THE ZOURDOUGH COMMUNITY

I have recently been delighted to receive the "Black Death" starter from Zourdough and, I have to say, it is THE most active starter I've ever handled. It makes a loaf that is truly sour. I've bought sourdough bread from supermarkets before and wondered what the fuss was all about. I've made my own starters and wondered why the bread didn't taste particularly sour, but the loaves I made with Black Death, having left the levain in the fridge overnight, were really sour and it's that sourness that I'm after! I rehydrated the starter using stoneground wholemeal flour and then used strong white bread flour for the actual loaves. Although the dough is very active in the rising stages and easily fills the large bowl I am proving it in, I haven't yet managed to get a good oven spring so, on Chris's advice, I'm going to switch to using all purpose white flour to see what results are like with that. The doughs I have made are very wet and sticky and I have been using dough scrapers to lift and turn the dough, so I should have thought they were hydrated enough to spring in the oven. They certainly feel very lively and responsive to being manipulated. I have also put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven to create steam but that didn't help. If anybody else out there has had a similar experience I would be very interested to know if you've succeeded in getting a well-risen loaf and how you did it. One thing I do know for sure is that "Black Death" is doing its stuff with all it's lovely heart and soul. It's what I'm doing to it that I'm not so sure about. Incidentally, the loaves I've made, although fairly flat, make wonderful toast. I cut wide slices and then cut those slices through the middle and toast them - yum! With raw honey drizzled over, yum X 2. With my homemade marmalade spread over while the slices are still hot from the toaster, yum X 3. How am I going to resist buying another starter like the San Francisco one, for example? That's a tough one that is! I'll run out of storage space, that's for sure . . . just have to buy a bigger house 🤔😟. . . ! Best wishes to all contributors to the Zourdough Community from Guildford, Surrey, England 😊

on the morning when you get up... take the one cup of starter and put into a bowl, add 1 TB sugar and 3 tsp xanthan gum, mix well and put into a 100%oven for a while, how long? until your ready to make the bread...the yeasties are multiplying fast, eating on the sugar.. Now, when ready, put the mixture into your kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook... add 2 whole eggs 2tsp real salt, not that sea salt crap, you can if you want, but then you die because you don't get iodine which the human body needs...and I believe regular salt adds better flavor. add 1/2 tsp creme of tarter...i have no idea why, but it works. add 1/2 cube of real butter, ..melt it first mix it all in the mixer now start adding g.f. flour 1/2 cup at a time and use a rubber spatula CAREFULLY to scrape down the sides to get it to mix. MIX A LOT I ended up using 1 1/2 cups flour and a few more tablespoons.. you want to mix A LOT... you want the dough to be not to wet and not to dry...you want a dough ball that kinda holds form...THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM A NORMAL BREAD DOUGH BALL....this should look like cookie dough....it is a wet dough ball, you want to take out a tablespoon or so and in oiled hands make a ball and put it on the counter, does it hold shape,,,,its ready,,,if it flattens a lot, it needs more flour.....be careful, too much flour and you will bake a brick.. ok, now get a bowl and put some olive oil in it and swirl the oil around... take the dough out of the mixer with oiled hands and split in two, massage one of the halves to make a SMOOTH round ball looking loaf, work it, push it, to make it smooth, roll this in the oiled bowl and then place on an oiled cookie sheet...do the same for the second ball..the secret here is to keep working the balls to make them smooth all around......oil them up good.... now, flatten the balls down to spread them out and make them look like round loaves...flattened.....flatten them down to about 1 inch thick and looking like a thick pancake... cover them with a plastic wrap, like cling wrap and put them into a 100% oven for 1 RISE ONLY, this took 5 hours for mine..... do not punch down the loaves.....This is a big difference than traditional bread making, where you let the bread rise and then punch it down and let it rise again.....in traditional bread making, this process develops the gluten and spreads it around.....we don't have gluten so the punch down is not needed or wanted.... watch your loaves and do not let them dry out, keep them oiled, g.f. flour dries out a lot quicker than normal flour, we need it to stay moist so that it can stretch.. when you feel they have risen as much as they can, take them out of the oven.. raise the oven temperature to 375% you can very gently make a slice in the top of the loaves before baking, do this with a sharp, wet knife, this makes a cool design. then bake the loaves checking at 15 minute intervals for doneness..watch the color, you want light brown and a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom of the loaves....this may take 20-25 minutes or just 15 minutes.. I spray the loaves with olive oil again when I take them out of the oven.. cool and eat.. This is a basic recipe that makes a great loaf of g.f. bread.....you want to make it awesome, before baking, baste the top of the bread with melted salted butter.... Cheers, Chris