PatternReview.com online sewing community
Online Sewing Class: Sewing Basics
Register Today!
Join our community of 579,234 sewists!
SIGNUP Membership is free and includes 1 free lesson
Login |
Join our community of 579,234 sewists!
Signup | Login
To participate in the PatternReview.com forums please Login or Join PatternReview
12 
Member since 7/1/07
Posts: 1726
Body Type:
Send Message
3 Replies
thumbsup 1 like
Posted on: 5/16/18 10:52 PM ET
I have a sourdough starter I began from scratch on Sunday. It is nice & active. I have fed it daily so have enough for a loaf of bread now. It is having a "rest & ferment" day today. Tomorrow I will add more flour & salt for the bread after removing some of the starter.
My question is, can I put the bread in a well seasoned cast iron pot for the second rise? I am trying for a very plain loaf of bread, so no eggs or butter.
FYI: I had some some really good buttermilk which actually soured instead of spoiled so I used that to mix with the flour, wasn't sure it was working so added a teaspoon of honey & 1/2-1/2 teaspoon of yeast about 12 hours later. When I mixed it I found it was starting to bubble underneath so it was not needed.
  
Member since 3/24/04
Posts: 26392
Send Message
thumbsup 1 like
Posted on: 5/16/18 11:31 PM ET
In reply to Julia C
Sure. I've baked a lot of bread in a campfire in a dutch oven.
  
Member since 12/2/09
Posts: 1977
Body Type:
Send Message
thumbsup 2 likes
Posted on: 5/17/18 0:33 AM ET
It doesn't sound like you have a real starter if you added yeast to it. Commercial yeast will edge out wild yeast pretty quickly, so don't be disappointed if the flavor isn't there. I bought mine from WorldSourdough on Etsy rather than trying to start my own (he's far from the only supplier). I have the Egyptian and the Black Death. The Egyptian isn't as sour, and makes amazing half wheat/half white bread. The Black Death is great for rye flour, but still good for wheat. Both will rise in about 4 hours in my "proofing box" aka in the cabinet on top of the DVR.

One big note- be sure to use a scale for feeding. A cup of flour is like 4.2-4.4oz, not 8, and using "equal parts" results in a watery starter that looks hungry, but is far from finishing fermentation. On a related note, I only keep about 20g of starter on hand, and I feed it twice before baking (maybe monthly), but pretty much not in between. I think I can get away with that because they are such well-proven/established starters though.

Isn't the pot too big for final rise? I do make smaller loaves, but even my big bannetons are small enough around to fit in any pan in our house, much less my cast iron stuff. You want a taller bowl, otherwise sourdough will spread out, rather than rise up. I've used my dutch oven for baking bread far more times than I've used it for anything else (especially now that I have the InstantPot- even the Le Creuset is neglected now!).

ThePerfectLoaf.com has really good, detailed recipes, but they are wetter, harder to work with dough, and thesis length recipes. Still, it's helpful when you're starting out. I do divide his loaves into quarters, not halves. TheCleverCarrot.com has a recipe that's more standard bread that happens to be sourdough. I've made it once, it tasted like bread. It didn't have that amazing, crackling crust and open crumb I like. Alex the French Guy does entertaining Youtube videos for sourdough, and he's good at explaining things like slap and folds.
  
Member since 12/17/17
Posts: 2270
Body Type:
Send Message
thumbsup 2 likes
Posted on: 5/17/18 1:30 AM ET
You should be fine. I have make it that way. It has been a while but I think I might have lightly sprayed the sides of the pot so that there was no possibility of it sticking.
  
Member since 4/4/05
Posts: 2203
Send Message
thumbsup 2 likes
Posted on: 5/17/18 10:53 AM ET
In reply to Julia C
Lots of good info on the King Arthur Flour website for making sour dough bread. You can even bake in the cast iron pot with a lid on it. https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2015/10/13/artisan-sourdough-bread-tips-part-1/
  
Member since 1/23/05
Posts: 201
Send Message
thumbsup 1 like
Posted on: 5/17/18 11:34 AM ET
I bake sourdough in a cast iron dutch oven regularly. I find it works best if I do the second rise after shaping in a bowl lined with parchment paper. When I preheat the oven, I put the dutch oven in as well with the lid off. Then I can easily lift the dough boule from the bowl with the parchment paper, drop the whole thing in the hot dutch oven, put the lid on it and bake. Some of the parchment paper might stick out, but that isn't a problem.

When I tried baking the bread in a cold dutch oven pot, it took a lot longer and the rise wasn't as strong because it takes a while for the cast iron to heat up. The punch of heat in a hot dutch oven pot really helps the the lift and the crust to open up in the slashes for a beautiful loaf.

Have fun with your sourdough starter! I like to refer newbies to the King Arthur Flour website, they have lots of help and easy recipes.
  
Member since 12/15/17
Posts: 89
Send Message
thumbsup 2 likes
Posted on: 5/17/18 1:20 PM ET
I maintained a starter for a whole winter without a refrigerator, then as the weather got warmer I forgot to feed it for 3 days and it went bad.

I love the flavor of sourdough bread, but compared to instant yeast there are a couple of inconveniences associated with it:

1. As mentioned above, you need it feed it regularly
2. Dough rises slower, takes around 4-5 hours with ripe starter
3. If it isn't ripe then it won't rise or by the time it does it will have become to acidic, negatively affecting the shape (acid makes it hard to hold shape) and ruining the flavor. Therefore baking becomes more of a burden because you have to wait for it to become ripe instead of whenever you want.

What I do is use the starter as a favoring ( so I don't have to bother checking whether it's ripe or not :)),and use instant yeast for the rising. Although my bread isn't strictly speaking artisan, it's hard to taste the difference really.
  
Member since 7/1/07
Posts: 1726
Body Type:
Send Message
thumbsup 1 like
Posted on: 5/17/18 11:32 PM ET
Thanks everyone! After reading a bit, I am going to need to decrease the flour/liquid ratio a lot. Maybe next weekend I will be able to bake bread.
  
Member since 7/30/05
Posts: 58
Send Message
thumbsup 3 likes
Posted on: 5/18/18 1:47 AM ET
In reply to Julia C
This may be a little off topic, but did you know there is a whole library of sourdough starters? Not the recipes, but the starters themselves? It's part of an effort to appreciate biodiversity among yeasts and other leaveners. There's a museum or library for everything! Www.puratos.com. Not associated, just interested.
  
Member since 7/1/07
Posts: 1726
Body Type:
Send Message
thumbsup 1 like
Posted on: 5/19/18 0:28 AM ET
So far, adding more flour & less water seems to be working well. I added flour last night & flour/water about 7 hours later. When I returned home & checked it, my starter was very bubbly with large bubbles. I think I will try for bread tomorrow.
Yes, Coconut, every started I have tried to make until this one has looked watery.
  
12 
* Advertising and soliciting is strictly prohibited on PatternReview.com. If you find a post which is not in agreement with our Terms and Conditions, please click on the Report Post button to report it.
Selected Reviews, Classes & Patterns
Nature's Fabrics
Natural & Organic Fabrics
Specials!
Metro Textiles
NYC Fabric Store
Specials!
Discovery Fabrics
High Performance Fabrics
Specials!