Sour Dough Pizza - blog entry for Rach86 ( and a really nasty starter !)

This blog entry is for Rach86. Rach 86 asked on one of my earlier blog posts if I had (or knew of anyone) who had used sour dough  to make pizza base / crust.

Basically - the answer was  no. I started playing with sour dough some months ago, but have been so busy over recent weeks that it my starter has been in a neglected, dormant state in the refrigerator.

Well - this is what I found when I went to get it out....

Eww. Not nice. Looked like a cross between worms and a shag pile carpet. Needless to say, this MUST have got contaminated some how and gone off. On scraping off the thick carpet on top, it LOOKED ok underneath and didn't smell untoward..... but it went in the bin anyway !

Thankfully, I had another two containers with starter in the fridge. Mother and Daugher. This one had been Grand-daughter and the one I tended to use the most.

I took a good spoonful of Mother and the same of Daughter. These went into a bowl with some wholemeal flour (because that's what I already had out) and some water. I left it on the counter, and 24 hours later it was bubbling rather ferociously and ready to go.

Most recipes seem to then add more water and flour and leave overnight to make a sponge. More flour and water, sugar and salt are added to then make a dough. I've skipped that step.

Here is my Not So Sour White Sourdough Recipe.

2 tablespoons of starter from your vat in the fridge

5 well rounded tbsp of strong white bread flour

1 well rounded tablespoon of rye flour (gets it "going")

mix with enough luke warm water to reach a dropping consistency (much like cake batter !)

Cover with clingfilm and leave on the kitchen counter overnight.

Thankfully, I had another two containers with starter in the fridge. Mother and Daugher. The woolly one was Grand-daughter and the one I tended to use the most.

I took a good spoonful of Mother and the same of Daughter. These went into a bowl with some wholemeal flour (because that's what I already had out - I normally use white as above) and some water. I left it on the counter, and 24 hours later it was bubbling rather ferociously and ready to go.

It should be nice and bubbly by the morning. Discard about half (of put it in another bowl if you intend making more than one loaf and do the next following steps to both lots of gloop).

To the remaining gloop, add about 2 > 3 times the amount of white wheat flour and enough water to get it back to dropping consistency. Leave for about 6 hours and it's then ready to bake. If it's not bubbling nicely, this step can be repeated. As long as there are a good amount of bubbles there, don't worry if it is not as foamy as it was after sitting for 12 hours. I've been doing this bit by eye as above and without weighing.

For the bread dough :

550g white bread flour

10g salt

265g water

tablespoon of honey (or golden syrup !)

220g gloop as above

I made my dough, gently kneaded for about 10mins and then left if in the bowl covered with cling film for about 6 hours whilst I was out.

On return, I used some of it right away rather than waiting for an extra rise. The rest went back in the bowl, in the fridge and was made into a loaf this morning.

Sour dough is EXCEPTIONALLY sticky. I floured the bottom of this tray and then rolled the sour dough out on to it. The dough was very thin - the way I like it - in the middle and a bit thicker on the edges. In retrospect, I should have oiled the centre of the base of the tray. It was a bit of a devil to get off after baking .... but I did manage eventually without tearing it.

Incase you are wondering HOW sticky sour dough is.... it was strong enough to "fix" one of Oliver's broken toys when super glue just couldn't do it. Oliver and Steve found it pretty hilarious that I'd mended the truck with bread dough !?!

DO make sure you put anything that touches sour dough immediately into water. If it gets a chance to dry out first, it sticks rock hard and is near impossible to move. 

Here you go - it's nothing fancy. 

Some tomato base, THREE left over meatballs, meat from two chicken drumsticks, a bit of onion, a grilled red pepper and some chilli. Basically that was everything in the fridge.

Turned out nice. Base was lovely and crispy. Would I do it again? Yes.

Hope that helps !

Well - what have we been up to ? Not a lot .... really.....

This is Echo. My other baby. Besides Oliver that is. He's the loveliest, cuddliest, kindest horse in the whole wide world. Echo is 14yo (maybe 15 - I need to check !) and he's been with me since a foal.

Echo has been really poorly this last week as he had a  laminitis attack. I had to phone for an urgent vet call out on Monday as Echo was lying down and in too much pain with his feet to get up. It was a worrying hour or so whilst we waited on the vet to come with strong painkillers to give him into the vein. Oliver was really concerned too and spent quite some time in the field with his arms round Echo. A little surprising perhaps as he's a bit scared when Echo is stood up ..... he's just so little in comparison. He's not normally allowed round the ponies unless he's being carried.

Poor Echo - poor Oliver. Echo was very unhappy and wanted cuddles. Oliver was a bit worried and wanted cuddles. Thankfully, it was one of the few days in the last 6 weeks without rain - so we sat on the ground in the field and mass cuddled whilst we waited on the vet.

When the vet arrived - he was instantly chastised. 

"Excuse me - You were a long time. Our pony is sick you know."

"This is Echo - he needs medicine. He's not well and we've been waiting ages."

"Excuse me - is that the medicine ? Will it hurt ? Will Echo get up ? Will he get better now ? "

"Excuse me - I'm worried."

My boy is pretty good at manners, but for once, I realised just how little he really is.

  A few hours later, we Echo much more comfortable in the stable and the farrier came that night to pack his feet up.

He's improving - though needs to stay shut in for a couple of weeks.

April was SO wet. It rained almost every day. Crazy to think that the photos above were taken last week of MARCH in the most northern part of Scotland and we were paddling about in the sea ! Just a week later, it was all under 6" / 15cm of snow.....

We've barely seen much of the sun since. Roll on some more nice weather.