise. I definitely recommend this recipe. I will include it at the end of this page.
The muffin recipe I used was much different than other muffins I've made. These were cinnamon sourdough muffins. They tasted great but the batter was extremely dry compared to traditional muffins. It was difficult to keep the gluten development down because of how thick the batter was. Because of this, they domed a bit and the crumb was a little more dense than I would prefer. However, these tasted great and would be AMAZING with Texas Road House butter. I used this recipe. I would recommend adding a little more milk if your batter is super thick...just be careful so you don't make them too thin that no gluten can develop! I will add this recipe at the bottom as well!
Finally, I decided to be adventurous during quarantine and make some homemade pasta. I used a pretty basic pasta recipe that included sourdough discard. It worked great and made excellent tortellini. I used this recipe for the pasta, and I will include the vodka sauce recipe i made with the tortellini.
Let's Make This Bread
By day 10 (or maybe 11...I lost track) my sourdough starter passed the float test. This is a test to determine if your starter has enough air and is activated enough to make bread. To test, take about a tablespoon of starter and carefully drop it into a bowl of room temperature water. The starter should float on top of the water. Once this happens...you are ready to start the long process of making bread!
I found a very detailed description of how to make this bread. It takes about 30 hours to make...in case you thought you were getting close to being done. To start, you will need to autolyse your dough - this will make sure your starter is completely activated and ready to be stretched. This will look like a pile of super sticky dough.
After this, you will start the stretching and rising process. For the next 2 hours, you will let your dough rise and incorporate the gluten development by stretching it every 30 minutes. You will pull the dough from each side (4 times) up and over the top of the dough. Each time you do this, the dough should start to look more like a dough ball until you can stretch it without it breaking. Once you reach this stage, it is time for the overnight rise. Let the dough rise about an hour at room temperature, then move it to the fridge for 15-18 hours (overnight).
After the cold rise, you are going to shape the dough. First, let the dough come to room temperature. Then you will need to CAREFULLY dump the dough onto an unfloured surface and form the dough balls. Split the dough in half with a bench scraper and use it to make a ball with each half. This involves scraping and twisting the dough from underneath with the bench scraper until it is round and not falling. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes. If the dough falls, it's not ready or formed right, so just try again.
Finally, you will do the final rise! Flip your dough over and spread it into a little rectangle GENTLY. Fold each long side of the rectangle over itself, then the short ends. The final end will go all the way under the dough and create a seam. Carefully place the formed dough into a floured bowl and put it in the fridge for the final rise - about 2 hours. While you wait, preheat your oven with your dutch oven inside. You want it piping hot so the bread will bake through. Once ready, put your dough on parchment paper or directly into the dutch oven (if you are brave), seam side down. Bake with the lid on for 30-40 minutes, then another 10-20 minutes with the lid off until it browns and is a solid crust.
My bread did NOT turn out great. I don't know if it didn't get the rise it needed or my starter wasn't actually ready, but it is gummy, flat, and tough. I followed the directions in the recipe exactly...so it is likely that my starter wasn't ready, or my dough wasn't warm enough during the first few rises (my house is naturally colder). Either way, the bread never got a domed look to it in the oven and the crust hardened before it could get dark brown the way I wanted. Once I cut into it, it seemed almost under-baked and it was almost impossible to cut into. I am going to use it as crostini for bruschetta this week just so I don't throw it out.
I don't see myself attempting this process again. Not only was it long and you didn't know if you failed until the end, it was a lot of food waste (my least favorite thing). I did save and try to use a lot of the discard, but you still have to throw out a lot of flour by the end of this process. I give extreme props to everyone who makes sourdough or artisan bread in general. It is a long a difficult process, truly an art-form. I will continue to buy my sourdough at local bakeries and support the artists in their work. Good luck to all who attempt this during quarantine and I hope this helps a little!
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 large egg beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
Add the sourdough starter, milk, egg, and oil. Mix until combined.
On a greased griddle, pour pancake batter to the desired size. Cook the pancakes until the top bubbles and begins to dry out.
Cook the other side for a few minutes until the middle looks dry.
Serve with your favorite pancake toppings.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup sourdough starter
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Add melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, milk and egg. Mix well.
Add the sourdough starter and mix well. Try not to overwork the batter.
Fill greased muffin tin cups about half full.
Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes
Ingredients:
90g Sourdough Discard
100g All-Purpose Flour
60g Semola (or bread flour)
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
5g Olive Oil
4g Salt
Instructions:
Combine ingredients in a bowl or on the counter by creating a well with the dry ingredients.
Mix by hand and work mixture until all dry bits of flour have been hydrated.
Knead the dough until smooth.
Wrap in plastic and allow to rest at room temperature for 2 hours.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 2 days.
Roll and cut your dough into the desired shape. Cook in salted boiling water until noodles float or are desired texture.
Vodka Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp Italian Seasoning (to taste)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste
28oz tomato puree
1/3 cup vodka
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Saute onions and garlic in the butter until softened.
Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and cook a few more minutes.
Stir in the tomato puree and vodka. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in heavy cream until it is light red/orange in color. Taste the sauce and add seasoning as desired.
Add the Parmesan cheese, stir until full melted.
Serve over pasta or stir in pasta. Top with Parmesan, red pepper flakes and basil.