ElsieD

Thanks. Next loaf I bake - no steam. I did slash my loaf before I put it in. I used a bread knife which is nice and sharp and it did not pull the dough. I have a lame thingy but I never did learn how to use it properly and find my bread knife makes a cleaner cut.

I made sourdough pancakes this morning based on a recipe I found on-line on The Food Network. This made 8 pancakes, enough for the two of us.in a mixing bowl, beat one egg. Mix together 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon sugar and add to the beaten egg. (Don't know why you have to mix the two.). Add 1 cup sourdough starter and mix well. When ready to cook, mix 3/4 teaspoon baking soda with 1/2 tablespoon water and stir into batter. Cook as per any other pancake. This made The. Best. Pancakes. Ever. Crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.

BTW, while we were up there, I made sourdough fruitcake, too.

Thank you. The detail in your post is a lot more than I was expecting. Thank you for taking the time to explain it so well. Next up I want to make buns for sandwiches. To get the number I want, I will put my new found baker's percentage knowledge to use. I did use some sourdough this morning to make pancakes and I have to say they were the best pancakes I have ever eaten. Light and fluffy on the inside and nicely crisp on the outside, and as an added bonus, quick and easy to make. I think sourdough and I are going to have a long and happy relationship.

How do loaves baked with steam differ from those baked without? Thank you.

I have a question as it relates to baker's percentages. I have never used them. If I understand correctly, the amount of flour I use does not matter, whatever the amount is, it is shown as 100% and then the rest of the ingredients are calculated as a percentage of that. for example, when I used Mick's recipe to make my sourdough bread, the recipe called for the following: 518 grams of flour,100%. 306 grams water, 59% 137 grams starter, 26.4% 8 grams of salt, 1.5% If I wanted to make a loaf 1/4 of that size, would I use (numbers rounded): 130 grams flour, 100% 77 grams water, 59% 34 grams starter, 26.4% 2 grams of salt, 1.5% So the percentages remain the same, but the quantities are different? I realize I could just divide by four but I want to know of this is how baker's percentages work. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Okey Dokey, we have our first loaf of sourdough bread. I think it's a thing of beauty but maybe not.....are there supposed to be big holes in it? The making of the bread itself was very straight forward. I followed the recipe and directions supplied by Mick and did not have any trouble except for releasing the dough from the cloth when I was ready to bake it. I was worried the dough might deflate, but it didn't. I am sitting here eating a piece and the crust is crispy, the inside nice and chewy. Very, very good. I have lots of starter left and plan on making some pancakes on the weekend and am also going to look for a cranberry/raisin type fruit bread recipe. Anyone have one they care to share? The photo is below - that white blob is excess flour I forgot to brush off. Thank you Mick, for all your help!

Jaymes, I too am interested in the pancakes. I will have extra sourdough starter so would like to try it. Thank you.

Not to worry, Mick. Tomorrow I plan on baking bread. I am going to follow the method and timetable as per Mick. If I read the instructions right, I will feed it one more time tonight, put what I am saving in the fridge for future use and leave what I will be using on the counter. Now, I don't have any rye flour so I will be using a tea towel floured with white flour in a colander. I have a couple of questions and if they can be answered, I would appreciate it. After the 4 hour ferment will it have increased in size and if yes, what should I expect? Once it has been shaped and set to rise for 31/2 hours, will I expect it to be double in size? If the answer to that is yes, and it has not done so, should I let it rise longer? I know what to expect with regular bread but of course, but since this is my first time attempting sourdough, I really haven't a clue. I will post my results but in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of my starter.

Since this post is addressed to me, I just want to clarify something. Nowhere did I say that making a starter was "tricky" and I don"'t need a lecture, not even a mini lecture, on whether I resist doing things because they are "tricky". In my 68 years of life I have had to deal with a number of "tricky" things and have never shied away from them. That said, the starter I made following your method sprung to life yesterday, it's eighth day. The link I posted contained a number of posts by people who thought, as I did, that their starter had died and were encouraged to keep tending it. It certainly encouraged me and I hoped by posting it that if others had trouble with theirs, that it would encourage them to stay with it. Next step: Bake some bread!

