Cooking Cheap

Reflection Alert!

Quite a lot has been accomplished in one week of sourdough starter experiments. I have three frothy starters and the one I expected to perform least well (#2), did fine. Completely usable. It may never develop the taste one hopes for, too soon to make that call. It did make two loaves of “naturally” leavened bread, 7 days after it was started.

Starter #1 has enjoyed it’s first feed using water instead of milk. It’s perfume may change to be different from #2 but I have no doubt it will be a dependable starter even though it started with politically incorrect commercial yeast, the dominant critters and their byproducts will change over time depending on what I feed it. I’ll bake with it next in a few days after several more feedings using water.

Starter #1 and #2 which are very similar to the starter Chris gave me a few years ago in the smell test and in working with the sponge and dough of #2 I was reminded of the memories of the errors I’d made then. Not soon enough to prevent the errors this time, maybe this time the knowledge will stick. I expect #1 will be similar enough in flavor and handling to make a nice loaf next time. I suspect #1 may not handle three rises. It has a tendency to fall back, In my observations.

Starter #3. The one made of very old rye flour and just as old whole wheat flour and water and nothing else. It’s happy with it’s last feeding too and it’s starting to develop it’s own sour. Just hints. It mostly smells like alcohol and whole wheat flour paste but the smell has changed quite a lot in the last few days. It’s developing a flavor of its own. That reads like it’s a gruesome smell. It isn’t (compared to sticking your face in the top of other sourdough starters — don’t do that at home — waft it. You want to smell it, not breath it.) #3 is different but it’s young. Yet their is a hint of the sour, its feeding profile is different, it takes longer to get to froth. Not a bad thing for my schedule if that turns out to be the case after many feedings and uses.

Under the category of things I learned before: Feed before use. And after. Take it out of the fridge. Stir and mix it up and remove what the recipe calls for. Throw that away. Add that amount of flour and liquid and let it get frothy (how many hours depends on your starter but four hours is a decent starting point. Once it gets frothy, then make your sponge and feed the starter, let the starter eat its dinner on the counter while the sponge forms. In the morning, put the starter back in the fridge and use the sponge to make bread.

Yes, its wastes a cup of goo. You can and will be making more. There are other ways. Some people start with a few table spoons of starter and feed that every few hours to make a sponge (similar to what professional bakers do, so I’m told). The point is the starter has to be “a rocking” before you make a sponge. There’s a lot of folk lore in the care of starters. Pick a path that fits your baking habits and follow it.

Quoting from the Sourdough FAQ:

To put it all together: Take 1/2 cup flour (preferably whole meal rye), mix to paste with 1/4 cup water in a 1 cup size container. Cover and leave for 24 hours at 70 - 80F. Throw away half of the mixture, and refresh with another 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water, cover and leave for 24 hours as before. Repeat. By now, the starter should show bubbles. If using rye, start using regular white flour after the third or fourth feed. Now you have a starter which you keep alive indefinitely by regular feeding.

Why not? I actually have some rye flour in the fridge that is well past it’s prime for baking. I even have an unopened bottle of distilled water stored in the garage. Why I have the water, I don’t remember. Y2K maybe?

First problem. 1/4 cup of water is not even close to saturating a 1/2 C of rye flour into paste. I used equal amounts and I don’t think that is enough water but I’ll wait for while. I’ll need to buy some more rye flour tomorrow but that’s OK, fresh rye flour would be a fine reason to make pastrami in the smoker.

[Day 1] - Three mega marts and no rye flour to be found. I’m most pleased. I also have some old whole wheat flour which is supposed to be second choice to get a starter going so I replaced/refreshed with a mix of rye and whole whole wheat. I did a lot interent reading and this is the method used by those claiming to build their own starters. I didn’t see any bubbling in the starter but it’s early.

[Day 2] - We got a froth. I replaced half as instructed although I used white flour. The smell is interesting. Not unpleasant but different.

[Day 3] - No froth. This is a disappointment. I removed half, added the suggested amounts of whole wheat on the theory it might like that better.

[Day 4] - No froth. No hootch. There might have been some bubbles. Replaced half with whole wheat bread flour and water. As might be expected a lot of the smell from the rye is gone.

[Day 5] - It frothed overnight. Yay! Replaced half with whole wheat flour and water. Will start feeding (not replace) with white flour tomorrow and transfer to a larger container if it froths tonight.

