Great answers, thanks! I love that your husband took time away from his work to learn bread making. It gives me hope to one day take such a sabbatical. I’ll do things the “hard” way just for fun sometimes, and it’s good to hear there’s someone else out there who does the same.
Yes, everyone has their opinion just like any profession, but I’ve been surprised by how many hadn’t heard about no-knead. My assumption, right or wrong, is since it’s their job, they don’t want to read about bread making in their spare time. The guy who helped me was different, he was nuts about bread. He would read and try anything and everything, even recipes from historical bread encyclopedias. Just to develop an appreciation for the art. Very inspirational.
I’ve seen sourdough being kneaded in a professional setting. I’ll have to ask about it next time I buy bread.
When I said “take time off” - I didn’t mean a sabbatical - he just did the course during the day and worked late into the night. He only wishes he could have taken a sabbatical!! Funny - I guess I should have worded it differently - “took time to…” instead.
With regards to the sourdough - sourdough bread is not really sourdough per se - the sourdough (preferment) is added for flavor to regular bread ingredients (made with yeast, etc) in which case it would need kneading.
It’s complicated. There are a lot of articles and opinions and false information. Best thing is to put on a apron - and make bread - fail - make it again - fail - make it again - try something new - fail - try again… until you make the bread you and your family loves! Just like with food!
I’ve never heard of using sourdough to flavor yeasted bread. All the sourdough loaves around here are sans yeast. Am I misinterpreting what you wrote?
I think of it as a series of connected puzzles, which is part of the fun for me, I guess. Forget debates between political candidates. What I want to see is levain vs sourdough, no-knead vs knead.
Oh, believe me this is what we do. Last year our Wegman’s had a sale, 70 cents for a bag of AP flour. We went on a no knead baking marathon, tinkering with ratios and equipment. One night, we were really tired and baked our sourdough starter by accident!
The problem is if you and your family love all kinds of breads.
So common “sourdough starter” provides two components, the tangy flavor and wild yeasts. You can have each of those separately if you wish. I.e., you could have just the sour component without wild yeasts; or you could have wild yeasts without sourness.
Um, no. Sourdough is a combination of wild yeasts and lactobacilli. You cannot separate them. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, I know of no way to separate them.
