Sourdough?

[tealsphynx]

hmm....I feel a little goofy asking a question on sourdough here on Lit, but being full of wonderfully interesting individuals maybe someone would have some insight. I just started a sourdough starter a week ago using a recipe I found in my cookbook (2 1/2 cups water, 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp honey and a packet of yeast {optional, but I don't trust the "natural yeast" starters yet, I want my bread!}) but the recipe doesn't talk about maintainence (sp?) and long term care for a sourdough starter. My own internet searching has yeilded almost no helpful results....they talk about "feeding" the starter, but doesn't say with what/when, how to store an established starter, other recipes using sourdough starters....
Any insights anyone has about sourdough would be much apreciated!

 

[SweetErika]

Around Christmas, I found there were a ton of excellent cooks and bakers here, so someone should be along soon to give you some answers.

I was interested, so I did a google search on "feeding sourdough starters" and came up with http://allrecipes.com/advice/coll/all/articles/150P1.asp among other excellent, easy to follow tutorials.

Let us know how it turns out...I seem to mess up bread more times than not, but it's always fun to try!

 

[Nightbird]

I've got a Sour Dough starter going now. The instructions I used said pretty much the same thing.. You use flour, water, and sugar or honey. It said to keep it in a warm place until it stopped being bubbly and had a "Fermented" smell. Then it said to store it in the fridge and feed it every ten days.

I've heard of storing starter in the fridge before. A couple of things..Stir it at least twice a day, unless your storing it in the fridge.. And NEVER use any metal containers or utensils on it. Rubber, Glass, Wood or plastic.. That includes the bowl or whatever you store it in.

 

[Ezzy]

I've heard of storing starter in the fridge before. A couple of things..Stir it at least twice a day, unless your storing it in the fridge.. And NEVER use any metal containers or utensils on it. Rubber, Glass, Wood or plastic.. That includes the bowl or whatever you store it in.

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 again until creamy and measure out what is called for in the recipe.

Replenish starter with equal amounts of flour and water.

Store in the fridge and bring to room temp before using.

It says to allow to ferment for one week between uses but I don't.

I do let it sit out overnight after I feed it.

This starter took about 1 1/2 months to become really sour.

 

[Nightbird]

I've got a Sour Dough starter going now. The instructions I used said pretty much the same thing.. You use flour, water, and sugar or honey. It said to keep it in a warm place until it stopped being bubbly and had a "Fermented" smell. Then it said to store it in the fridge and feed it every ten days.

I've heard of storing starter in the fridge before. A couple of things..Stir it at least twice a day, unless your storing it in the fridge.. And NEVER use any metal containers or utensils on it. Only use, Rubber, Glass, Wood or plastic.. That includes the bowl or whatever you store it in.

Ok so I was stupid and left out a few words before..

 

[tealsphynx]

It's fermenting really well, it's got a good winey smell to it. I'm going to make a loaf with some of it this week to see how it tastes in it's baby stage. I was thinking using a canning jar to store it in so I can use a cloth instead of the metal lid when I replenish it so it can breath.... I also found something online that said if I wanted to store it unused for more than a month to smear a sheet of it out and let it dry and store it as flakes (this is also the preferred method for mailing it to friends) and when you want to use it to add water flour and sugar and let it sit out for a few days to ferment....I know what my dad is getting for father's day(he loves to bake and has never tried sourdough)!

 

[electron69]

Sourdough

Everyone 's post on this fits the bill and the link that SweetErika posted is adequate. I would only reiterate that if you aren't going to be using your starter often then refrigerate it in a tightly covered bowl or before long you'll have the blob trying to get out of your kitchen.

I share my starter with several friends on a regular basis, bake a lot of old world bread regularly, as well as sourdough donuts, etc., and have never run low. I tried keeping it on the counter at room temp and it got to be too much for me.

Enjoy!