Sally lives!

Oh dear, I thought I'd killed her!

I had neglected Sally Sourdough starter so badly, she looked ghastly. A nasty scummy film of I don't know what covered her. The colour was not good either! I carefully removed said scum which only left a bit of Sally left. I then tipped all of her into a bowl and fed her, just 1/4 cup of bakers flour and 1/4 cup of water. I fed her a few more times later on Sunday. That was yesterday and today she has rallied and at least showed signs of life...

When I got home at lunch time I portioned off a good 1/2 cup into another bowl and fed her again. I tipped this Sally back into her jar. She must be happy because this is how bubbly she was when I got home tonight.

This is the remainder so I will mix dough tonight to rise overnight. Looks like Sally lives to see another day!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Winners and losers...

On Friday morning I got out my Sally Sourdough Starter and fed her up.  I hope I'm not sounding like a stuck record when I post these sourdough posts, but I want to document each bake so I can compare results.

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This time, I'm following Clare's instructions that she has kindly put up on her lovely blog...

http://thelifeofclare.com.au/sourdough-bread/

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I printed out her tutorials and have made a binder especially for BREAD...

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Her starter also came from Celia's Priscilla starter at https://figjamandlimecordial.com/

 Celia has written about Priscilla's family tree and it must be great for her to see Pricilla's prodgeny.

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I planned on mixing up the dough late on Friday night so it could proof over night.  Sally was good and bubbly after a couple of feeds during the day.

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 This is 300gms of starter

600gms water

1 kg bakers flour

18gms salt

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9am this morning and Sally is up to the top of the bowl...

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My work station is prepped.  I'm going to dust the dough with semolina when shaping it...
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The dough is plopped onto the bench...
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I halved the dough and made an oblong loaf...
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...and 10 rolls...more on them later!
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I left the loaf to rise a bit and harden the skin...
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I've got my oven cranking on 240C...
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I slashed...but not with a lot of panache!  Bigger cuts next time, Joolz!
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I sprayed the loaf with a good lot of water, put the lid on my roaster and in she went for 20 minutes...
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She was a beautiful blonde when I took off the lid and turned her around before putting her straight back in (lif off)...
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After another 25 minutes, she came out a beautiful brunette of sorts!  :)
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I let her cool completely before cutting into her...
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Still not a big holey crumb but great anyway. Winner!
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Now, the loser part of the title.  I baked the bread rolls before the loaf and they were a total flop!  They didn't rise much more than in the picture and they resembled doughy hockey puks when they came out of the oven!  Into the bin they went!
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Oh, and I hate semolina!  I have dark blue bench tops and that shit is everywhere I look!!!
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I still have active starter leftover from yesterday so I have fed it up and will make another lot of dough tonight.  I will make it earlier and will try the flipping, folding method with the dough until I put it to bed later tonight...
Stay tuned!
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Cheers - Joolz xx







 

First batch of Sally Sourdough...

I chose to mix the dough in my stand mixer as its a large mix - 1kg flour, 300gms of starter and 550gms water.

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It only got mixed so it just comes together as a shaggy dough...

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...then it rests for 30 minutes.

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Once rested, I gave it a quick mix for a minute then tipped it on the floured bench to form into a ball.

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I put her to rise in my big mixing bowl...

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I bought a shower cap to cover the bowl, saving on lots of cling wrap.

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I'll be back this afternoon to see how Sally is behaving.  She smells nice snd yeasty so I hope she has doubled in size by this evening.

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 
 
 
 

Waking Priscilla ...

...now renamed Sally the Sourdough starter! (Celia asked that we rename her)

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I placed the crumbly Sally in a large bowl...

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Add 1/4 cup bakers flour and 1/4 cup boiled, cooled rain water...

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8.15pm

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Added another 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water - 3.40pm
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10.30pm - we have action!

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I added 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water. Good night, Sally! We'll see you in the morning.

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7.20am - Sally is good to go!  I have given her another 1/4 cup flour and water and I will make sourdough rolls later this afternoon.

Added: On reading the figjamandlimecordial recipe for knot rolls, I am best to get the dough rising late tonight as it can take 3-10 hours to rise then I can bake them first thing in the morning.  Otherwise I could mix the dough up in the morning and bake tomorrow afternoon...
Lots of planning has to go into this sourdough bread business!

Cheers - Joolz xx