A new Sourdough starter feeding strategy

So I've been experimenting recently with a slight modification to my sourdough starter mixture. I've blogged about my sourdough starter several times before and if anything I think this is just another argument to the axiom that sometimes there is no right answer.

I noticed that my standard:
Save 1/4 cup starter, mix with 1 cup water & 1 cup AP flour
Seemed to be a bit 'soupy' which after rising for 8-16 hours seemed to be well mixed, but not quite as active as I am used to seeing.

My alteration is by trying:
Save 1/4 cup starter, mix with 3/4 cup water & 1 cup AP flour
This makes a thicker starter, more the consistency of play-doh. I've noticed that the ticker mixture rises better (easily doubling or sometimes tripling), plus it holds its shape more.

This thicker starter adds a richer more developed taste to my bread, which is always a welcome addition!


-Matt the weekend baker

An update to a revolutionary recipe

The original Jim Lahey recipe for no-kneed bread published by Mark Bittman published in November 2006 (covered in this post) kicked off the revolution. Home bakers (like me) everywhere were inspired to give it a try.

Now Mark Bittman has revisited the technique and has talked with Jim Lahey about publishing an updated version of the recipe that started it all. Here is a link to the story:

No-Knead Bread: Not Making Itself Yet, but a Lot Quicker

Jim Lahey didn't approve of toying with the ratios and I think I agree.

The basic idea is that the more yeast you throw in, the shorter the rise-time. This is fairly basic "baking 101", but for the experienced baker the longer the rise the more developed the flavor of the loaf.

Of course there's always a trade-off when baking good bread vs baking quick bread. I've even blogged about this in the past. If you want a good quick bread then choose a recipe that's suited for it (and heavily flavored already). The whole point of fresh baked bread (french, sourdough or wheat) is to really TASTE the nutty flavor of the flower.

-Matt the weekend baker

Four Basic Ingredients

At a dinner the other night a friend of mine lamented that I was stuck on baking. It does seem strange that a recipe with just FOUR basic ingredients could be so interesting and so challenging.

* Flour
* Water
* Yeast
* Salt

That's really all there is to it. Bread is about as simple as you can get, yet it's permutations are almost endless. Thinking it's simple is like comparing wine to grape juice.

Bread to me has a fascinating history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread) and has been baked by bakers for thousands of years. One of my favorite semi-historical reference is from the HBO mini-series "Rome" when one of the main characters (Titus) says "good bread this". I laughed at that moment because the bread the character was eating was essentially the same bread I was eating.

Four simple ingredients, two of which can be improvised (salt & yeast). Ten Billion combinations (ok a bit of a hyperbole there) and only a few hundred (or a few thousand) chances to try to get it right. Sounds fun to me!


-Matt the Weekend Baker



Side Note:
As proof that I am not stuck on bread, my culinary skills include (but are not limited to):
* Baked Eggs
* Omelets
* Crepes
* Eggs Benedict
* Sweet Rolls
* Dutch Babies (German Pancakes)
* Grilled Steaks
* Grilled Vegetables
* Grilled Salmon
* Cookies
* Gary's Salsa