{"id":12228,"date":"2016-04-20T19:15:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T19:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/?p=12228"},"modified":"2016-04-20T19:15:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T19:15:58","slug":"sour-dough-for-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/i\/sour-dough-for-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Sour Dough for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bread baking seems to be a lost art.\u00a0 Bread machines have replaced the action of kneading.\u00a0 Grocery stores are selling artesian style breads.\u00a0 I am sure there are other reasons–but one thing is for sure–nothing beats the smell of fresh baking bread!\u00a0 Any bread for that matter!\u00a0 Once I mastered the art of bread making, I wanted to try different varieties and baking styles.\u00a0 Sour dough was one I have always been curious about.\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of sour dough is “leaven,<\/span> especially<\/span> fermented<\/span> dough<\/a><\/span> retained<\/span> from<\/span> one<\/span> baking<\/span> and<\/span> used,<\/span> rather<\/span> than<\/span> fresh<\/span> yeast,<\/span> to<\/span> start<\/span> the<\/span> next.<\/span>”\u00a0 It is a bit of an involved process, but well worth it!\u00a0 It starts with a starter that is made with flour and a liquid, and sometimes a starter mix.\u00a0 You add these ingredients in specific amounts based on your proposed outcome, and let it ferment on the counter.\u00a0 King Arthur Flour explains the process very well: “Friendly bacteria (lactobacilli), present in our natural environment; and the wild yeast attracted to and living on flour begin to work with one another when flour is mixed with warm water.”\u00a0 This causes the mixture to take on leavening capabilities and provides it’s distinct flavor.\u00a0 Science never tasted so good!<\/p>\n

Sour dough starters taste different in different parts of the world due to the differences in yeasts available in the area you live.\u00a0 If you bring a starter from San Francisco, it will\u00a0 taste differently once you have maintained it in Omaha.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s not better or worse–just different.\u00a0 Many bakeries have kept their starter for many years.\u00a0 You continue to “feed it” frequently so you always have more to use, and it can be kept indefinitely.\u00a0 I purchased sour dough starter from a company in San Francisco.\u00a0\u00a0I started it in\u00a0a jar with a loose fitting lid (no seal) a few weeks ago.\u00a0\u00a0 I started with flour, water and the starter yeast.\u00a0 I “fed” it just as the instructions stated–about everyday until I had enough to bake with.\u00a0 I left it sit out on the cabinet.\u00a0 This is what causes all those amazing bacteria to make it a sour dough starter.\u00a0 You feed starter with more liquid and flour.\u00a0 I used all purpose, but you can make a starter out of any type of flour–rye, whole wheat, etc…\u00a0 I have quite a bit of starter made now, so I just feed it once or twice a week, and keep it in the refrigerator.<\/p>\n

\"April<\/a><\/p>\n

When I purchased my starter, I also purchased the cool jar (you can use any type of container with a loose fitting lid) and\u00a0 the stirring stick.\u00a0 I wondered if the stirring stick really worked–but it does an incredible job!\u00a0 I just add my flour and water and give it a quick stir–and voila!\u00a0 It’s done for another time!<\/p>\n

I made a loaf of Rustic Sourdough Bread<\/a>\u00a0last week, and it didn’t rise well–because I used all purpose flour, not bread flour, which is higher in gluten.\u00a0 Gluten provides the structure for the bread.\u00a0 I usually add vital wheat\u00a0 gluten to my all purpose flour when making bread instead of using bread flour–and it turns out just great!\u00a0 I had forgotten.\u00a0 It still tasted great, it just didn’t rise as nicely.\u00a0 Last night I made the same recipe again, but with the vital wheat gluten, and it rose beautifully!\u00a0 Before I placed it into the hot oven, I sprinkled herbs and cheese on the top.\u00a0 It made the best bread!\u00a0 Give the recipe a try!<\/p>\n

You do not have to purchase starter like I did, you can make it yourself.\u00a0 There are many places on the web that have instructions for this.\u00a0 Give it a try!\u00a0 Let me know if you try making your own starter, or using a starter to make a loaf of bread–I would love to see how yours turned out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Bread baking seems to be a lost art.\u00a0 Bread machines have replaced the action of kneading.\u00a0 Grocery stores are selling artesian style breads.\u00a0 I am sure there are other reasons–but one thing is for sure–nothing beats the smell of fresh baking bread!\u00a0 Any bread for that matter!\u00a0 Once I mastered the art of bread making, I wanted to Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[790],"tags":[172,59,60,1085,145,212,193,123,159,1136,1134,1135],"class_list":["post-12228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-i","tag-bread","tag-cooking","tag-family-meals","tag-b","tag-healthy-eating","tag-healthy-meals","tag-meal-planning","tag-nutrition","tag-recipes","tag-san-franciso-sour-dough","tag-sour-dough","tag-starters","cat-790-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/reshweddings-160x240.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12228"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12240,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12228\/revisions\/12240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}