My own sourdough rye bread. Aw. Yeah.

I've been wanting to make sourdough bread for quite some time. As you all know, sourdough requires a starter culture. There are several ways to acquire one: first, you could make it yourself by fermenting bread or fruit for a couple of days. The problem with that method is that it may not turn out strong enough for the first couple of batches of bread to rise properly. The second method is to get a starter from someone who already has a good, working one. Lazy as I am, that's exactly what I did. Since I don't know anyone who makes their own bread, I had think of a clever way to get my hands on some starter.

Once again, I was rescued by The Internet.

I went on a foodie forum and asked people in my area if any of them would be so kind and share their starter with me. I got two replies, which was more than enough. A couple of days later, I was the proud owner of a little plastic box full of greyish, fermented goo and a set of instructions. I am forever grateful, nice lady.

Making sourdough bread has two steps.
First, the evening before you want to start baking, you mix the starter with some water (I used 400ml) and enough rye flour to give it the thickness of yoghurt. Then you leave it to ferment for at least 12 hours, preferably in a warm place. You'll know if it's done by the foam forming on top.
Next, you add more rye flour, salt (1 tsp), sugar (3 tsp, heaped) and caraway seeds (1 tsp) to taste (I had my mum taste it since I can't - due to reasons mentioned in the previous post). The dough should be just soft enough to be stirred with a spoon. This is also the point where you take a new starter (two tablespoons for making one loaf).

Then you ladle everything into a loaf tin, smooth it out with wet hands, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and leave it to rise in a warm for an hour or three.

 

When the dough has doubled in size, preheat your oven at 225C and bake for 15 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to 200C and bake for about 30 minutes, making sure the crust doesn't burn. Finally, turn the heat down to 180C and let it bake for about 25 more minutes (total baking time should be around 70 minutes).
Take your bread out of the oven, brush it with wet hands and let cool under a towel for at least an hour and a half.

Since I forgot to take a starter when I was supposed to, I had to take it when the bread was almost ready to be baked, resulting in my bread having a crater in it. Ah well.
The starter should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. It can also be frozen, but that may reduce its activity.

If you ignore the bitter undertaste caused by my curse, my bread was amazing.

Of course, this didn't happen without casualties, good things rarely do. Mainly, my bread got stuck in the loaf tin and I had lots of trouble getting it out in once piece. It was soft and fluffy on the inside, but the crust was STUCK. I tried to force it out with a spatula. The bread won. The spatula shattered. Note to self: next time, use baking paper or butter.