Yesterday’s diary dealt with obtaining and maintaining a sourdough starter, with a few odd recipes thrown in. Today’s diary gets to the heart of sourdough – sourdough bread. Although I give recipes, I encourage experimentation - as long as you get the proportions of flour, water and salt basically right, you can add a lot of other ingredients to tailor your bread to your tastes.
Sourdough breads generally have better texture, more complex flavor (though usually not sour) and keep better than nonsourdough breads. There are tricks to make a commercial yeast bread more like sourdough, using a commercial yeast pre-ferment usually called a biga, poolish, or a sponge. Pre-ferments can help, but the ultimate pre-ferment is the real thing: sourdough starter.
A (somewhat) dirty little secret - you can add small amounts of commercial yeast to your sourdough bread if you are worried about the bread rising, or if you need to speed up the process. As long the amount is small, say 1/2 teaspoon yeast per 2 to 3 cups of flour, you will still get the benefits of the sourdough taste and texture.
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