SOURDOUGH CULTURE

BETTY MY SOURDOUGH CULTURE

 

 

This sourdough culture is my living breathing baby, I have named her Betty and she will be adding great depth of flavour and natural wild yeast to my Sunday morning sourdough loaf.  The older she gets the more mature depth of flavour she will bring and rising performance to my bread.

 

Your own Betty is easy to create.  To look after Betty, she needs feeding every week and will hibernate in your fridge until 24hrs before you need her, then she will come out and sit in the kitchen have a feed and get a whisk to aerate her and allow her to warm up to full bubbleliciousness, then I will take 600g of her to make two sourdough loaves, one for us and one for the family to enjoy, and probably many pizza bases too.

 

STARTING A SOURDOUGH CULTURE

 

150g wholemeal organic flour

150g cold water

150g raised dough

FOR THE PROVED DOUGH

500g strong plain white flour

10g salt

50g ooil

15g active yeast

320g water

(mix and knead, fold in air for 6 minutes leave in fridge 24hrs to prove)

 

This is all it takes to start your culture, take 150g of the proved dough from the fridge and add the 150g of wholemeal organic flour and cold water, mix well and place in the fridge.

 

The very next day feed Betty with another 150g wholemeal flour and cold water and mix well again.  Then on day three you should find little bubbles like above in the culture, and the smell will be of the promise of great fresh bread to come.

 

 This is a magical moment because you have started a relationship that may last your entire life, this baby can live as long as you do with the right care and attention. 

 

Long term keep Betty in the fridge, only removing her from the fridge 24hrs before needing and giving her a feed and leaving her out in your kitchen to warm up and bubble back to life.

 

As your sourdough, Betty, is a living culture there is always the chance that she can die, this has happened to me in the past, where I have left the culture out to long and got the feed ratio wrong, if this happens don't worry you will know as the culture will smell disgusting and not have the yeasty fresh promise of a smell of what a fresh loaf is going to taste like. Dont worry just start again.

 

BAKING A SOURDOUGH LOAF

 

I have weighed my culture from the start, so at day six she stands at 750g, I will take 600g to make two loaves and that will leave me 150g to start the process all over again, by feeding 150g wholemeal flour and water and then placing back in the fridge.  If you wanted to make more loaves, you can increase the feed and increase your starter, but two loaves a week is ample for us.  The key here is the older the culture the more fabulous the sourdough loaf will be.

 

 THE SOURDOUGH LOAF

 

 

460g strong white flour

300g Betty sourdough culture

10g sea salt

230ml warm water

 

Add all the ingredients to your bowl or work top, gently incorporate and bring together to form your dough, knead with the wave technique, by lifting up the wet dough from the furthest side from you, like the crest of a surfing wave, then pulling back toward you and tucking the crest under it's self just like a wave crashing on the beach, rolling in the air, repeat and within a few minutes (6) you will have a gorgeous smooth springy dough, that has not had any extra flour worked into it and has not been over worked, so that your loaf will be light and airy.

 

Leave the dough to prove and relax for 3-4hrs, cover with cling film in a warm place.  Sprinkle a little flour on your work top and gently turn out the proved dough.  Mould the dough into two loaf shapes, dust the proving baskets and place the dough into the baskets, leave it covered with a damp tea towel overnight to double slowly in size (12 hrs). 

 

Heat your oven or wood fired oven to 230 degrees and very gently ease the light airy dough out of the baskets, trying not to disturb the dough.  Give the loaf a signature mark and spray or sprinkle over a hint of water, bake for 30 minutes plus until golden and you get the hollow sound when tapped.