My Sourdough Starter Is Slow, What Should I Do? A recurring problem many sourdough fans face is that their starter slows down, or it loses it characteristic flavor. This is relatively uncommon in commercial bakeries because they use their starter on a daily basis, and because the starter is used so frequently that the acidity of the starter stays under control. […]
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Starting a Starter Sourdough Starter Primer This is part of our “Sourdough Starter Primer” on this page we talk about how sourdough starters work, and what you’re doing when you start a sourdough starter. If you’re in too much of hurry to read this and want to just make a starter, there are links to
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What Should Sourdough Starter Smell Like? A few times in the past few days I’ve been asked what sourdough starter should smell like. And I’ve blown the question off. “I cover that in the sourdough starter primer!” I say. Only…. I haven’t. Yeah, I mention smell in passing here and there. But never in any detail.
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What is Sourdough? A sourdough starter, or culture, is a mix of flour and water that maintains a mix of yeast and bacteria. The yeast provides lots of rise and some flavor, the bacteria provides lots of flavor and some lift. The bacteria makes the starter more acidic to protect it from other organisms taking
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What is “Hooch”? This question comes up fairly often. If you watch old movies or TV shows, the answer is obvious. Hooch is cheap, bad booze. And, even in sourdough circles, that’s pretty close to true There’s a great example of sourdough hooch to the right. It was taken in 2001 when I knew much,
Storing a Starter Sourdough Starter Primer This is part of our “Sourdough Starter Primer”, an in depth look at how to create, maintain, store, revive and even use a sourdough starter. Our romantic image of days of yore suggests that the hard working mother of a family of 12 to 14 baked several times a
We’re Havin’ Us A Mixer Throwdown! There are some classic big arguments among home bakers. Which flour is the best one? (The one I’m using, of course.) A close second is, “which mixer is the best one?” There are three contenders when American hobbyist bakers are talking. The KitchenAid, the Bosch Concept and the Electrolux
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Sourdough and Bread Machines A question I am frequently asked is, “Can I make sourdough in a bread machine?” Before we get into that question, I have to admit that I am somewhat biased against bread machines. On the plus side, they let people who otherwise wouldn’t have fresh bread, have fresh bread. And, within
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What’s the best kind of bread? Sit down please. Take a deep breath, and get ready for a shock. Are you ready? OK.. here goes… bread makers are snobs. I’m afraid it’s true, but when you ask that of a bread maker, you’ll be told something like, “Oh, my Pain au Levain made with my
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2019-08-30 POP! Goes The Starter! A quick apology. Friend of the newsletter, Dennis McCanna had some trouble replying to the last email I sent out. But, he persevered and together we unraveled a long standing issue. When we changed ISP’s we had to change our email addresses from mail.otherwhen.com to just otherwhen.com. We thought we’d
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Stretch And Fold A Gentle Way To Develop Dough And the Elusive Panama Bread Recipe Too! Many people tell me they have to use a mixer because they have medical conditions that keep them from mixing dough by hand. This is a problem for me because I strongly encourage beginning bakers to feel the dough
“Great Whole Grain Breads” by Beatrice Ojakangas. This was, for many years, THE reference book for whole grain breads and baking. Very highly recommended! Several of our favorite breads come from this book. Sadly, her sourdough section isn’t very strong, but it’s easy to convert recipes. It isn’t in print, but it is available on
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