How to start a sour dough starter

[adoptedbyachicken]

I made sourdough for a few years consistently twice in my life. I love the bread the most, but right now too busy to bake bread regularly like a good SD mother wants so I'm back to yeast.

Several of the recipes that I used called for whey, but not in the mother culture or added to feed it, just in the bread it's self and those were to be aged 24 hours before baking. That study result is interesting since even in the old book I had it stated that digestibility was greater in these breads.

I always started my SD with rye and wheat flours and feed them with just wheat unless they get weak then they get rye again. I have used both water and milk for the liquid. Honestly I did not see a huge improvement with the milk. I do like the texture of SD bread when the loaf's mix is done with milk rather than water, but I was told the mother would be more sour and tangy if it cultured in milk and did not find that true.

For anyone else that wants a shortcut SD like I do sometimes now just use the rye flour in a bigga the day before. Not the same at all, but in a otherwise white loaf you will get some sour taste. Freezing culture like some of the forums suggest gives it a really off taste when reworked I found, so I threw it all out. I have not tried drying just to rehydrate for a loaf or 2.

 

[FarmerDenise]

My grandmother had a crock specifically for sour dough starter. She did not wash it. She said it was better for the sour dough that way. If she stopped using sour dough for a while, she did clean it out to store the crock. She did not use the crock for anything else, because it would interfere with the sour dough culture or the taste. She also said the sour dough would start faster, if you use a crock that had the culture in it before.

 

[VickiLynn]

My grandma did that, too. She said the leftover bits from the past starter would add flavor to the new stuff. Also, she always began with orange juice instead of water. Not sure why. Maybe has to do with the ph? or the sugar from the juice feeding the yeast?

 

[VickiLynn]

Hey Shiloh & Vickilynn...this is a great thread to share info and ask questions, in fact I am going to change the name of the title so that is can be a catch all.

Please excuse a tiny little detour here, but how do you change the name of a title?

 

[Dace]

Hey Shiloh & Vickilynn...this is a great thread to share info and ask questions, in fact I am going to change the name of the title so that is can be a catch all.

Please excuse a tiny little detour here, but how do you change the name of a title?

Just go to the first post and hit edit....it lets you edit the title as well as the text


Interesting about not changing/cleaning jars....that makes sense. On the website that was posted on the first page, it suggested changing jars because on occasion he gets someone telling him that they got mold in the jar, you know where the starter climbs up then receeds? And for me at this point a fresh jar allows me to see if the starter has doubled.

I dunno....I'd like to hear form more experienced folks if they have had issues with mold. I would think that a healthy starter should be able to fend off mold. Once my starter seems viable I may quit changing jars

 

[FarmerDenise]

I think it might be different with glass jars compared to earthen crocks. You could tell by smelling the clean crock, what it had been used for. Grandma also had a crock used solely for rumpot. I have done the same. I am still looking to aquire the perfect sour dough pot
Crocks are obviously more porous and must retain some of what was kept in them. I wouldn't want to use a pickling crock for my rumpot,
I am also sure, if there was mold on the sour dough, grandma would have cleaned it out and started over. 'Cleanliness is next to godliness' was one of my grandmother's favorite sayings. But she didn't go overboard on the cleaning part, she enjoyed life too much to worry about having clean floors at all times or washing windows But anything to do with food, had to be VERY clean!!!

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I got a bean crock and started my sourdough in that on advice from the first place I read about sourdough (I forget where). It is earthenware I think, looks like clay pot with a bit of a finish, hand made and the lid is loose fitting, not perfectly fit or flat so the starter can breath. I have only used that. I was told to scrub and then bake it if a starter ever goes bad on me, or I want to change it, makes sense.

 

[Kim_NC]

I keep my starter in a plastic container. I store it in the refrigerator with a tight fitting lid, in between feeding and baking on Thursadys/Fridays.

 

[Dace]

This morning was feeding #8.

I am feeling encouraged because 1) my started doubled in size after both feedings yesterday, rather than just rising a bit and 2) it has a pleasant ripe banana smell ...both very good signs!

I feed with the rye four again, one last time since I want to be sure it is stable and reliably doubling after each feeding. Tonight I will make the switch to white flour.

I has been 5 days since I began and I am really happy that this seems to have taken!

According to the sourdough link on the first page, I should be ready to try baking after one week, so I think I will try in a couple days.

I may try to do something with the excess starter tomorrow....maybe pancakes or something? Anyone have any recipes for me to try?

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Going to town today so hopefully able to find rye flour and get started myself. I'm very excited! Thanks for this thread and to all who posted!