The Dough Also Rises

As some of you may remember, several months ago I made my first sour dough starter. From that starter, I have embarked on a tasty journey in bread making. During that journey, I have learned a few valuable lessons which I would like to share with you today. To assist those who may stumble upon my original article, I will also be linking this article to my original posting of Baking with Your Sourdough Starter.

When I first began making bread many years ago, I did it the old-fashioned way and kneaded it by hand. I read that by using this method, it was almost impossible to over-knead your dough. Well, I erroneously carried that belief over to how I prepared my dough using a machine. Once the dough came together, I would let the machine knead the dough for an additional five minutes or more and guess what, I consistently ended-up with a dough that rose very little. Yes, the bread was still very good, but it was not as light and fluffy as I wanted it to be.

The result: I only use the machine until the dough is completely mixed and then I let the machine go for maybe another 30-45 seconds. After that, I shape it into a ball and let it go for its first rise. It took quite some time and research for me to discover this little secret, but since I have started doing this, my dough has not failed to rise.

Next, I was always under the impression that when you are adding the flour, the dough should not be sticky when squeezed; meaning that when you squeeze it, your fingers will come out clean. Now, I would add flour until the dough reached this "dry" consistency and I soon discovered that this was causing the bread to turn-out "heavy". You see, I am constantly working to make sure that my bread will come out as light and fluffy as possible, so once I discovered that more flour meant a heavier bread, I began to research what I needed to do.

It was only few weeks ago that I discovered that the dough is supposed to be sticky. So, over the next few weeks when made the bread, I made sure that the dough ended-up being sticky (meaning that when I handled the dough, it stuck to my fingers). Since I began doing this (along with not over-kneading), my bread has come out lighter and fluffier.

As I continue to make bread every week, I am constantly trying to improve how it turns out and even though I will mess-up every now and then, I will strive to make sure that the dough also rises.

Sourdough Starter Update

I understand that many of you have been waiting with bated breath to find out how my sourdough starter is holding up, so I figured that I would provide a quick update for you. This is also a way of saying that I had nothing at all to write about, so I will just bore you with details that you probably could care less about. Now, since I published my article on How to Make Sourdough Starter (yup, shameless self-promotion), I have had the opportunity to bake over 20 loaves of bread and I am happy to report that the bread is continuing to turn out great and the starter is still chugging along nicely.

Since I have gotten more comfortable with the starter, I have started to experiment a little with what I add to the bread. I have begun to add some granulated garlic to my french breads and at some point, I would like to add sun-dried tomatoes. I have also experimented with using wheat flour. This flour kneads differently than the white flour so, if you decide to use it, please be sure to watch carefully as you add it, because one minute it may look too moist and then BAM, you've added too much.

If you have your own starter, don't be afraid to experiment with it. The worst thing that can happen, is that the bread won't rise and you end-up with flat-bread (great for dipping in soups). Remember, don't skimp on the proofing times (yes, I've done that, too).

One thing though, my bread is very dense and I was wondering if anyone out there would know how I can get more air-holes in my bread (making it nice and fluffy)? Would substituting shortening for the olive oil make a difference? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Sorry for this strange article, but I have been totally slammed this week and have had very little time to devote to writing.