[Day 6] - Replaced half with white flour. Decent smell.

[Day 7] - Added (not replaced) 1 cup of flour, and eyeballed amounts of water. Moved it all to a larger jar. It bubbled nicely so I used a half cup (half recipe) to make a sponge]

[Day 8] - Made bread
I tried the folding method of rising/kneading and I must have done something wrong. There was plenty of gas in there. After the second fold, the dough actually split open on the rise. I shaped as best I could but after the two hour final rise it has split in lots of places and it was still soft, too soft. So I reshaped it. It split again and it’s about out of poof (see below). I’ll bake to see what happens and to get a hint of the taste. I might let it rise even longer just to see what happens

I’m not sure yet what I did wrong. I only made a half recipe (1 loaf) and I have a suspicion that may be part of the problem. It was a dryer mix, too. Oh well, I can get a test in on the parchment and a higher oven and and and. There are things to like, It’s in the oven and after 6 hours of various rises, there are things to like.

It supports itselt in a boule shape with the caveats above even after (even after until I reshaped it and went for the unplanned triple rise .That suggests strength and forgivness. It’s one of most ugly loaves I’ve ever made.

Contrast that with the loaf I made the next day,

Same recipe. Same starter. The much larger loaf was kneaded by hand in the the traditional manner.

[8/5/05] The starters been in the fridge for half a week. I took it out yesterday and let it warm up. Removed a cup to make a sponge and fed the starter. I left the starter and the sponge on the counter overnight. Neither one appeared to have foamed up. They bubbled but they weren’t vigourous. Tossed the sponge, I may have mixed up my recipe reduction, too much water me thinks. I replaced a half cup of the starter. If it gets active, I’ll make another sponge. It smells very good, but there was no hootch layer after sitting for many days. I don’t know if thats a good thing or a bad thing.

[8/6/05] Made some half decent bread. I baked these on a sheet pan on top of the tile. 450, 30 minutes. Half of the “standard” 8 cup recipe (or 2 cups of flour) for each of the loaves below. Cut each in half, and it’s the right size for a big sandwich.

From Sunset Magazine, 1973, 87 (shortened by yours truly). I’ll let you know how well it works.

Heat 1 Cup non fat, low fat or whole milk to 90F to 100F( non fat milk gives the most tang) Remove from heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of plain active low fat yogurt. Pour into container, cover tightly and let stand in an 80F to 100F place. (I have a problem) After 18-24 hours, starter should have the consistency of yogurt (because it is yogurt?) a curd will form and the mixture won’t flow when the container is tilted. If a clear liquid forms on the top, stir it back in. If the liquid is pink, start over.

After a curd has formed, gradually still in 1 cup all-purpose flour until smoothly blended. Cover, put in the 80F-100F place for 2 to 5 days until bubbly and sour. Stir in any clear liquid that forms on the top. Throw it out if it’s a pink liquid.

[My Notes]
Where’s the yeast? In the bread flour? In the air when you open it to stir it up? I’ll give it a shot.

[End Day 1] - it’s forming curds, loose curds but curds. I wasn’t picky about the temperature. Room temp in summer is around 80 (think air conditioner), Night time is lower with all the windows open. Added the flour,

[Day 2] - A little websurfing finds a followup Sunset article. They now add yeast to the to the sponge or dough which suggests that their yogurt and flour doesn’t leaven very reliably. I’m not whining yet but Sunset Mag will publish some pretty absurd recipes which is why I’m not subscriber anymore.

[Day 3] - No bubbles for me today. I stirred a little bit of very clear liquid back in.

[Day 4] - I have bubbles but it hasn’t frothed.

[Day 5] - No froth from day 4. I removed a Cup and replaced it with I cup and roughly two thirds Cup milk. A half hour later, its rocking. 4 hours later. this starter could have legs.

[Day 6] - No hootch, still bubbles. This one is almost ready for a test. There is a lot of goo in the jar so we are creating more goo than we remove. I covered the jar with plastic wrap instead of the canning jar lid. I’m a little worried it might blow out the top.

I removed a cup about midnight (it was charging full bore) and made a sponge for baking tomorrow. I put the starter in the fridge (no feeding to replace what I took — there was plenty.

