Dear Rose,
I've been following your sourdough starter instructions. Everything was looking fine until "Day 6". I misread your instructions and simply added 1/2 c of flour and 1/4 c of water without throwing of half first. Have I ruined the starter?

What should I do next in order to prepare it for baking?

Thanks,
Gilya

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Louise, Was the article about the Butter in the March issue? For some reason I have not received it yet in the mail. Thanks, roseanna

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Louise, I'm assuming you haven't tried yours yet? The best thing to do is to bake a couple of breads from the BB that recommend using la cloche, and then you will get a sense of what it does to the bread. In my experience, the crumb seems a little moister and the crust seems chewier--which is certainly delicious, but something you might not want for every bread.

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I guess I need to understand what the cloche does. Why would you want to use a cloche rather than just baking on the stone? So it can be used for sour dough? Any insight would be appreciated. thanks, Louise

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Thank you Matthew for the input on the rye starter !
Kathy

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I am not clear on when to use the Cloche. I appears it is mostly for the hearth breads. What about using them for the sour dough breads like rye or pumpernickel? Louise

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Simply use rye flour for all feedings. I had a rye starter for a while. It is VERY potent and sour. Use with discretion! I would not use coarse rye meal. Stick with medium rye flour.

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Hi,
I'm looking for a rye starter recipe. My German friends are coming for a visist and they were kind enough to translate their recipe for "Karolines Healthiest Sourdough Bread" which is this incredible dense nutty bread that I ate at their home this summer. They grind their own rye and wheat berries !
They did not include the starter recipe which they told me is a rye starter.
If anyone can help me I would appreciate it!
Thanks
Kathy

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Hector, Yes I do have the Bread Bible! It is truly one of my favorites of all Rose's books (I have them all!) and from where my starter was "birthed". She is such an inspiration to all of us who have such a passion for all things baking as well as a passion to go beyond putting a recipe together; to understand not only the how but the why--I love that and have learned so much from her. And now thanks to her blog, I am learning even more from her fellow baking buddies!

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Mattie, you are my favorite friend! as I say.

Do you have The Bread Bible? It is worth its weight in gold, plus so interesting and entertaining to read.

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Hector, thank you! I will give that a try. May I add that I always enjoy the photos you post of your work, be it bread, cakes, whatever! Works of art! Thank you for the suggestion.

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Mattie, I have been keeping 125 grams without any problems. 50 gram week old starter, 50 gr flour, 25 gr water.

Just this year, I've been keeping more than that but I must share a warning: be sure to use a container that is safe enough so it won't explode. Plastic is normally not an issue, but I prefer to store in a glass jar. Small glass jars are much stronger compared to bigger ones (physics really), so if you only keep 125 grams it will be unlikelly to explode a glass jar, but for larger amounts, the pressure is higher and the vessel weaker, you don't want to find a dangerous mess after 1 week.

I never screw tight the lids, but I do screw them, then I overlay a plastic wraap on it.

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I recall reading that some of you keep a larger than usual amount of sourdough starter, I believe 100 g vs. 50 g. Can you explain what you discard & what amount you feed when feeding weekly? I need to refurbish my sluggish starter and like the idea of keeping more than 50 g on hand. Thank you!

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agreed, the texture was feathery and not spongy or wet. Basic Heart Bread recipe seems very similar to Basic Sourdough Bread, so I am thinking on departing the second for the first.

Luca used Gold Medal bread flour, the bag is yellow, 5 lb or 10 lb. I think it is the best for bread one.

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The crust is exceptionally beautiful! He seems to have a natural talent for bread.

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Luca made Basic Heart Bread, first attempt, and replacing the commercial yeast with starter! I am so proud....... you won't believe.

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I had a dinner party tonight and made the sour dough bread, the 5-minute pumpernickel bread, the lemon poppy pound cake and the chocolate oblivion torte – also a key lime pie and fresh whip cream (We also had main courses etc – but they were not as interesting) Everything was fantastic – but there is one thing that I am surprised is not blogged about too much and that it BUTTER. I made butter using mostly Rose’s recipe – with a few nuances from this month’s Saveur which was all about butter. I had forgotten how great – and light – home made butter is. For those of us who love bread, how can we forget butter? If we spend so much time feeding our starter and watching the dough rise I would think we would want to spend 10 minutes making butter. Bye the way, all the time and energy feeding the starter was well worth it – that sour dough bread was outrageous! Louise

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Has anyone had success with making sourdough bread from a sluggish starter? It took my "Step 1" for the BB basic sourdough 24 hours before doubling! Not one to waste and always up for an experiment of sorts, I went ahead with step 2 of expanding my starter. After 8 hours it has risen from 1-1/2 cups to 2 (I doubled the recipe to make one large loaf) The starter has such a delicious fragrance I hate to throw it away! But I don't want to be foolish. Am I being foolish by pressing on anyway? The starter is from the BB and is approximately 1 year old. It has always been sluggish, but it has also been a very long time since I have made true sourdough bread. I have been faithful feeding it, though. Also, it is a stiff starter. Any comments, suggestions? Thanks!

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Louise, I don't see why not, and that is going to be one of my projects!

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Could sour dough be made in a baguette pan to keep its torpedo shape? Louise

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I should add that the main reason the banneton is used is because the dough is so sticky that it would just spread out and not hold its shape without one. If you want to make a torpedo shape and don't want to buy the banneton, you will have to lower the hydration so the bread can hold its shape.

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There are torpedo shaped bannetons as well as round bannetons.

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Can the basic sour dough bread be made in the torpedo shape? Do you recommend it? If so, how do you do the last rise which would have been in the banneton? I read in the BB that the banneton is used because the dough needs air in the final rising. How do you accomplish this if using the torpedo shape? Thanks, Louise

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Louise, see the denser pumpernickel variation on page 333 and the walnut onion bread on page 421 for information on your questions.

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I just re-read the directions for adding raisins to the pumpnickel and it says to roll it out, add the raisins, roll it up and then knead alittle. So, I assume the same will work for the onions. Has anyone tried this with onions?
I still have the question about using whole wheat instead of all purpose flour.
I am doubling the recipe and making 1/2 as a loaf of bread and 1/2 as bagels - humm... , can not wait for the smells in my house!
thanks, Louise

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I am making the sour dough pumpernickel tomorrow - I just did the first sourdough refresh. I have 2 questions.
1. Can I use whole wheat in place of the bread flour? If so, any adjustments?
2. I love onion pumpernickel. Anyone have a suggestion on how to make and add the onions? I am thinking of doing it like I how I do the everthing bagels. I added dehyrated onions to the minced garlic in oil. But this time I would do more onion that garlic and leave out the rest of the everthing (the seeds and salt). Then I would kind of roll out the dough before the last rise and spead the onion mixture and roll it up. Will that deflate the dough too much? I could follow the directions for adding raisins, but just add the onions. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Louise

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Rose,
I created a sourdough starter about 2 weeks ago by following the directions in your book. In your book, you say that the starter should take around 6-8 hours to double, however, mine is doubling within 45 minutes to an hour! Is this a good thing, or could there be some type of unfavorable bacteria causing the excess activity?

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I been trying to make ciabatta bread for weeks and it just don't come out right. I bread does not enough large holds and this crust is not hard. can you help me.
I use very slack dough, cook on a stone and i use a couch. HELP

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I rose just discovered your web site when looking for a good kitchen scale. I just purchased a bread machine and looking for good tips and recipes-any suggestions?

Thanks

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