I was on the Australian Thermomix forum and came upon this thread. I just read the whole thing and apart from the fact my eyes have glazed over, there is a ton of useful information in it. I am a lot more hopeful now that I can actually eventually, some time, make sourdough bread. I hope the rest of you who are trying to make sourdough find it useful. http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=11126.0 Edited to add: I had configured it to get the latest messages first so page 79 is actually page 1

Nancy, thanks for the pictures. This is my starter this morning. As you can see, my bubbles are very small and none are visible from the side. I plan on feeding it today and tomorrow and if it isn't a bit more lively I will likely conclude that it is not active enough and discard. Sigh.

To my untrained eye, that looks like a nice starter you have going. Can you post a side shot?

Strawberries. I only ever buy them locally when they are in season. I like the picture of your cat.

I just checked my starter and there are way more bubbles on the top than I have seen at any time during the last few days. Hope springs eternal!

Just refreshed my starter. Not seeing much action but there are some small bubbles on the surface so will stick with it.

Disappointing, isn't it? I was pretty happy with my first batch until, as we say here, it went south. As Mick suggested, I should have stuck with that batch. No reason why I couldn't have done that AND started a new one. I won't be as quick to toss this batch out. Looking forward to hearing how yours goes.

Chelseabun, I hope you will try again.

I agree with Cakewalk's sentiments and thank Mick for this topic. Without it, I would never have even attempted this. So I still have my second batch and will be patient with it. I figure as long as it has some bubbles on the surface it must still be a bit alive. Before Mick posted his latest, I was going to turf it but my husband said, why don't you give it a pinch of sugar and see what happens? So, that is what I did. I probably shouldn't have, but there you go. Later on I threw out half of it and fed it again. I did not add any yeast as I had threatened to do earlier. I shall proceed as recommend - throw out half, then feed with 50 gms. Each water and flour on a daily basis. Nancy, did yours on the right collapse after it doubled? You have some nice bubbles going there. Elsie

Just got caught up on all your activities. I wonder if the apples with the white flesh are snow apples? I remember them fondly from childhood days when my dad and I would go to orchards and pick apples for home consumption. I used to love them, with their white flesh and pink tinge. Whenever I have gone to farmer's markets where there were apple farmers I would ask about them but no one seems to grow them anymore. Pity. They are delicious.

Mine isn't looking all that great at the moment. I will feed it shortly and if it doesn't look like something tomorrow I will likely discard it and give up. Or for a lark, I may just add in a bit of yeast to see what happens. I use bread flour and have been using tap water. Your post has me wondering if chlorine in the water is a problem here as well. Our water quality in this city is very good but they also use chlorine. I do have some Perrier so maybe I should try a third and final batch if this one doesn't turn out and use that as the water source? Cyalexa, I went to the blog you mentioned and while the blogger talked about starter, I could not find how she said to go about starting one. Mick, are you out there? Any hints?

Mine has started to produce small bubbles. It has had one feeding and will get another one tomorrow. Hopefully, this one will live. Chelseabun, yours looks pretty good.

Lindacakes, I don't really have a recipe as such for either. But, I can tell you what I do. The cranberry orange relish is simply a package of cranberries cooked with 1cup of fresh orange juice and one cup sugar. Once the berries start popping, I add in some Grand Marnier, maybe 3 tablespoons. I just eyeball it. Sounds as though you make the same type of stuffing that I do, except I don't add mushrooms. For the stuffing I use a loaf of cubed plain old sandwich bread. Cook up a large diced onion and a couple of stalks of celery in about 3/4 cup of butter. Once softened, mix with the bread, celery salt, savoury, thyme, poultry seasoning, sage, and pepper, all to taste. When that part seems right, I add enough chicken broth to moisten, just enough so bread sticks together. We don't like it too moist. I like the idea do frying slices of it and eating it with gravy. Given that there are only two of us, there will be stuffing and gravy left after tonight's dinner so I will try that out. Thanks!

Host's note: this discussion began as a side discussion in the topic Yeast as a Flavoring Agent: I am trying to develope some starter for sourdough bread. It didn't work the first time and I have started a new batch today. Are you saying that if I buy some grapes with a white film on them and throw the skins in my nascent starter it will help it along?

Cranberry orange relish with a splash of Grand Marnier and buttery bread stuffing with celery and onions and, as per hubby.,NO embellishments.