I have really been into sourdough recently. Literally and figuratively! I thought about it all summer while I was out on fire contract and couldn’t wait to get home and get started. Get started on starter! I almost ordered the starter online so that I could start baking immediately when I got home, but I just couldn’t do it. Now I almost wish I had. At least I wished that until I actually got it made! It all sounded so quick and easy when reading about making starter online. It is easy, just not quick in my case.
I ordered all the supplies that I would need so that I could start the day I got home. I even picked up a few things while I was out. Burns, Oregon, by the way, has a great little (ok, it’s not so little) kitchen store! If you are ever in Burns, do stop by there. I simply could not believe the selection of stuff in such a small town. But, the owner told me that ranchers keep her in business.
Anyway, back to sourdough. Why sourdough? Two major reasons. Taste is numero uno! I love it! It is my absolute favorite bread. Second reason? Nutrition. It is highly nutritious. It also may be an alternative for those with gluten intolerances. I say it may be because, depending on your sensitivities, it may not work for you. But I think it would be at least worth a try. You see, sourdough changes the gluten structure in the dough so that it does not have the detrimental effect on the bowels that normal dough does. One reason for this is the long time necessary for the rise. It takes sourdough products much longer to rise than regular yeast breads. Usually 12 hours or more. Caution; don’t necessarily trust a store bought sourdough if you have gluten allergies. They may have added yeast and they may not have the same long rise time as home made. Not to mention the other additives that they are forced to use.
MAKING A SOURDOUGH STARTER
It truly is easy to make a sourdough starter. However, mine was not as quick as I had read. Most things I had read about it said that it takes about 3 to 5 days for the starter to get going. It took mine three weeks! 21 days till it was actually ready to use in baking. So, don’t give up!
All you need to make a sourdough starter is flour and water. Mix equal weights of flour and water. Weights, not volume. Mix about a half cup of flour and slightly less than half a cup of water together and let it sit. Pretty tough, huh! Use a container that is non metallic, although from what I have read, stainless steel is ok. A two or four cup glass measuring container, or even a mason jar, will work well. You need a container that has room for the mixture to double in size. Don’t put the lid on tight. In fact, you don’t actually need a lid, you can just put a clean dish towel over it. After 3 days, remove half of the mixture and replace with fresh. So, if you removed a half cup of mixture (it is referred to as discard), replace it with a quarter cup of flour and slightly less than a quarter cup of water. If you have a way to weight it, it works out to about 115 grams each flour and water.
Do the remove and replace therapy every other day until you get some action. It would probably be ok to wait for 3 or 4 days the first time if you do not see anything occurring at all. You should see some bubbling or some air holes or some evidence that something is beginning to change. Once you see some evidence, then refresh you mixture every day. It will have a pleasant, somewhat pungent fragrance, slightly vinegary. It should also have a pleasant taste. There isn’t anything in there that will hurt you, it is just flour and water. So it is perfectly fine to taste it occasionally. I taste mine every time I refresh it. If it ever gets a liquidy, somewhat gray colored, layer on top, just pour it off before mixing in the refresh flour and water.
Concerning what flour and water to use. It is the natural yeast that is contained in the flour that will be doing all the work. And since one of my reasons for doing this was nutrition, I suggest using an organic, stone ground, flour. Bobs Red Mill is a good example that I can get locally. It is best to use a recently milled flour so that the yeast will still be fresh. Bob’s prints the milling date on their label. While most everything I read said it shouldn’t matter which variety of flour you use, I think it might. I simply had no luck until I switched to Dark Rye. Somewhere I read where it had the best properties and based on my results it seems to be true. For the water, I would use some type of filtered water. Chlorine seems to be detrimental to the yeast formation. Another thing to keep in mind. Most sites that I have read say not to wash your utensils with soap. The soap prevents the yeast production. I keep a separate set of utensils that I wash only in hot water. And let me tell you, when that flour and water mixture dries, it is like concrete! You may need to soak your containers and utensils to get the dried residue off, since you are not using soap.
Another thing. Everything I read said that it didn’t matter what the temperature is. They say room temperature is fine. But, in my experiments, virtually nothing happens when the mixture is too cold. I finally got a heating pad and put it on the lowest temperature and put my jar on it. I also keep a water bottle on it so that when I refresh the mixture I am using warmer water. Maybe we keep the house too cold. Everyone who comes to visit does complain about that.
Once your sourdough starter gets going, you need to keep it refreshed. Think of it like a house plant that needs watered everyday. Or like a pet who needs to be fed everyday. It is going to die if you don’t feed it. If you keep it on your counter, you will need to feed it everyday. If you keep it in the fridge you need to feed it once a week. They say it will actually take much longer than that to die. It could last up to several months before it dies and becomes rancid and you have to throw it out. However, if you keep it refreshed, it will last indefinitely. There are people who have starters that they got from their grandparents who started it back in the 1800’s!
When you are refreshing the starter, you don’t have to throw out what you remove. You can put it in a separate container and keep it for making pancakes and waffles! They are delicious! In my experiments I have found that I like the recipe from King Arthur Flour the best. You can get it online from their website.
I have had a lot of fun getting back into this. I hadn’t tried making sourdough for about 30 years. I had forgotten how good it is! The bread is very dense and chewy. You can get a lot of recipes online. I’m still experimenting. When I get a favorite, I’ll come back and post it.
Enjoy!