A Sourdough Starter: Success?

After two failed attempts at creating a sourdough starter from scratch, and a lot of helpful advice and comments from readers, I have created what appears to be a very healthy 12 day old starter.

The method came from Mike at SourdoughHome.com, by way of Jonathan and it was very simple (thanks guys!):

Mix 1/4 cup of water with 3/8 cup of organic rye flour in a container, cover it loosely with plastic wrap, and feed it 1/4 cup of water and 3/8 cup of organic rye flour every 8-12 hours. That’s it!

The major indicator that the starter is healthy is that it doubles its size between feedings. After about 2 days, it started doing this consistently. It also developed a very tangy, green-apply smell, and the gas bubbles in the dough between feedings appeared to be growing bigger each day.

Day 2: Before Feeding

Day 2: Stirring in the water (note there are no bubbles)

Day 3: Stirring before feeding, notice the air pockets!

Day 3: Mixing in the water, lots of bubbles develop

Day 3: Mixing in the water, it gets milky and lots of bubbles develop

Day 3: Marking the height

Day 4: More than doubled in size!

To prevent the dough from taking over your kitchen, Sourdough Mike recommends disposing of 1/2 of the starter following each feeding, (I’ve been throwing out 1/2 each day).

Although my starter appears healthy, Mike recommends not storing it in the fridge until it is 30 days old. So while I can start using it, I have to keep feeding it twice daily. As an insurance policy though, after today’s feeding instead of throwing 1/2 of it out, I put it in a jar and stored it in the fridge. Just in case anything happens to my pet I’ll have a clone.

It really has been like having a pet. I feed it at night before I go to sleep, and then in the morning before I leave for work and marvel at how much it has grown. Once a week I transfer the starter to a bowl while I clean out its cage, and I make sure I give it lots of love. In return, I’m hoping this baby is going to make me some tasty bread. Tomorrow it will finally be put to the test as I attempt to make a sourdough batard from Daniel Leader’s book Local Breads, stay tuned!

No Knead Zone: Organic Whole Grain Bread

I tried Mark Bittman’s remake of the best bread recipe ever. This new version uses all whole grain flour. It’s not as good as the white flour original, but it’s real easy to make, very hearty, great for people with high cholesterol, and has plenty of fiber.

No-Knead Whole Grain Bread

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup coarse cornmeal
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water

mix up the dry ingredients, add the water and mix it until it’s a wet shag. Then let it sit covered at room temp for 4-5 hours.

Shape it into a rectangle and put it in an oiled loaf pan. Oil the top. Let it sit for another hour, and then bake it at 350 for 45 minutes.

This bread is great cut into thick slices, toasted, with cream cheese or jam. A fantastic way to start the day (I did it this morning).

Stiff Dough Levain: Day 3

My little ball of flour and water seems to have ripened nicely. I’m picking up very tangy notes of fruitiness that weren’t there on day 1. Both yesterday and today there was some rising, probably a 50% increase, and I have seen, smelled, and tasted many of the signs that the book says are indicative of a healthy culture.

Day 3, prior to feeding

So Yesterday I fed it 2 tablespoons of water, 50 grams (1/3 cup) of bread flour, and 2 teaspoons of organic whole-wheat flour. I mixed in the water, then added the flour and incorporated it all in.

After adding the water it froths up a bit

Today I fed it the same thing. Only I made one of the cardinal errors in baking, and I hope I didn’t blow it:

You are NEVER supposed to pour something over a bowl, and what did I do? I poured the water from a gallon pitcher into a tiny tablespoon right over the bowl and too much poured out and got into the dough. I think it was just a little bit extra, and I think I compensated by adding less than the required 2 measured tablespoons, but the book says the dough won’t be smooth. Check it:

That's Smooth

We’ll see…

Creating a Yeast Culture – Take 3

After a couple of failed attempts at creating my own sourdough starter from scratch, I’m at it again. I’ve dusted the flour off of my shoulder and I’m going for it, only this time I’m attempting the classic:

Stiff Dough Levain (Classic Sourdough Starter)

Again, this could take anywhere from 4-10 days, and aside from daily feeding and inspection, requires very little work (or so I’m told).

50 grams organic rye flour
50 grams unbleached bread flour
1/3 cup tepid spring water

Day 1

Method: Add the water to a medium mixing bowl and stir in the flours with a wooden spoon until a stiff dough forms. Scrape down any dough from the sides of the bowl. The dough will not be smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 24 hours.

If this goes according to plan, it will be the beginning of a journey through the bread-making techniques of the old world. If this fails, I may have to start making my grill cheeses on Wonderbread. Stay tuned.

Growing the culture: Days 3 – 8

I have a lack of culture, its clear to me now.

If you haven’t read about my culture, I’m trying to capture and develop yeast to create my own sourdough starter, read how I did it here.

I don’t know what went wrong, but I have not yet seen the tell-tale signs that I’m supposed to be looking for to tell me my culture has developed… which are:

The surface will be glossy and dotted with air bubbles, like a pancake ready to be flipped (I may have seen this)

The culture will have risen anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 (never saw this)
It will smell like very ripe apples with undertones of wheat (nope)
It will taste tart and fruity (possibly)
When you draw a rubber spatula through it and lift it up, long elastic strands will hang from the spatula (definitely didn’t see this)

He ( Daniel Leader) also talks about how if you don’t stir it for a while there can be puddles of grayish water on the surface… which is alcohol and water, normal byproducts of the fermentation which are referred to as hooch. I saw a clear separation of liquids when I didn’t stir it, but the liquid was more yellow and clear (see below)… being that I only had maybe one sign above, I don’t think I had a healthy culture.

So I started again… and the same thing happened…
Tomorrow I am going to attempt to create a culture in a stiff dough levain… the starter needed to make the “Quintessential French Sourdough”. I will not give up.