Sourdough Questions

[Redraven]

I am going to make my first sourdough bread and would like some suggestions as to what to bake it in and if there is a way to get a softer crust.
I've looked at the pullman and that would be nice to use as i would like to use the bread for sandwiches, but will sourdough bake well in it?

I have also looked at the sassafras bread baker. Though a little pricey, i wouldnt mind if it will work well with sourdough.

Most the recipes i have found state bread has a crisp crust. I would also like to avoid this as we like a softer crust.

Any suggestions, tips and hints would be MOST welcome as this is my favorite bread and i would like to make some.

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Typically, sourdough takes a bit longer to rise than do the fast-acting bread machine yeast that you purchase from the store. Bake you bread in an ordinary oven after letting it double once, punching it down, and then filling half of a bread pan and letting it double again. Place it in a 350' oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Tap the outside of the bread when the time has elapsed. If it sounds hollow, then the bread is cooked through. While the loaf is still hot, remove from the bread pans and brush all over with butter. The butter has a bit of water in it and will help make the crust soft.

Oh, and if you can make the dough the day before, and let it rest in the fridge, it will develop phenomenal flavor. Then, and hour or so before you are ready to bake the bread, put it in the pans for the 2nd rise.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

[Selkie]

Sour dough is the very same product as white bread with the exception that the yeast starter has aged before using it.

Until the advent of Wonder Bread, ALL bread was what we call "sour dough" today. Until the last fifty years or so, all bread had flavor. But now we've become accustom to flavorless white sandwich bread.

Just treat it as you would regular bread.

Note: Adding water to the crust or spraying it makes it more crusty.

Go to Wikipedia:

Pre-ferment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by Selkie

Sour dough is the very same product as white bread with the exception that the yeast starter has aged before using it.

Until the advent of Wonder Bread, ALL bread was what we call "sour dough" today. Until the last fifty years or so, all bread had flavor. But now we've become accustom to flavorless white sandwich bread.

Just treat it as you would regular bread.

Note: Adding water to the crust or spraying it makes it more crusty.

Go to Wikipedia:

Pre-ferment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be argumentative, but true sourdough bread gets its leavening from wild yeast that floats about in the atmosphere. It can withstand a more acidic environement than can store bought yeast. As the yeast organism eats carbohydrates from the flour, it gives off acid as a by product, along with CO2. The wild yeast gives off more of the acid, which makes the dough sour (acids are sour in flavor). Yeast purchased in stores isn't as robust as is the wild yeast and will start dying off before enough acid is created to make the dough sour. Now it's true that if you make a batch of dough and let it sit in the fridge for a day or two (this is called a preferment), then you will have a more pronounced yeast flavor in the bread. But it's not sourdough. You need wild yeast. To make sourdough starter, make a thin paste of water and flour in a ceramic or glass vessel. Place cheesecloth over the top and let it sit on the counter for a week or so. When you see it start to bubble and it smells sour, then you have a proper sourdough starter.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

[DaveSoMD]

Love those sock puppets! Oh, good information too.

YouTube - Good Eats - Dr. Strangeloaf Yeasts

[DMerry]

Sourdough bread is great but so are sourdough pancakes. The recipe that I used and that I no longer have was thinner as were the pancakes. That just meant you could eat more of them.

I made my sourdough starter just as Goodweed of the North described and it worked great as long as I was using it and feeding it often enough. I kept mine in a French canning jar and that worked well. Cleanliness is also essential.

[Selkie]

I wasn't attempting to give an entire treatise on the making of sour dough (I've already done that on another link), only to point out that it can be treated the same as white bread baking for the purpose of crust development and load shape.

[Redraven]

So, I'm guessing that either pan will do? or i can just use regular loaf pan?

Thank you for the tip on softer crust

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by Selkie

I wasn't attempting to give an entire treatise on the making of sour dough (I've already done that on another link), only to point out that it can be treated the same as white bread baking for the purpose of crust development and load shape.

I apologize if I appeared condescending. I assure you that it wasn't my intent. I was just trying to give a little more info about how sourdough works. I am by trade, and engineer and tend to go into detail about everything. I figure that the more I know about how something works, the better I can use it and assume that everyone is the same as me. At times, I do get wordy, or seem like I'm trying to upstage others. But I'm not. I'm only trying to be helpful.

And Selkie, just so you know, you're one of the people whose posts I trust without question. You are well respected around these parts.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

[Selkie]

GW, you're fine! I was just "off" this morning and I apologize for my "mood"!