Sweet Bread Starter

[classicrockgriller]

Sweet Bread Starter

This is basically for mikeradio. After months of trying to figure out a way to get Mike some

Bread Starter, The CT express to Canada paved the way and Mike now has the starter in his possession.

I also wanted a complete photo reference thread for others that may get the starter so that

they have a place to go to that is complete with instruction and pictures. I don't have the skilled

ability to write beautiful verse, just a Texas red neck way of saying it, so if there is something you

don't understand then PM me.


Let's Make Some Bread

The nite before you want to make bread take your starter from the fridge.



The ingredients you will need to do the first mix on the starter is 1 1/2 cups of KA flour, 1/2 cup of Sugar, 1 cup of warm water.





In a LARGE plastic bowl pour the flour, sugar and give a stir, then pour in the starter.

Take the water and pour it in your starter jar and swirl it around to get everything that

was left behind after the pour. Take a big spoon and mix everything. Scrape the sides

and bottom as you stir. It should look like this.



The next part is important and is not really cut and dry. I'll tell you what I do. Remember

now, I live in Texas. And yes we have A/C. I have a place in my Kitchen that is draft free

and I place a towel on the counter, set my bowl and cover it with a towel. If you live in the

colder states then a good place might be the oven for the nite. Don't turn it on, just let the

starter rest there for the nite, covered. That is important. Let everthing rest over nite.

[classicrockgriller]

Making the Starter into Dough

The next morning your mixed up starter should look something like this.



Stir down the starter and at this point you need to take one cup and put it back in your jar.



The ingredients for the dough are: 1 1/2 cup of warm water, 1 ts of salt, 1/2 cup of corn oil,

1/2 cup of sugar, and 6 to 7 cups of bread flour. (I got tired of measuring flour by cups so I

coverted it to weight and I used 2lbs)





Grease your mixing bowl and dump the left over starter in it. (That is approx two cups of starter)



Take your warm water and put it in the bowl that held the starter and swirl it around to get

the rest of the starter and dump it in the mixer.



Pour in your corn oil



Pour in your sugar and salt



Gice it a quick stir with and big spoon and start adding your flour. I stir by hand till

all the flour is wet.





This will keep flour from flying out of your bowl when you turn on your mixer. Start your

mixer on slow and gradually increase your speed till everything from the sides and bottom

are mixed in.



Wash and dry the bowl that the starter rested in over nite and grease it down.



Plop your dough into the greased bowl.



Let it rest for a bit and then flip it over.



This is the starter I drew back to save. Notice the blue line is the cup mark. It has

grown in the time it took to mix up the dough. Place that in the fridge.



Place your bowl in your draft free area and cover it. It needs to set till it is about double in size. (2 to 4 hrs)

 

[classicrockgriller]

Kneading the Bread

Again, I am not a Baker but this is what I do and it works for me and this bread. To control my

mess I knead on a 1/2 sheet pan. I pour the risen dough on to a lightly flour sheet.



I cut it in half and work with half at a time. I put one half back in the bowl.



I then pull the dough width wise.



I press the dough down with the palms of my hand trying to maintain the square shape.



I fold one end over about 1/3 and press that down again.



I roll over the bottom to the top, lightly press it and I am ready to put my dough in baking pans.

[classicrockgriller]

Proofing your Dough

You have rolled out your dough and you have greased the pans that you will be baking yor bread

in. This will help you in your first time bread making decision. These are 3 3/4 oz rolls.



These are 2 1/2 oz rolls.



This is a loaf. I like to make sure it doesn't touch the sides or the ends.



Again, this gets covered in your draft free area and covered and allowed to rise. (2 to 4 hrs)





It doesn't have to be perfect and you will get better each time you bake Bread. I have given this

Bread to a lot of friends and Family, served it at big get togethers and I have never had someone

say that the bread was ugly but it sure tasted good. If it doesn't look good ... close your eyes when

you eat it.

[classicrockgriller]

Baking your Bread

All ovens are different so you may need to adjust your times depending on how your oven bakes.

Pre-heat your oven to 350*. I bake my rolls separate from the bread because I use a different time

for the two. Rolls are approx 24 to 26 minutes and loafs are 28 to 30 minutes. Adjust the time to

fit your oven and wants.











If you want a split loaf look, slice the top of your bread with a sharp knife about 1/4 inch deep right

before baking.



