How to Make Sourdough Bread and English Muffins

Written by Sun Dahlfred on .

Soudough: Perfectly Healthy Bread

The starter info is elaborate. I personally followed another method and used only rye flour for the whole seven days-- adding a cup each of flour and water. It worked eventually but I had a massive amount of starter. I think you should try to use the method mentioned below instead:

Day 1: Mix 1/4 c water to 1/2 c rye flour and cover with cloth.
Day 2:  Repeat and add to the previous starter.
Day 3-7: Discard half of the previous starter, and mix in 1/4 c water and 1/2 c rye.
Once you see that the starter doubles in size after Day7, then the starter is mature enough to be used in your recipes.

I currently store a cup of starter in my fridge and take it out once a week to feed (adding 1/2 cup rye flour and 1/2 cup water to double) in the morning and store half a cup of the new starter mix in the fridge. Then, take the remainder 1.5 cup and cover it up with a cloth and a lid till the afternoon, at which time I make the English muffin dough, and then finish the rise and griddle the next day . They are delicious! We eat them with pork patties on burger nights.

Starting a sourdough starter
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=startermyway2

Maintaining a starter
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=maintainingastarter

Sourdough English muffin recipe
http://gnowfglins.com/2010/03/31/guest-post-sourdough-english-muffins/

For the muffins, I find that if I double the recipe and use only 1.25 cup of yogurt/milk, the dough is easier to shape the next day. I find that if the dough is sticky to the hand when mixing and not too soupy, then it will rise better too. When I triple the recipe, I just add a little extra water to get a sticky consistency. The baking soda added the next day will make the dough even mushier.

There are lots of other sourdough recipes out there. Once you get a starter going, you can make all sorts of things, like pancakes --> http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/12/basic-fluffy-pancakes-sourdough/


Benefits

http://realfoodforager.com/5-reasons-to-make-sourdough-your-only-bread/

  • Increases beneficial lactic acid to breakdown phytic acids which are in grains and nuts and which prevent the uptake of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
  • Predigestion of starches makes it easier to digest
  • Breakdown of gluten, so that even gluten-intolerant people can usually eat it without problems. See blog http://www.wholeliving.com/183942/our-daily-bread
  • Natural preservative: It doesn’t get moldy for a week outside of the fridge when handled properly.
  • Better blood glucose regulation
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