Sourdough

[tortoise]

Why use a package when you can make the starter by scratch with minimal ingredients , flour , water , sugar , yeast , potatoes

Because I'm afraid of growing the wrong microorganisms.

 

[Okiepan]

Quick Sourdough Starter​

Ingredients​

• 4 cups warm water
• 1 package dry yeast
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 large 1 Russet potato peeled and quartered

Instructions​

1. Whisk the water and yeast together in a crock jar that is at least 1 gallon. You can also use the ceramic insert from a crock pot if you don’t have a jar. Just don’t store in metal!
2. Mix in the sugar and let set a couple minutes.
3. Stir in flour. The consistency should be just slightly thinner than a pancake batter. Adjust your water or flour if needed to reach desired consistency.
4. Drop in the potato. Cover with a cup towel. Stir about 6 hours in. The starter is ready to use in 12 hours, but I like to let it set about 24 hours before using for a more traditional sourdough flavor.
   
   This is what I use it is Cowboy Kent Rollins recipe,
   
   Check out his youtube channel for some amazing recipes and great humor .

 

[Britesea]

DH's method is even simpler. He discovered that, like grapes, the yeasts needed to ferment your dough are present ON the whole wheat grains. He grinds his flour, adds water to make a pasty mixture (remember paste from first grade?) and let it sit until you see bubbles. It should have a fermenting type smell. Check it every day- the starter should double in size anywhere from 24-48 hours. At this point, you can use it to make good bread, but it won't be sourdough per se for a while. Something a lot of people don't discuss is that, like most fermented foods, sourdough is kind of picky about the temperature. Most ferments do best in temps around the mid-50's to mid-60's. We have to be extra careful in the summer, because the heat can encourage all the wrong sorts to settle in the neighborhood, lol.

He recommends https://www.pantrymama.com/ She knows what she's doing.

 

[tortoise]

DH's method is even simpler. He discovered that, like grapes, the yeasts needed to ferment your dough are present ON the whole wheat grains. He grinds his flour, adds water to make a pasty mixture (remember paste from first grade?) and let it sit until you see bubbles. It should have a fermenting type smell. Check it every day- the starter should double in size anywhere from 24-48 hours. At this point, you can use it to make good bread, but it won't be sourdough per se for a while. Something a lot of people don't discuss is that, like most fermented foods, sourdough is kind of picky about the temperature. Most ferments do best in temps around the mid-50's to mid-60's. We have to be extra careful in the summer, because the heat can encourage all the wrong sorts to settle in the neighborhood, lol.

He recommends https://www.pantrymama.com/ She knows what she's doing.

How can you tell if you're growing the wrong stuff?

 

[Perris]

Why use a package when you can make the starter by scratch with minimal ingredients , flour , water , sugar , yeast , potatoes

minimal ingredients for sourdough are flour + water. The yeasts arrive from the air in your environment, and are suited to your environment. Another important 'ingredient' is patience while that starter gets going
But once it's going, it can go on forever. A SF bakery has one over 100 years old!

 

[Britesea]

How can you tell if you're growing the wrong stuff?

by the smell, mostly; it should have a yeasty type smell. Color can be a clue too, although by the time you start seeing strange colors like pink or black the smell will have given it away. I know it doesn't sound very informative, but it's actually a LOT easier to tell than it is to describe. (If you aren't completely sure, leave it alone for another day or so. As the "wrong stuff" proliferates, it will become less and less appetizing in smell and color.)

I've heard it said that bread may have been "discovered" by burning a batch of beer, lol.

 

[R2elk]

https://www.sourdoughhome.com/sourdough-starter-primer/

 

[wyoDreamer]

I prefer to get a start from someone, whether I buy one or a generous soul offer to share.
I have tried to "catch" wild yeast for a starter. 3 out of 4 times, it ended with the wrong things growing in there. The 3 bad times were all in Wyoming - high mountain desert is a rough climate.
I like the simplicity of knowing that I have the right stuff growing - something that will raise my bread or at least one that won't make me sick.

 

[R2elk]

I prefer to get a start from someone, whether I buy one or a generous soul offer to share.
I have tried to "catch" wild yeast for a starter. 3 out of 4 times, it ended with the wrong things growing in there. The 3 bad times were all in Wyoming - high mountain desert is a rough climate.
I like the simplicity of knowing that I have the right stuff growing - something that will raise my bread or at least one that won't make me sick.

My home grown starter here in Wyoming was fantastic.

 

[tortoise]

My "caught" sourdough starter made bubbles today!