[Day 7, July 23, 2005] — By noon the sponge was fully formed. It’s not the starters fault that I didn’t knead it enough but the dough felt right although there was another cup of flour to add, but I stopped and let it rise for two hours. Divided the dough and realized I should have kneaded longer. Oh well. There was no way it was going to form a boule so I tried a french bread shape. The other half I let rise in the bowl. After an hour rise, I baked the bread at 400 on the baking stone (forgot to glaze the loaf, that’s why it’s so pale). While it baked I formed the second loaf and it felt like a better dough and it held it’s shape well for the third rise. Sadly, I let it rise on the same piece of cardboard as the first loaf and there was enough moisture to make it impossible to get off the cardboard onto the stone. Whether moisture came from the third rise breaking down, I don’t know. It looks OK.

The starter on Full Bore Froth:

Loaf Number Two:

I got this from “The Bread Bible”, Beth Henspergers, , 1999. I don’t know how good it is yet so see my comments. First the recipe for “Classic Sourdough Starter”:

• 2 Cup lukewarm water (90F to 100F)
• 1 tsp active dry yeast or 1/2 tsp instant yeast or 1/3 of a .06 oz cake of fresh yeast.
• 1 Tbl of sugar or honey
• 1/4 Cup of non fat dry milk, dry goat milk, of buttermilk powder
• 1/3 Cup plain (active) yogurt
• 2 Cups bread flour

1. Pour the warm water into a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast, sugar, and milk powder over the surface of the warm water. Stir with a large whisk to dissolve. Stir in the yogurt, then add the flour and and beat until will blended. Transfer to a glass jar, ceramic crock, or plastic container; cover loosely with plastic wrap or a double thickness of cheesecloth and let stand at warm room temperature for at least 48 hours, whisking the mixture 2 times a day, or up to 4 days depending on how sour you wish the starter. It will be bubbly and begin to ferment. A clear liquid will form on the top; stir it back in. On the fourth day, feed with 1/4 Cup water and 1/3 cup flour, let stand overnight. then store in the refigerator, loosely covered. Feed the starter every two weeks.
2. Bring to room temperature before using. Remove the amount of starter needed for the sourdough bread. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup non fat milk to the remaining starter, stirring to incorporate. Let stand at room temperature for a day to begin fermentation again then refrigerate. The starter improves with age. If a pinkish color or strong aroma develops, indicating undesirable airborne pathogens, discard immediately and start anew

I like that it starts with both yogurt and yeast. With that amount of yeast and sugar, It was frothy in hours. Not so much a few days later.

[Day 2] - A lot of liguid on the top. I stirred it in. It has a bit of a sour smell.

[Day 3] - Repeat day 2. After reading various websites, I really want to refresh this one but I’ll wait for the full 4 days]

[Day 4] - I followed the instructions. Added the 1/3 cup flour but I left out the water since it’s really soupy in there.

[Day 5] - nothing happened to the flour that I added yesterday. I replaced a cup with a cup and half cup of milk. Per intructions. 30 Minutes later - it’s going like a rocket ship. That suggests maybe it needs the liquid (milk) to keep the culture going..

It fell back an hour later and recovered two hours later. That suggests two yeasts are in the culture, the fast one and the long one. It’s not as sour as I thinl it should be and I wonder about the need foi non fat milk. I may wean this one away to using water.

[Day 6] - No hootch separation. Decent smell. I fed it the milk and flour but I removed a bit more than I put back in. Assuming both this and #2 accept their feedings I’ll starting weaning this one water instead of milk.

[Day 7] - Removed a cup (or more) and replace with a cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water, roughly. I add liquid until it’s the consistency I think it should be. It’s definitely eating the feed.

[Day 8] - Replace a cup with flour and water.

What would be a good summer hobby? Particularly if you shouldn’t be typing on the computer. Stay out of the sun, minimal typing. Yes, wine making would be good to it’s too early to harvest grapes. Beer? Brewing was fun but its a whole lot of work to make a whole lot something that might not work and you have to wait. a long time to learn the lesson. I’ve got a wait tolerance (aka feedback horizon) of two days, it better get interesting after two days. Wine takes months, beer takes weeks. Of course, BBQ and bread making! They both take days, but not too many days.

