Sylvia's Sourdough Starter Method

Sylvia's Sourdough Starter Method (capturing the Wild Yeast)

To make the starter, I cleaned my kitchen, emptied the trash and washed the can, scoured everything until it glowed, and washed and put away the pre-compost collecting bin for the duration. Opened the windows and aired the house. That got rid of most of the potentially negative invaders. Oh, and we ate all the ripe fruit in the house (fruit flies are death on starter and they gravitate toward the stuff, naughty little dive bombers).

In a glass bowl, with my bread-only wooden spoon, I stirred a couple of tablespoons of active culture plain yogurt, a cup of unbleached wheat flour, and a cup of filtered water. I set it out on the kitchen counter in a room temperature spot and left it uncovered.

To fill the air with good little yeastie beasties to befriend and influence the yogurt guys, I set a pyrex measuring cup of proofing yeast next to the starter bowl and replaced it daily. I also placed some empty wine bottles nearby, empty but for the sediment that is. An unfiltered 1980's French Bordeaux has a lovely effect on starter.

The starter burbled pretty quickly and I fed it for a few weeks before consigning it to a Tupperware in the frig. I gave my dad some of it a few years ago and within months his had a completely different flavor from mine.

beadlizard
(1/11/05)

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Avital's Sourdough Starter for the Super Lazy

Avital's Sourdough Starter for the Super Lazy

Mix 1 cup of water with 1 cup of flour. Leave the bowl out overnight with a handkerchief covering it to keep ants out. If it bubbles, you've got a starter.

I add another cup of water and cup of flour, stir, then put in the fridge in a container with a loose lid. It will need feeding every couple weeks or so.

I should add that I find it easier to catch yeast in the Judean desert than in Boston, so YMMV. Generally it's easier in summer than winter, too. In summer the mixture will start bubbling like a milkshake within a few hours. In winter sometimes it takes a little more than a day.

If you have a vintage starter with a pedigree, it is a good idea to keep some frozen and occasionally throw out your current starter and replace with the 'new' starter from the freezer. The reason is that the local fungi (including yeasts) will eventually crowd out the foreign fungi. That is why starters vary from region to region.

Avital
(1/11/05)

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Joan's Terse Sourdough Bread-Pizza Instructions

Joan's Terse Sourdough Bread-Pizza Instructions

There's really no recipe - you just need a batch of Carolyn's starter (which she let die, but I have kept alive for years and years), and put a bunch of calamata olives in the dough. My usual bread takes 2 days, though it has been so cold in the house that it has been taking 3 - today was not so bad, so I am almost done.

First day - a.m. put starter in bowl with 1 cup water and 1 cup flour. p.m. add 2 cups flour to make a stiff dough, let rise overnight.

Next day, take out about a cup of starter and mix with water and put away for the next time. To the rest, add 2 1/2 cups water, about 6 cups flour (can be mixed whole wheat or rye and white), tablespoon or so of kosher salt. If I am making pizza dough or the rolls my son likes, I add a couple of glugs of olive oil. Mix in olives if you want them. We also sometimes make sun-dried tomato. Let it rise. Then shape the loaves, let it rise again. Bake. Makes 4 pizza crusts, 4 loaves of bread, or 32 rolls.

Joan
(2/7/04)

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Just to clarify--you raise the bread with only the starter? No added yeast? Maybe I'll try catching starter again. (No, wait, too close to Pesach and I won't know whether it's worth keeping until at least a couple months.) I might try this by creating a one-time starter.

Avital

No yeast - this is the only starter that works that well for me. I keep it in the freezer or the back of the fridge over Pesach-sell it with the rest of the chametz and don't even look at it. It was an unwashed grape starter (Levain) that Carolyn made years ago.

Joan

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Debbi's Sourdough Starter and Bread

Debbi's Sourdough Starter and Bread

Sourest Dough Starter
1 pkg. Yeast or 2-1/2 tsp of Yeast
1 Tbsp Vinegar
2-1/4 cup Warm Water (divided)
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp  Sugar
2 cup Flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and flour. Add remaining water until a creamy batter is formed. Place in a glass bowl, cover and let sit until it starts to ferment, about 3 days. It will take on a powerful boozy smell. Stir until creamy and measure out what is called for in the recipe.

Replenish starter with equal amounts of flour and water, half of each that is taken from the starter for the recipe. Store in the fridge and bring to room temp the amount you need for the recipe before using. When replenishing, allow the starter to ferment 1 week in the fridge between uses. This recipe will take about 1 1/2 months to become *really* sour.