Some more baked Bread

[classicrockgriller]

General Infomation

Always protect your starter and maintain it. Every two weeks you have to make bread or go thru

the first step, take back your cup of starter and discard the rest.

Your starter should be housed in a jar with a tight fiting lid. That is important. The starter will grow

in the jar for 3 to 4 days and then start decreasing in size. If after a week or so and I haven't made

bread I give my starter jar a little swirl.

Like I said what you have left after taking back your cup of starter is two cups. That will make

enough dough to make 3 loafs or what you saw in the baking section or approx 40 small rolls.

This starter can be Frozen and that is a good way to save a back up in case something happens.

Just take the frozen starter and let it rest on the counter till it comes to room temp and then mix

like normal.

I've read where yeast (which this is a sweet yeast bread) will die at 130* so make sure you do not

expose your starter to high temp water. That is why I use around 120* water.

If you find that the amount of bread it makes is too much for your family, but you still want fresh

bread, then make you two 1/2 starters and use one each week. Just divide the recipe in half. Then

if you have some big planned you can combine the starters and when you take your cup back

split it into two starters again.

I'll be adding to this and adjusting it if and when I see a better way. If you don't understand

something or have a question, just PM me or most people I give this to I also send my phone

number. If for some reason I am not around anymore you can get some answers from BLSH.

He is an accomplished Baker and is always willing to help. He does not have this starter but

he understands it.

Last note for the time being. I am trying to keep up with where this starter goes, so if you give

some away and I hope you do, please pm me and let me know where it went. I don't need names

just the area it went to. Hope you enjoy it and share it with your Friends and Family

[TTNuge]

Even better and more informative than your last post on the subject!  Time to update the bookmark.  I already noticed a few things that we were doing "not quite right" that will hopefully help out in the future. 

Biggest issue/challenge we have yet is with the time leaving the dough to proof/rise and getting our timings down. 

I'm glad you included the weight of the flour you add, been meaning to ask for that as I want to go to the weight method as well.

[mikeradio]

Wow great job on the photo instructions.  Very helpfull

I am looking forward to baking my first batch this weekend 

Is your oven a convection oven?  Mine is so I am wondering if that will change the baking times.

[classicrockgriller]

Even better and more informative than your last post on the subject!  Time to update the bookmark.  I already noticed a few things that we were doing "not quite right" that will hopefully help out in the future. 

Biggest issue/challenge we have yet is with the time leaving the dough to proof/rise and getting our timings down. 

I'm glad you included the weight of the flour you add, been meaning to ask for that as I want to go to the weight method as well.

Hope it helps and like I said if you have a question on this starter just ask, call or PM me.

Wow great job on the photo instructions.  Very helpfull

I am looking forward to baking my first batch this weekend 

Is your oven a convection oven?  Mine is so I am wondering if that will change the baking times.

Mine is convection, but this is not in convection times. I haven't cook any bread on convection,

but from what I understand about it the times will be reduced by 30%.

[Quarlow]

Nice post Sonny. Very informative. Even I understand it a bit better now.

[Captainslug]

Wish I could get some of the starter.

[Quarlow]

Well Capt. you maybe in luck. I have the starter here in Vancouver and I have feed and split it into 2. I also may have transport for it to as far as Red Deer sometime this month. I think Oakville wanted some too but that won't be a problem cause every 2 weeks you feed this thing and if you don't use what is extra you now have another starter to pass on rather than discard.RossP is first inline here but he is on vacation and when he gets back he will be to busy with work so he won't be able to tend to it anyway. I can feed and split again for him.

[classicrockgriller]

Q, Think my brain was on vacation when you told me what you did.

(Divided the feed starter in half)

Actually a feed starter is three cups.

If you had a cup of starter and did the feeding according to the directions,

then the end results is 3 cups of starter.

May need to get the two starters back in a bowl, stir them and divide that into thirds.

[Quarlow]

I think my brain is starting to hurt. When I fed it I ended up with 2 jars with about 1 1/2 cups in them. At present those jars are full to the top and I hope they don't grow anymore. I have to run out for a while but I will chat with you about this later. May we can go to the chatroom.

[classicrockgriller]

I think my brain is starting to hurt. When I fed it I ended up with 2 jars with about 1 1/2 cups in them. At present those jars are full to the top and I hope they don't grow anymore. I have to run out for a while but I will chat with you about this later. May we can go to the chatroom.

Sounds good! it will be ok, we'll get it straighten out.