All About Sour Dough .

[cookie1]

It's lovely. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[achookwoman]

It's lovely. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I usually add caraway seeds instead of the cumin she suggests. 

[troupie]

There is much excitement in our house tonight as I have made my first successful loaf of sourdough; it took all day to rise but it did rise and when it came out nice and brown and crusty I couldn't wait to have a taste. We had some with chicken soup for dinner and it was delicious. I am not sure what the texture should be like but we enjoyed it. Many thanks to all those on this site who have helped and encouraged me.

[achookwoman]

Groupie,  that is wonderful.  Congratulations.  The texture can vary, so if you enjoyed it,  then it is OK. 

[cookie1]

Troupie how exciting. I am so pleased for you. 

[troupie]

It is so great when something works out; I put most of it in the freezer but kept a couple of slices out for my lunch today and it was still lovely and fresh. Wow I am so pleased. Wish I could work out some other things as good (especially on this computer). I will make that loaf a few more times before adventuring on to different ones because it was so simple just needed all day to rise. Thanks again ladies.

[judydawn]

Well done Troupie, it's such a thrill to have bread making success, especially with sour dough.

[Cornish Cream]

Congrats on your success Troupie.

[meganjane]

My rye sourdough keeps making hooch. I've thrown most of it out and started again. I only had about a cup of it in the jar, so have begun to introduce white bread flour instead of rye. Hoping it will work out.

[achookwoman]

MJ, could you just add more rye flour to the hooch?   Adding white flour should work.  My starter has been sitting on the kitchen bench for a couple of days.  Very happy.   I have made so many SD crumpets it got a bit depleted.  Needed a little 'mothering'.

[cookie1]

MJ are you using the ratio of 1.5:1 for the rye dough starter? Yoke always used that. She also said that it helps to purge your Starter once a month, throw it all out except about 1-2 tablespoons and feed that up. I only do this if I haven't been using it a lot.

[meganjane]

It sat in the fridge for three weeks and didn't like it. yes, I did the 1.5:1 as I used Yoke's recipe to start with. I'm a little over the sliminess of rye, so really would like to move to half rye, half white.

I prefer Chookie's method for making sourdough as Yoke's is very heavy, wet and dense. I don't want to purge a sourdough all the time as it gets so much better with age.

It's bubbling along nicely on the bench now, happy with it's white flour....

[achookwoman]

MJ,  so happy to hear this. 

[cookie1]

I agree with all your comments MJ. I only use Chookie's starter now. If I want rye, I remove a little of Chookie's starter, keep it safe, and then feed up the rest with rye flour to make rye starter. I sort of use a mix of Chookie's thoughts and Yoke's. it works for me so I will keep doing it.

[achookwoman]

Cookie, I do the same as you.  If I want a rye loaf, I either feed up a bit of white starter with rye flour or even use 400 starter, 500 rye flour and enough water to make a fairly slack dough.  I sometimes grind up a few rye grains to give a bit of texture.