Sourdough bread
1.5 lb. loaf (2 lb. loaf in parenthesis)

1/2 cup Sourdough Starter (1 cup)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp. Warm Water (1-1/3 cups)
3 cups Bread Flour (6 cups)
1-1/2 tsp. Salt (1 Tbsp.)
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda (1 tsp.)
1-1/2 tsp. Sugar (optional) (1 Tbsp.)

Pour starter in a medium-sized bowl. Add warm water and 1 1/2 cups (3 cups) flour. Beat vigorously. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 2 hours to 24 hours. 24 hours for the best sourdough flavor.

Blend together the remaining ingredients with the sourdough starter mixture in the bowl. Pour into bread machine pan. Set the machine for medium crust and the 1.5 (2) pound sized loaf using the French Bread cycle, if you have one. Or a customized setting using the longest rising times available for your machine.

I like to make the bread in bread machine on the longest dough cycle you can get. Then form in a loaf and bake in the oven on a stoneware "pan" with some water in a pan below. Temp is about 425° F in the oven for about 30 minutes or so. It depends on the size of loaf, whether you make it into little ones, rolls, etc.

Deb
(2/4/02)

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Sourdough Starter and Bread (another from Sylvia)

Sourdough Starter and Bread (another from Sylvia)

I have an excellent starter in my frig now, very low-maintenance, as in I feed it when I remember and it bounces back instantly. I began it a few years ago with a few tablespoons of plain commercial yogurt plus a cup each of room temperature water and white flour. I have a whole house water filter, so there is no chlorine in our water -- you can set a glass of water on the counter overnight and let the majority of the chlorine in it off-gas naturally. I prefer King Arthur white flour, which I buy rather cheaply at Trader Joe's.

Use a non-reactive container (glass, crockery, tupperware) with lots of head room. Cover it with cheesecloth or a loose dish towel to keep demonic gnats out. Keep it on the counter and stir it gently once a day (wooden spoon, probably best to have a dedicated bread spoon). It shouldn't be in a place over 90° F, and 70° F is just fine. You want normal, healthy growth, not speedy growth at this point. It is a good idea to fill the surrounding air with yeast, so bake a lot or set a tiny bowl of proofing yeast next to your baby starter once a day. When the starter gurgles, you can start baking with the stuff. Ideally you will feed your starter every other week.

Convention is to feed the starter and let it bubble for a while, then put a cup of starter back in its crock and proceed to make bread with the rest. I do small batches so I reserve only a cup, or less, of starter. As your starter ages it will become rather putty-like, with gray liquid on top. This is good! I keep mine in one of those French glass 500 glasses with a plastic lid, in the frig.

*Sponge, aka Feeding your Friend starter

1 cup warm water
1 cup white flour

Beat well with a wooden spoon. Let develop. YMMV. You can keep a quart jar of starter and then add equal amounts of flour and water and have a larger sponge. No diff. Use only unbleached white flour in your starter and sponge; do not add anything else. Add whole wheat or other grains to the bread dough.

If I need to accelerate the sponge a bit, I set it on the counter over the dishwasher when I run the cycle, or on the dining table in the afternoon when the sun pours in the window. When your starter is gurgling happily, remove 1 cup and put it in a covered non-reactive container in your frig.

My standard bread recipe (yeast or sour) is 1 cup liquid, 1 tbsp. olive oil, scant tsp. salt, a small dollop of honey or tbsp. of sugar, and enough flour to make a soft dough, per loaf, plus leavening. I count the starter as half water, half solid. As you use your starter, you will get to know its foibles and preferences. If I want an extra sour bread, I let my starter gurgle until it's almost spent (>12 hours). It is finer in texture and a bit heavier, but delicious. If I want a sandwich loaf, I don't let the sponge go so long, pretty much just harvest it as soon as it gurgles. If I want a bouncy loaf, I add a bit more sugar or malt, a touch of yeast, and warm milk. Knead well, form loaves, and let rise fully before baking. Start hot, then reduce heat until done. An extra sour loaf is more dense and will take longer to bake.

My dad has experimented a lot with crusts. You can place a pan of water beneath the loaf. You can brush the loaf with water and/or a cornstarch solution. You can salt it. What I like is to make a round loaf, bake it on a heavy cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal, slash the top in a grid, and bake it. Sometimes I fuss with a pan of water. I'm a bit crusted out, frankly.

