Sourdough Starter from Grapes - Part II

Are you ready to find out how my first batch of bread turned out from my sourdough starter from grapes? See Part I here. This blog is Part II of my sourdough starter from grapes.

On Tuesday evening after work I was ready to make the dough. Because this bread is a slow process, I figured I'd make the dough one night and bake the bread the following night.

For this recipe I used:

1 c. starter

1 c. warm water

4 c. flour

2 T. wheat germ

After mixing thoroughly, I let it sit for 20 minutes.

Then I added:

2 t. sea salt and

2 c. flour as I kneaded the dough for a full 10 minutes.

At this point I let it sit for 1-1/2 hours before putting it in the refrigerator. After the wait time it was already 9:30 p.m. I let it sit for the 1-1/2 hours because the directions were sketchy. On hindsight, I think I was supposed to put the dough in the refrigerator right away and not let it sit for that 1-1/2 hours unless I was going to bake it immediately after that.

When I arrived home from work at 5:30 p.m. the next day, I cut the dough in half, formed it into two loaves and put them in greased stone loaf pans.

I placed them in the oven on warm (145 degrees). Then I set the oven to 350 degrees and baked the loaves for 45 minutes.

I removed the loaves from the pans to a cooling rack.

I was rather disappointed that they didn't raise as nicely as I thought they would. However, I was more concerned about the texture and flavor.

Because it didn't raise much, it was a heavier bread. The crust was very firm and the tops didn't brown very nicely. The taste was okay, but honestly, as my daughter put it, "Mom, notice how when you made your bread with the honey and oatmeal that the bread was almost gone right away? And notice how most of this one is still sitting there? Maybe you should just forget about the sourdough bread and go back to the other one. Even the gluten free bread was gone faster than this one!"

Point taken, Keish. However, I still need to use up the remainder of the sourdough starter first. Because you all know how I hate throwing things out!!

I sliced the remainder of the bread, bagged it and placed it in the freezer. It made great garlic toast that was daughter-approved!

Stay tuned for more bread episodes ~ I still have sourdough starter left!   :)


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