[Sca-cooks] Sourdough

[Decker, Terry D.]

One cup of sifted flour weighs about 4 ounces.  One level cup of unsifted
flour weighs between 5 and 6 ounces.  Liquids are approximately 8 ounces per
cup.  Add up the weights in the recipe, subtract 1/4 of the total for
moisture loss in the oven and you will have an approximate weight for the
total finished product.  Most basic bread recipes are for 2 one pound
loaves, which would use 2 cups of starter.

You might try making your dough, then letting the first rise continue until
the dough slumps (when the strands of gluten become so extended they can no
longer hold the dome shape), then knead a small amount of flour into the
slumped dough and shape your loaves for the much shorter second rise.

A medieval baker wouldn't have used additional gluten.  They would have
bought the hardest flour they could find.  If you can find a high gluten
bread flour, try that.

Bear


> Thanks.  (Bear is my new best friend !) I thought I read that
> I should use 1
> cup of starter per pound of bread.  I weighed my 2nd loaf and
> it comes in a 2
> lbs, 12 oz.  Most recipes that I've seen say to use 1 cup of
> starter, but by
> weight, I think I may need more.
>
> What about adding wheat gluten to the mix?  And would gluten have been
> avaiable or is that a modern separation?
>
> Vitha