Bread takes one or two days. It’s a butt load of clean up but that helps pass the time of fermenting, rising, and cooking and its gives me something to type about. At the Cooking Cheap HQ, I’ve made enough bread to actually know just enough to not kill myself and the result is usually pretty OK and sometimes it’s very very good.

I happen to have an old Wel-Bilt ™ bread machine and it doesn’t bother me a bit to use it if I think it’s going to be easier. I’ve got an ancient Kenwood (aka Sears) stand mixer. These are labor saving devices and they should be used with appropriate expectations. It’s more usefull to make something good without them, then you will know enough to use them for their intended shortcut. Emril says “baking requires formulas” and that’s mostly true which is why bread machines work at all. It’s also a long way from reality.

Flour and yeast fits the “cheap” part of our theme. Now to make if “Eats”. Really good bread, is not easy unless you live in a third world country with brick lined wood fired ovens and use a starter that goes back for thousands of years or you live next to a craft bakery that charges %3.50 a loaf that goes bad half a day later. Then, you might think about making your own. That’s actually the nature of the bread and not the baker(y) misdeed.. What if we could turn out almost as good a loaf for whole lot less that. It’ll still go bad if you don’t learn how to freeze it and reheat it

I like my neighborhood bakery and they deserve every penny they can squeeze out of the upwardly mobile, but if you have some time and a need for “Cheap Eats”. Let’s bake some bread. I’m not going to worry about publishing someone else’s recipe and copyrights. I’ll give credit if I find it, but there’s only so many ways to combine flour, water, rising agent and seasonings. With that few ingredients, its not a formula that separates the good loaf from the serviceable, it is skill and the mysterious “feel” and the “feel” is easier to learn than you think. Right now at this very moment, millions, maybe billions of bakers are making bread. This seems like something we could learn. So make that millions plus me and you..

If you just happen onto this post and you know how to make bread then you should find someone to help them in baking. I don’t know about the thousand fishes miracle but everyone can learn to bake bread. Learning to fish is not that hard either but I don’t care for fish.

Remember, it’s Cooking Cheap. It’s not about the best you can buy, it’s about what you can do with what you have or can barely afford. Just like your grandmother did. My grandmothers didn’t teach me to cook. Mom tries to help me but I don’t remember what she shows me– perhaps I just can’t be taught.. Then again I might be able to figure it out if I do it enough.

Part Two of the Introduction is about equipment and ingredieants. You need them. Fortunately neither of us is good enough yet to get all “organic”. But we do need to pay attention to detals. I want sourdough bread and you need a “starter” and that takes 2 to 6 days. I’ll make that first and then get to talking about what I know about ingredients and equipment.

This smoke is going to go longer than I planned. No big deal since It’s just dinner for me. The mega mart had half of rack of pork spareribs, the big end with the flap and the chine bone. About 6 bones wide.. I rubbed them down last night. I Fired up the charcoal at 4:00 PM and the smoker was running 259 on the grate. I did not expect that high a temperature. I put the candy thermometer in the top vent and it reads 245. Odd difference, but it’s only BBQ. I Closed the bottom vents, put the meat on. The grate temperature has been 224-233 . I was planning to take them off at 9:00PM but that time has past. Another flashlight cooking session.

I made the BBQ beans and baked some white bread yesterday so there’s not much to do while waiting. So I cruised the BBQ message boards and the internet opinion is that spares take longer than baby backs and it doesn’t matter whether it’s 4 pounds or 20 pounds. Which make sense but my brain isn’t wired to accept that. Small amounts should could cook quicker than large ones, right? A resounding maybe not! It’s a matter of surface area and density if the heat is constant. The ratio of meat area and meat density a consistent heated air for a half rack of ribs is close to the same as say four full racks since the air volume is kind of almost infinite. Obviously one pound will cook faster than 20 lbs cook (in 1/20th the time)

Just for fun and because the price was right, I tried smoking corn on the cobb. Two ears, two ways. Pull the husk back, remove the silk and tie the husks back together at the top. Second way is to remove the husk and silk, rub the cob in a bit of olive oil. I’ll bet either way is tasty and I’ll find out if there is a difference. Time to baste the ribs and check on the corn. Oh, my. I’m going to miss 10:00 PM too.

[Results] The naked corn, the one with out the husk was serious over cooked. The one with the husks was tender and had just the right amount of smoke flavor made it way past the husks. Now I know.