Sourdough Starter in our Recipes

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Yes, you can use activated sourdough starter in our recipes. My own sourdough starter (see link), after I activate it from the fridge, is about half water and half flour (you can find recipes for naturally-fermented sourdough starter all over the web, and one of our future books may have a recipe of our own). I’ve found that about 1 1/2 cups of activated sourdough starter works well in our full-batch recipes, which make 4 to 5 pounds of dough. This means that you need to decrease the water in the recipes by 3/4 cup, and the flour by 3/4 cup. At the end, you’ll probably need to adjust water and flour to create a dough that looks and feels just like what you get with our yeast-based recipes.

So, having done this, do you need to use commercial yeast in addition? I found that I still needed some yeast in the recipe, though I could use a lower dose, which I’ve posted about before in the context of our yeast-risen recipes. That seems like a good compromise. I did experiment with zero-yeast versions, but I found them a bit temperamental– didn’t store terribly well so we decided not to put that in our books… yet!

More in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and my other books.

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Missing instructions and missing recipes from the website: Some of the web-based recipes don’t have everything I need to make the bread, and some recipes are missing altogether

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I’m sometimes asked to provide details that don’t appear in a web version of a recipe here on our site.  In many cases, the web versions contain the full recipe, including all baking instructions, temperatures, etc.  But in most cases, I can’t do that.  Why not?

Well, to make a long story short, my publisher would disown me if I put all our full-detail recipes up here on the website, for free. There’d really be little reason for anyone to buy the books.  This site is mainly a way of reaching out to readers, and supporting them as they work on recipes that appear in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day and Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and any of our non-US editions. If the answer to your question appears in one of the books, I’ll probably just refer you there.

I really enjoy connecting with readers this way, and I’m proud to be among the few cookbook authors who personally answer questions from people who’ve bought my books (thank you!).  I hope to talk with all of you about our recipes soon.  –Jeff

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

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Contest and Giveaway Rules (don’t post your entry here!)

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From time to time we run giveaways here on the website.  Sometimes it’s one of our books or baking equipment, other times, it’s been ingredients.  We randomly select from entrants who respond to the post using the Comments field in the post where the contest announcement appeared (don’t post your entry anywhere else or we won’t see it).  Here are contest rules:

  1. We will only ship to U.S. addresses in the 50 states.  If you’re a winner, you must respond to our e-mail within 24 hours to win (winners will not be notified by surface mail).
  2. You must type  your “Comment” entry under the post announcing the contest.
  3. Only one entry in any single contest is allowed. If you post more than one comment on the contest post, you will be disqualified.  But you can enter in any or all of our contests over time.
  4. If selected, you will be notified electronically. You must respond electronically, with a U.S. mailing address, within 24 hours to claim your prize, otherwise we’ll repeat the drawing for an alternative winner.

Good luck!

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

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Privacy Policy

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The website is owned and maintained by BreadIn5, LLC. We will not sell, disclose, or distribute your personally identifiable information to anyone without your permission, unless required by law to do so. Our advertising partners may use “cookies,” small snippets of computer code, to tailor advertising content to viewers. If you don’t want “cookies” left on your computer, you can disable them in your web-browser.

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Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

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