by Wannabe Thoreau on Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:13 am
I never had much luck with his bread either. Following his recipes for bread consistently turns out hockey pucks. They fly like a frizbee off my back porch. I've since tried different things, done a lot of baking, and had some good results. Here's what I learned.
You may want to start out making just a basic french bread to get technique down. Ingredients are just starter, white flour, salt, and water. The Tightwad Gazette has a recipee (sourdough simplified) that turns out pretty good results. Once you've made a bunch of these you'll have an idea of what is going on and be able to start toying with it.
When making a whole grain sourdough bread, you want to use about half white flour to about half whole wheat and whatever grains you use. There is something about the gluten content of whole wheat flour that makes it harder to work with. Using the water left over from cooking pasta also helps a lot. Feel free to chuck in leftover rice, sprouted wheatberries, or whatever in place of some of the flour. I've seen recipes for bread that use only whole wheat flour but haven't had much luck with them.
Also, watch the amount of flour you use. When a recipe calls for a certain amount, consider that to be an approximation. You want the dough to be workable when you knead it, but too much makes for a really dense bread. Err on the side of too wet. Sandor was right when he said to add flour until you cannot effectively stir it in the bowl.
On your starter, know the difference between simple air bubbles working their way out and actual fermentation. You want to see a sort of foam.
Finally, I like a little more salt than Sandor does. I found it funny how he talked long and eloquently in his book about how salt was necessary in bread, then only called for two teaspoons in the recipe he gave. You can certainly put in too much, but two tablespoons is more like it. I usually use a plamfull.
I hope that helps.