Starch Porn->Barley Potage

[GeoffreyLevens]

This doesn't have the mouth feel of bread but it does have most all the flavor (the only thing missing is that roasty toasty flavor of being baked but it is very good none the less.). Whole, hull less barley in water with sourdough culture, put in blender and pulsed a couple times to crack the grains and get a bit of starch into the water so as to feed the culture. Let sit about 12 hours. Here it is, ready to cook; bowl is in CrockPot in water bath to work as double boiler/“rice cooker”. The white foam is of course all the CO2 from the collective exhalation of billions of sourdough micro-beasties enjoying their last supper.



Meditation followed by a solid workout and now, time to break-fast; piping hot and ready to eat. I used a bit extra water because it is a cold, drizzly day and I thought more of a potage than solid grains would go even better. Pretty much all the fiber fully intact and Mmm-mmm good! This also contains caraway seeds which to me are ambrosia in sourdough Did you know that caraway combines very well with cinnamon? And with fruit? Almost endless possibilities both savory and sweet can go with the sour… Also made a thick veg soup to got with, beet root, Laciento kale, red and green cabbage, mushrooms, curry powder, and a little no salt mustard (Westbrae).

[astirle]

What a cool idea, barley porridge with sourdough. Must try!

[GeoffreyLevens]

What a cool idea, barley porridge with sourdough. Must try!

Depending on your culture and ambient temp you might want to let it go less time at first and see. Mine is very sour! I like it like that

[bebe]

This idea is intriguing to me. Where do you get your sour dough culture? How long does the barley cook? Is the crock pot water bath for the soaking stage or the cooking stage? By the way, I really liked your buckwheat bread, posted a long time ago.

[GeoffreyLevens]

This idea is intriguing to me. Where do you get your sour dough culture? How long does the barley cook? Is the crock pot water bath for the soaking stage or the cooking stage? By the way, I really liked your buckwheat bread, posted a long time ago.

There's lots of variables to play with but basically any flour will do so long as it has not been sterilized by over processing. Sourdough culture eats starch for its food. Whole grain flours may work a bit better for getting started. Rye has some stories about it being most reliable to get started with but no telling. Anyway, any flour (including bean flour, buckwheat, rice, wheat...any) and water is all you need. The microorganisms are in the flour Many instructions online--mix flour and water to approximately thick pancake batter consistency and leave loosely covered (it needs to breathe) at room temperature for several days, giving it a quick stir every once in awhile. When it starts to get little bubbles showing, add flour and water to feed it. When volume gets too big, dump or use some and feed it some more. How often it needs feeding (once it is bubbling and growing) depends on temperature and how much water is there i.e. hydration. Room temp needs feeding twice or more/day; the way I keep mine it only needs feeding once/week or less.

The water bath is to act like double boiler and keep temp not too high but high enough to cook it but keep it "wet" so if I am busy etc it can go a long time and not burn. Whole barley cooks about like brown rice for time. In CrockPot on high 2-3 hours is about right.

A couple of my favorite references for sourdough culture and bread baking

http://forum.breadtopia.com/sourdough.com
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/forum
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough

[GeoffreyLevens]

Forgot to mention though I hope it is obvious, nearly all recipes you find online will need adjustment. For example sourdough bread recipes generally call for a very large amount of salt and often oil. I started off without the oil and greatly reduced salt and had no problems. Cut out the salt completely and still no problems. The only difference I noticed was salty taste or the lack of it, not any of the mythical dough strengthening properties ascribed to the salt.