I can skim the web, but don't have any first-hand experience. Here is one that looks interesting. The ingredients for the flour are: 4 cups organic white rice (I used this kind) or you can use 4 cups of organic rice flour 1 cups organic potato starch 1/3 cup organic arrowroot powder 2/3 cup organic tapioca flour 2 tsp xanthan gum I don't know if that's close to what you've already tried. For some reason, the guy goes on and on about avoiding brown rice for this recipe. I didn't read enough to tell you why.
Seems to me if the dough rises, the yeast is active. I hate it when butter or spreads ooze out through the holes. What do you think of something like this for your ciabatta rolls? https://smile.amazon.com/PDJW-Bague...sprefix=french+bread+pan,aps,116&sr=8-24&th=1 I dragged out all my baking cookbooks earlier and dozed off reading them. Since watching youtube videos it seems like bread recipes in a book are too fussy and complicated. As soon as I see "make this today for bread tomorrow", I close the book. I want to get in there and git 'er dun. (Plus I have no idea why I bought all these baking books... ???)
Interesting pan. I Wish Listed it for further research. They make muffin rings to give them the perfect round shape, but it's not cheap to buy enough for an entire batch of buns (or at least it wasn't last time I looked.) That pan is way more reasonable. Regarding holes and dripping butter...I agree. I almost exclusively use my Italian bread for garlic bread, so when I put it under the broiler with my garlic butter on them, it drips through. The next time I fire up the Breville, it smells like a garlic factory. It's entirely possible that the holes were an error made by the baker, and the restaurant told the patrons it was a "special technique." And the rest is history. I'm gonna have to try my hand at this again. I've not played with it in quite a while...I got tired of flat buns. But it was always very tasty. edit to add: My WTF? cookbooks are ethnic ones. I like Italian and Mexican foods, but I don't really need so many cookbooks for them. Just one each would suffice.
Getting a starter going is actually not that tough. Wild yeast strains are all over the place, and can be dispersed by the wind. It requires a little skill and a good deal of luck to get a good starter going. It's basically a matter of getting some flour that may contain some yeast cells from just being exposed to them in the milling process, adding water, and then hoping that the air carries more yeast cells to the open bowl mixture. I walked my starter out in my back yard, calling to errant yeast cells to come take a dip in my mix. I guess that worked because the third time I fed my starter with flour and water, it doubled in size within an hour! Thomas was on his way to being the father of many great loaves of bread to come. As I type this, Thomas sits in the fridge, in a tightly closed jar. He hasn't eaten for a few weeks. Tomorrow I'll open him up, let him relax in the warm den, and then feed him. After that, he'll rest up in the oven with the light on. Then, the next day, or so, I'll make a new loaf of bread, and Thomas will go back to chillin', literally.
According to that woman who makes all that bread from natural yeast, I should not have a problem capturing a quality yeast from the air in this area. I know that she didn't. ^^THIS^^ is what I was referring to. So a sourdough starter is not the same as making a biga, the entirety of which is consumed when making the bread. A sourdough starter is something that is maintained and used to start many loaves of bread over a period of time...and it is often shared with others. Perhaps is was the "grows over a period of time" I was thinking of when I thought it was cleaved off of successive generations of dough.
I've nursed the same starter for decades. I've moved it from Louisiana to Miami to north of Gainesville (FL). I started it simply by putting store-bought yeast into a water-flour mix, It gets sour after a week or so. I use a bread maker, but since sour dough rises slowly, I take the dough out before the maker heats up and let it rise overnight, then bake it in the oven. I also make pancakes. I mix the evening before and let it rise overnight.
Homemade bread. My Polish grandmother from the old country made it, and when she did it filled the house with that heavenly smell. A one time GF made it too and it was not too far from grandma's.
My biggest problem with homemade bread is how to store it. Seems like a loaf is only good for 2-3 days before getting too dried out. Currently I use those linen bread "bags" with a drawstring top to store fresh bread; I read that plastic wrap makes the bread get tough and promotes mold.
That's interesting. I've only done an overnight biga for Italian breads, and 3 day rise pizzas...both to develop the flavors. I cannot imagine the depth of flavor in something that has lived for that long.
Hey @John Brunner -- check out this website... https://sourdo.com/ . This guy sells sourdough cultures from all around the world. Interesting website, too.
That's pretty cool. If I still entertained as I used to, I'd do that once, just for the novelty. Note that there are no prices on the website...you send an email and they send you an order form. I guess if you have to ask...
I saw some prices... the French culture is $15. It has a "mild" sourdough flavor so that would probably be the one I like best.
That is interesting. They ship to nearly 40% of the countries in the world. That's damned impressive. Their story kinda goes back to my original point about starters being something that have lived for generations or more, and are things that are shared and not just started.