I know this is the "smokehouse" but let's talk sourdough starter. After all, I'm gonna make the pizza on a grill so this kinda counts! So any bakers on here who have made their own or use someone else's starter? I've been a pizza guy for 20 years but have been getting more serious about it lately with plans for opening a small mobile wood fired catering business. So I'm just 12 hours into my first attempt at a starter. 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour, no activity yet. Hopefully another 12 hours I'll see some action and can start feeding it. I also ordered a starter from Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon trail starter, figure that way I'll know what it's supposed to look, feel, smell and act like and then can compare to mine.
Many years ago I used sourdough starter a lot but I think I used yeast in the original recipe to get things going.
We have a mobile wood fired pizza guy. It's amazing. They restored an old (50ish) international flatbed with a brick oven on the back. Seemed like an awesome gig. Here's there site if it gives you some ideas: Big Green Truck Pizza
g60gti , the last starter I made began with some flour, water, and a little pineapple juice (could do the same with OJ I guess). Rye flour is usually suggested, if I remember right. Takes a little while to develop sourdough taste. I don't like the idea of throwing out part of the starter (which is how it's suggested), so I would use that in making a couple loaves. Was never able to make a real sourdoughy tasting bread.
I may be wrong, but I think the sourness comes from lactic acid produced by lactobacilli. It should be naturally occurring, I think, but is it possible to introduce it with some plain yogurt or kefir into the starter? I do believe you also have to feed it regularly to keep everything in balance, because too much acid will inhibit or kill the yeast or the bacteria that produces it or something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if most mass produced 'sourdough' breads that have a pronounced sourness have some kind of acid added to it to make it way. There's an artisanal bakery a couple blocks away from my house that makes some awesome breads and they're all sourdough, but not all of them are sour.
And this guy has improved my pizza crust immeasurably. In particular with the autolyse and wet kneading. I haven't tried any crazy stuff with the oven cleaning cycle, but the crust comes out nice in my convection oven at 425. Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe
There are natural yeasts floating around, so if you leave the starter open to the air for a bit, you'll be good to go. And yes, you need to feed the starter. Where's andybaker ? I'll bet he could shed some light on the subject.
Correct, and they won't be. From my understanding it's just what the starter is called. Just because it's called "sourdough " doesn't mean anything made from it will be sour. Just a much better way to go than mass produced instant yeasts. Giving breads/doughs more structure and taste.
I've been a fan of his site for some years now. Learned a lot from him. I was mucking around with my oven one day trying to jump some wires to run it on self clean but the wifey put the brakes on that pretty quick. Oven was only a couple months old. It's been 4 years now so I think I may revisit that project.
So nothing happened after 24 hours, I think my mix was a little dry. I added a bit more water and come home from hockey tonight and we're doubled in size! Transferred to a larger bowl and fed it. They say at least a full week of feeding before you should bake or store it. Can't wait to see what happens, it's like having a pet!
I spent all morning trying to start a fire with sourdough, the crap is useless. Sourdough starter my a$$.
Well the starter was about 10 days old when I went ahead and used it. It was doubling reliably in size after I fed it and was more than a week old, which is when people say it's good to use. Made a couple pizzas with it and wasn't impressed. The dough had a nice rise and structure was pretty good but the taste wasn't there, nothing I couldn't get with a instant dry. I got the carl Griffith starter and am gonna give that a go. I really need to figure out a way to get more heat out of my oven. Here's a pic, forgot to snap one of the inside of the crust so you could see the structure, had hungry people over! They all enjoyed it and thought it was great but I guess when your a true pizza guy your never satisfied with your own work.
