I’m new to sourdough so forgive my naivete. I have an older model Panasonic bread machine which makes great French bread but has no sourdough setting. Since I really prefer sourdough, I did some research and found a bread machine sourdough recipe using the 6-hour French bread setting on my machine. Both attempts were disasters, producing loaves that didn’t rise above the halway mark, weighed like cinder blocks and had crusts that didn’t brown. The French bread recipe on my machine calls for 3 cups flour, 10.5 oz water, 2 tbs butter, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp yeast. The sourdough recipe for the same French setting said reduce the flour to 2.5 cups and add 2 cups of sourdough starter. After my first failure I tried using a little less water, figuring the dough was too runny. I also tried final proofing overnight in a refrigerator as someone told me it would make the dough more sour. Any ideas or should I just bite the bullet and get a bread machine with a sourdough setting?
My Panasonic Model is SD-YD 250. I may have screwed up the recipe I used by dumping all the ingredients called for in the bread maker, including the dry yeast in the small yeast dispenser atop the machine, as opposed to mixing them all in a bowl and refrigerating overnight for final proofing before starting the 6-hour bread macine cycle. Or was that still wrong?
The recipe said sourdough but what do I know. I think it came from King Arthur Flour.
My friend and I came up with a formula that worked for another Panasonic bread maker that had no special sourdough setting. Looking at the manual for yours I think 30% prefermented flour using the French bread recipe but putting it on a basic bread cycle might do the trick. Leave it with me and I’ll get down a recipe and method for you. Was quite a while ago and would like to check with her first.
You lost me on “30% prefermented flour” but I’ll appreciate any help I can get. I bought the sourdough starter online, got it going for a week or more before adding it to normal bread machine flour. I did find a bread maker sourdough recipe that called for the basic cycle but since basic on my machine is even shorter than the 6-hour French bread cycle I figured it wouldn’t work. As I understand it, the sourdough setting on some bread machines lasts a lot longer, like 9 hours or more.
Thank you very much and forgive my dumbness.
Let’s wait to see how it turns out. This was the formula for the Panasonic my friend had which isn’t the same as yours. It may not be perfect and will more than likely need tweaking. This is trial and error. But I’m sure you’ll get something edible out of it which will be tasty. Let me know how it goes and we will take it from there.
Now all I need is to find the flour. All the stores in my neck of the woods are sold out. Seems this pandemic has turned everyone into a bread baker.
Now we have the plan but no bread flour 
Today I managed to find some. What flour do you have in stock?
A little bit of all-purpose flour and some wholewheat flapjack and waffle mix that might produce some interesting experiments of its own.
AP flour could work. If you have enough then give it a try.
If not then look up ideas on using your starter for other recipes. Sourdough banana bread, sourdough waffles and pancakes. Haven’t come across it yet but why not sourdough flapjacks?
Will do, and again, Thanks.
Abe, pardon my thickheadedness once more but I am still a little confused so could you forgive me for clarification? My key question: am I correct in assuming that what I call “starter” you call levain? Because the starter I started out with was a bit of dried wild yeast which I “fed” for five days with daily servings of flour and water until it bubbled nicely and expanded to about four cups worth. If so then all I did was overdo it a bit from 30% to 45% in my first two failures. That was when I combined 2 cups of this “starter,” or levain, with 2.5 cups of flour, salt and water all totaling the same 418 grams as the recipe you sent me. I tried once without keeping it overnight in a refrigerator to make it more sour, and once with overnight refrigeration, but both came out with the same lack of rise and not enough browning or baking. And that was on the longer 6-hour French cycle rather than the shorter “basic.” I think the only difference in my initial recipe and yours was that I added two teaspoons of bread machine yeast to my dough mixture because the recipe I researched did not tell me not to. Also, some people, not experts by any means, say I should have added 2tbs of sugar because “fermentation needs sugar.” Since I never was a sugar lover and since the French bread I made never seemed to need it I resisted that advice.
Ok, sorry to keep bugging you. Stay safe and I hope Boris survives. Can’t say the same for our orange monster.
Please check your private messages. Don’t apologies. Its my pleasure!
I’ve answered some of your queries and the rest to be discussed in greater detail tomorrow.
I like Boris and hope he’s OK.
Yes!!! I love my Panasonic AND the recipe that I’ll forward you…it makes me crazy with all the nice crusty loaves I make - and knead and score - it’s my husband’s favorite!
Actually it’s food.com “Best Bread Machine Sourdough” - but if you do the first part of mixing the 4 ingredients first and rest for 10 minutes…and then just sprinkle flour, oil, and salt on…I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Thank you Raydee8. I think that’s one of the sourdough recipes I researched before its reference to the $500 Zojirushi BB-CEC20 bread maker scared me off. The amounts vary a bit depending on loaf size, but timing is critical and there’s some dispute about whether to use yeast or sugar. Your recipe says use both. It also seems pretty rushed (wait 10 minutes for the first four ingredients to bubble, add the rest and start baking right away on the basic setting). Others say bulk fermentation, known as the first proof, takes up to two hours and the dough should rise to double its origial size. Still others say a second fermentation or final proof is needed by placing the breadmaker pan overnight in a refrigerator which improves the taste and crust of the loaf. Trouble is they also warn that overproofing pops the bubbles and results in bread with poor structure, while underproofing needs more time. The timing of my first two attempts was definitely off because they produced not only “poor structure” but bread with the density of a cinderblock.
It turns out beautiful every time - albeit with a soft exterior…as you know the bread machine is a different critter…have fun!
Why would you use pineapple juice in your starter? Does it give the bread a special flavor or texture? Thanks
Thanks Abe. I appreciate your knowledge and your help. I am new to baking, as a friend gave me a packet of Breadtopia’s Dry Sourdough Starter, so I’m ready to learn.
What gives the various Sourdough breads their own distinctive flavor, textures, crust, etc? Is it the flour used or the yeast? Is it advisable to still use pineapple with this dry starter"