i am learning this! i realize now that my sourdough experiment last week had a few problems (due to my noobness, mostly):
1) it was too fresh a starter; not active enough
2) i used the wrong kind of flour - potato flour doesn't make good sourdough starter, though it theoretically would make good sourdough BREAD used in the actual recipe
3) not sure about milk.
the first bread was fishy-tasting, though the biscuits were ok, if dense. for the past several days i've been transitioning the original starter into a traditional flour/water deal with each feeding, and it's MUCH better! i mixed up this recipe yesterday morning, proofed the sponge all day, made the dough and proofed it over night, then shaped and proofed again all day today for baking this evening and yumyumyum it's awesome sourdough! goes superbly with my homemade yogurt cheese :)
note that the recipe says to proof 1-2 hours, while my bread took more like 12 to rise; which is not atypical for sourdough. longer is better from what i understand, as long as it doesn't expend all the gas bubbles and start to deflate.
second recipe was for sourdough pancakes... these are the best, fluffiest pancakes i have ever made. i fail miserably at pancakes unless they are boxed, so i am really excited to have an easy recipe on-hand to use up all this starter :)
1) it was too fresh a starter; not active enough
2) i used the wrong kind of flour - potato flour doesn't make good sourdough starter, though it theoretically would make good sourdough BREAD used in the actual recipe
3) not sure about milk.
the first bread was fishy-tasting, though the biscuits were ok, if dense. for the past several days i've been transitioning the original starter into a traditional flour/water deal with each feeding, and it's MUCH better! i mixed up this recipe yesterday morning, proofed the sponge all day, made the dough and proofed it over night, then shaped and proofed again all day today for baking this evening and yumyumyum it's awesome sourdough! goes superbly with my homemade yogurt cheese :)
note that the recipe says to proof 1-2 hours, while my bread took more like 12 to rise; which is not atypical for sourdough. longer is better from what i understand, as long as it doesn't expend all the gas bubbles and start to deflate.
second recipe was for sourdough pancakes... these are the best, fluffiest pancakes i have ever made. i fail miserably at pancakes unless they are boxed, so i am really excited to have an easy recipe on-hand to use up all this starter :)
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