sourdough keeps growing
May 11, 2010
My jar of sourdough starter keeps growing. I have gotten into pancakes, and last weekend I decided that buckwheat sourdough pancakes would have to be the next thing. I made them on Sunday while my sister was in town, and then started a loaf of bread. The starter still had a little residual buckwheat, and the loaf of bread that I made turned out a bit darker and denser than the last. I am quite curious to try it…probably for breakfast in the morning.
I have gotten a little lazy with measuring, and seem to be getting the feel for what makes a good dough. My favorite recent trick is to dampen the towel that is resting over the bowl while the dough is rising. It seems to prevent the outside of the dough from drying out which allows it to rise more easily (I think, anyway..).
living in the woods and making stuff 
May 11, 2010 at 8:32 pm
I tried the damp towel routine in the desert where rising dough would dry out and crust very fast but the damp towel cooled the dough (evaporative cooling) and was counter productive. In the end I put a wet inverted pan on top of the rising bowl to cover but not restrict rising.
May 11, 2010 at 8:36 pm
We are going to have to discuss this. Sometimes I put the bowl in a warm oven (turn it on to warm for a minute and then turn it off), but then I was worried that the starter (or dough) might not catch yeasts floating around in the air. I wouldn’t want my bread to be leavened exclusively by yeasts living in my oven!