Homemade sourdough
 

Anyone else doing it? Getting the starter done was an exercise in patience but after 10 days, it finally blew.

I used a simple/lazy bread recipe that made a fantastic loaf without a lot of fiddling. Less kneading meant a less open crumb, but a fair tradeoff. Fresh sourdough is amazing!


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I had some cultures from here: https://sourdo.com/

Ed was a pathologist working in Saudi Arabia and started collecting some of the oldest cultures in the world. I had the original San Francisco culture and the Austrian culture from a bakery that opened in 1795.

Growing up in the Bay Area I was always a fanatic for good sourdough. A slice of Extra Sourdough with some hard chilled butter is still one of my favorite things.

Do you have a recommendation?

My extended family are all from the Bay Area and NorCal so sourdough was a religion.

Where are you from?

Thanks, OP!

This one: https://sourdo.com/product/original-san-francisco-culture/

And this one is extra sour: https://sourdo.com/product/austria-culture/

I grew up in Oakland and Castro Valley. In CV we had a Columbo and Francisco's bakery up the street and would get fresh baked or day old bread.

Lots of memories going to Fisherman's Wharf, GG Park and Kezar and Warren for football. Those were the days of Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie, Daryl Lamonica and George Blanda!

Perfect, thanks.

My Dad was from Castro Valley (I think we wrote about this years ago)...4th house built on Lamson (sp) Road.

This is it, 1938:

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Thank god I'm not the only sourdough fiend out there. When I lived in the bay area, markets sold Parisian loafs half baked. Pop them in the oven 10 minutes and you had fresh hot awesome bread. When Costco sold La Brea sourdough I know I'm not the only one who brought butter and would buy the bread right out the oven and eat it in the parking lot.

My Dad had a "starter" he would make sourdough pancakes with. My Mom, who was a great cook, even knew enough to step aside. The whole kitchen smelled like heaven.

I ordered what Craigster recommended as a present for my wife for Thanksgiving.

What a great husband I am:D

Good job Paul! I was going to order more as mine got thrown out by mistake when we moved. Here's the activation instructions. You need to start at 80-90 degrees to get the culture going. I did this with a Styrofoam cooler and an incandescent bulb (a regular light bulb for you youngsters out there). Good luck!

https://sourdo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Activaction_Instructions_English.pdf

I always liked salt rising bread.....has a bit of a smell when toasted but a wonderful taste.

But I do love a thick crust sour dough. Especially dipped in a tomato based cioppino.

salt rising bread for me, too

A question re starters/cultures - do the starters ordered from other places eventually acclimate to the yeasts in your area and change flavors or will they retain their original flavors?

They will be eventually taken over by the prevalent yeasts...

Every time you divide and feed your starter, you are exposing it to local yeasts..

So yes that San Francisco starter culture you bought, will eventually be a small fraction o your starter...

Just make your own... 50/50 flour/water... by mass ... enjoy your terroir..


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That's exactly the way I like it. Cold butter. One of life's pleasures.

I grew up in the Bay Area and one of my favorite family memories was taking day trip picnics to Point Lobos there on the water. We'd stop at a Mediterranean market in Carmel and pickup sourdough and some dried sausage of some kind. It was so good. I'm not sure that market is there anymore, but I haven't been there in years.

I've been cooking sourdough here for a couple of years. I get good quality loaves, but not as sour as I would like. I guess the local yeast here don't lend themselves to that truly sour flavor.

Another great item for baking and Christmas gift is a pastry board.

If your counter space is limited or you don’t want flour all over the place, they work great.

My Wife is German and they’re popular in Europe.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/853874333/made-to-order-cherry-wood-bread-pastry?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&g a_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pastry+board&r ef=sr_gallery-1-12&organic_search_click=1&pro=1&frs=1

My sister down in Perth cooks sourdough all the time during the winter time. Always sending me these pictures of what is coming out of her oven.

I hate you guys.

Me too - jealousy is a strong trait in me when it comes to making sourdough. it doesn't work around here. I tried again a few weeks ago and nothing.

Sour dough bread has been my wife’s covid diversion. Somehow I managed to keep her starter alive while she was out of town for 6 weeks. And somehow we’ve managed not to gain tons of weight.

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Showoff.

Bill - are you having trouble with the starter or baking the bread? I tried and failed growing a starter earlier in the year. New one is working well.