Sourdough starter

Mixing and shaping the bread

Because the rise time of most sourdough starters is longer than that of breads made with baker's yeasts, traditional sourdough starters are generally unsuitable for use in a bread machine. However, bread machine manufacturers may offer recipes specifically optimized for their devices, with the starter made directly in the machine's pan using a dedicated setting and then supplemented later with ingredients such as apple cider vinegar. Also, sourdough that has been proofed over many hours, using a sourdough starter or mother dough, may be transferred to a bread machine to be used only with the baking segment of the bread-making program, bypassing the timed mechanical kneading by the machine's paddle. This may be convenient for single loaf production, but the complex blistered and slashed crust characteristics of oven-baked sourdough bread cannot be achieved in a bread making machine, as this usually requires the use of a baking stone in the oven and misting of the dough to produce steam.