Bread

Anyone every been tempted to leave a start outside to get more wild yeast spores

No, if you're using organic flour then you will have plenty of microbes that haven't been killed by pesticides available in the flour.

Also microbes in the air will come into your house anyway.

I assumed that the flour was the food

This is correct. There are carbs available in the flour that the yeasts will metabolise, but there are also microbes* will occur naturally on the grains and therefore will make their way into the flour.

and that leaving the vessel open for a period of time was to encourage wild yeast spores to settle onto the starter.

Microbes need oxygen so never seal your vessel unless you want an explosion (guessing you probably knew that anyway). I ferment a few things at home and normally cover jars with a tea towel which allows free circulation of gases and microbes but keeps insects out.

*I use the term to include yeasts but also [not necessarily bad] bacteria

^ interesting. I've always kept my starter in an air tight jar. Would be better off with a bit of muslin on instead?

So for anything with rye, long cold fermentation is key? Or just long?

I ferment my rye for 3-4 hours at room temp and get good results (see recipe upthread) but as with all fermentation generally the longer you go the more complex flavours you tend to get developing.

have been playing about with sourdough over the last few months, and have just about reached level of satisfaction with my process and getting consistent output.

our starter is fed exclusively on rye

take culture out of fridge in morning and refresh.
make starter with 100g of culture, 50g water and 50g rye flour
after 3.5 hours autolyse flour (900g white strong flour (currently using shipton mill no.4 organic white, 550g water mixed quickly to combine)
after 5 hours add starter to flour mixture again giving it a quick mix
15 minutes later scoop and fold in bowl 4-5 times
15 minutes later at 15g salt and mix a bit more thoroughly
two further scoop and folds by this stage the dough will begin to be fairly smooth like a classic bread recipe.
leave for 4 hours at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (airing cupboard is perfect)
divide into 2 parts, shape ensuring you are gentle with the dough not to completely flatten and you get god surface tension.
put into baskets and prove in fridge overnight
bake 20 minutes at 220 degrees on pre heated sheets, with steam, 25-35 minutes at 170 degrees without steam.

So overall 1.5 days plus half a day or so to refresh dough, so it's more of a weekend job, but possible to do on a school day with a bit of a late night and an all day refresh,

At this length of proving its got a good level of flavour, a nice chew and enough air bubbles, some up to around the size of a 50p, without having massive gaping holes, its wet as a dough but just about manageable.

If you seal the jar (as in air-tight) then eventually the microbes in the starter will use up the oxygen and go dormant. If you're unlucky then the gases given off by the microbes will cause the pressure in the jar to increase and your jar explodes.

I should clarify though - I keep my starters in a non-air tight glass kilner jar (normal kilner with rubber seal removed) and an old plastic peanut butter tub (we buy it in 1kg tubs) with the top not completely on. I use these because they are what I have, and they will do the job of letting gases in/out and holding a starter with room to bubble up a bit.
The other things I ferment* I generally use a jar and muslin/tea towel.
You can, of course, keep things in air-tight containers and the world won't end but if it were me I'd burp them at least once a day (I do this when making sauerkraut). Just take the lid off and put it back on to let the pressure equalise, or just leave the lids a bit loose.

I expect a muslin would do no harm apart from maybe your starter might dry out on the top of a bit. Also when I feed my starters I give them a good stir to break up the bubbles (carbon dioxide) and encorporate air and therefore oxygen.

*Kombucha, vinegar, ginger beer, mead - so far. I've only started fermenting things fairly recently but a lot of the same principles apply as it's all microbial action.

Well, four days is the long way round, and that includes doing that stiff starter.
The fermentation process (after the stiff starter is ready and the dough's been kneaded) can be sped up by doing a few rest and folds at room temperature.

What I struggle with is the proving. Here's a batch that proved 10-11 hours in a not-so-cold fridge and seems to have lost its oven spring:

(note that both loaves were baked in a pot, hence my surprise seeing them this flat)

but 4 days!

only problem with 4 days is finding the bloody room for it. I ferment pizza dough for 4 days and knead it every time it fills the container, then on the 4th day god said let there be pizza, and there was pizza, and it was square and delicious.

#rep

What's your recipe for pizza dough if I may ask?

They look really tasty!

In order to achieve the spring, would they need more or less time to prove?

Results of my half-arsed sourdough; the starter was refreshed Monday morning, sponge started Monday evening, I made up the dough late Tuesday morning, at which point I had to do a bunch of work fire-fighting and deal with the school run etc. As a result I only managed to stir the dough with the dough whisk maybe 3 or 4 times during the rest of the day. Left it to prove overnight, then first thing I stretched and shaped it into a round; gave it another 45 minutes or so, then preheated the casserole and put it on to bake for an hour. Looks a bit wonky, but tastes great.

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I'm putting the relatively flat-ish profile on the account of a proof that lasted too long, maybe in a fridge that's not cooling properly.
Usually, the shaped dough comes out stronger and has raised less than what I put in the oven this time!

Sure -

500g of 00 flour in the bowl
Then add
10g dry yeast
10g sugar
10g of salt
Mix
1 glug of extra virgin olive oil
Mix
300ml of cold water (might want a bit more, no more than 25ml)
Mix then knead (doesn't need to be too much)
Put in an oiled tub let it rise in the fridge - Edit
Knead
Then just repeat the last 2 steps for four days.

I'm cooking it on a seasoned medium weight baking tray for roughly 15 mins at 280 in the top oven, I've also used the frying pan method, I have to say the oven works better for me. The fan oven produced terrible results. Also I'm making granma slice (base - cheese - sauce).

Is the letting it rise in the fridge, or on the side? Have you tried reducing the yeast at all? Looks like quite a lot for such a long rise.

Yes in the fridge. Are you worried about the amount of yeast?

No, just interested - I'd normal use about half that % yeast for pizza dough, but then that wouldn't be in the fridge.

Thanks, will give it a go at some point!

This is my starter. I think its finally got enough power in it to produce a decent loaf.

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..haven't looked at this thread in a while and just read the last two pages -
wow, impressive work everyone, looking real good, keep it up!

peanut butter tub (we buy it in 1kg tubs)

also this

impressive. rather envious, I do like good bread. I had to buy a loaf from home bargains as I was dashing, (not like Errol Flynn) God knows how they did it, but it looks like ordinary brown bread, but its lighter than balsa wood when you get it out of the bag, almost like they found a way of spraying sliced helium brown, terrible stuff.

looks brilliant. Sourdough, crushed avocado, poached eggs. wow.

God knows how they did it

They darken fluffy cheap white bread with malt.

kinda figures given the discerning clientele.

: ]

I tried to user my starter on saturday.

Made a dough, put it in a bowl in the fridge ... nothing, not even a titter