Sylvia
(10/10/01)

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Sylvia's Sourdough Starter and Bread

Sylvia's Sourdough Starter and Bread

Current starter was easy to make and has a lovely flavor.  I simply mixed a couple of tablespoons of active yogurt with a cup of water and a cup of flour, covered loosely with a tea towel, let set for a week or so, and I had a nice culture.  I did make a point of baking yeast bread a couple of times that week, to sweeten the air.

I do my usual bread recipe of:

3 cups water
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey/sugar
lots of flour

Leave out the yeast, add a cup of starter, decrease the water half a cup because of the liquid in the starter, and let the sponge go overnight if I want an extra sour batch.

Anybody else notice that barometric pressure has a correlation with how excited the sourdough gets???

Sylvia beadlizard
(11/23/00)

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Dough Starter or Making More Yeast

Dough Starter or Making More Yeast

My grandma taught me to keep starter from dough. She called it "making more yeast".

She taught me to save about a golf-ball sized bit of bread dough, flatten it out into a thin disk, cover it with a towel and let it dry out, turning over frequently.

To make more bread, you soften this in water and add a little flour and a pinch of sugar, then take it from there. I admit that I've never tried it, but I will someday.

Denise the sleepy
(11/23/00)

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Freezing a Sourdough Starter

Freezing a Sourdough Starter

Most people just freeze the starter like you would a container of tomato sauce--put it in a plastic container, seal and throw it in the freezer for a few months. You have to remember to thaw and feed at 3-month intervals. But you can also freeze-dry starters by spreading them in a thin layer on a large sheet of plastic wrap and sticking it in the freezer. The dry air of the freezer quickly removes the moisture from the thin liquid starter and you're left with freeze-dried starter that can be sent through the mail.

Because it's dry, the culture doesn't react when it reaches room temp again. To reactivate it, you need water. Now, mind you, that's the theory and I've heard people have done it successfully. There are variables, like how strong your culture is and how cold your freezer is (the colder, the better), so you might kill some cultures but it's worth a try if you want your friend to try mailing some from Japan.

Avital
(2/21/00)

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Carolyn's Sourdough Starter

Carolyn's Sourdough Starter (aka Fun with Grapes)

Basically, the grape sourdough starter is made with a small bunch of un-sprayed grapes (I think the recipe insists on un-sprayed because the yeast spores are on the skin, and maybe the spraying does something to them). You will use a TON of flour getting it started, after that, it just needs some maintenance. This takes about 2 weeks to develop, but it makes the best bread I have ever tasted, and, properly used, is as vigorous as any yeast.

1 lb grapes, pesticide-free and UNWASHED
4 cups lukewarm water, about 78 degrees
4 cups unbleached white flour

Make sure all of your bowls and mixing implements are scrupulously clean. This is important in the beginning. Put the grapes in a large piece of cheesecloth, tie with a string. Mix flour and water together in large non reactive container, mush the grapes a bit in the cheesecloth bag, holding it over the bowl, to allow the juices to go into the flour/water mix. Push the grape bag to the bottom of the bowl, and cover with the flour/water mixture. Cover with plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. Leave at room temp for three days.

Day 4: You should notice bubbling on the surface, and a ripe fermented aroma. The starter should not be pink or orange, if it is, throw it away. If it is a purplish black color, it is fine.

Refresh the culture by temporarily removing grapes, adding another cup of flour and another of water, stir, then replace the grape bag.

Cover again.

Days 5-9: it will look pretty vile at this point, but take heart. Just let it ferment.

On Day 10 begin regular feeding. Remove and discard the bag of grapes. Dump out all but about 2 cups of the culture.

Place in a new, clean container -- a large crock is best, something that can be sealed but is not airtight. You will be feeding this baby twice a day (the LaBrea book says to do it three times, but I find twice to be more than adequate). Don't worry this stage doesn't last too long.

Add two cups flour and two cups water at the first feeding. (morning)

For the evening feeding, dump out (or give to your friends, along with feeding instructions, or freeze some for an emergency) half the starter, then again, add 2 cups flour and 2 cups water.

Repeat for four days. At each feeding, dump out part of the starter, then replace with fresh flour and water. By day 14, your starter will be very vigorous, and you can store it in the fridge, and use it in any sourdough recipe. It is a good idea to take the sourdough out of the fridge the night before you plan to use it, freshen it with new flour and water, let sit overnight, and then use it in your recipe the following day. Or, you can use the starter to make a levain (see the Bread Alone cookbook, this is essentially a stiff dough made from starter that is further fermented to make a very tangy bread with wonderful texture -- my favorite).

I find that, after the initial two week period, the starter needs little maintenance. However, you should refresh it if you haven't used it in a while.

Carolyn
(2/7/00)

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