"Kevin my Leaven" (making a "starter")
Hi everybody! How goes it whoever you are and wherever you are? Yes, I STINK at meeting deadlines when it comes to this blog apparently. Feel free to scold me. This blog post is going to be short and sweet. I am going to talk about how to get started making sourdough bread. This specific blog will be about making and feeding a nice bubbly starter. (Bubbly= able to rise dough to make beautiful loaves of bread!)
In the last blog I had talked about this a bit and how I ALMOST gave up at this part when I started. Most blogs and books I had read said that it would take around 3-5 days to get your starter to start bubbling and showing signs of life; my first go was in the colder months and it actually took me 9 days to start seeing happy bubbly bacteria. There are many different things that come into play when making sourdough bread and temperature is one of the key elements! Other factors that play a role are humidity, elevation, temperature fluctuations, and how much natural yeast you have in your air. A word of wisdom is to be patient. If your one of the lucky few where it grows in a few days don't mind a bit of jealously on my behalf!😉
Alright onto the instructions of making your starter which in other words is pretty much your "yeast" or "wild caught yeast" as many like to call it. You will either need a plastic tub (fairly decent size to accommodate for rising) or when I started out I just used a mason jar.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
1. plastic tub or large glass jar (with lids)
2. flour (any kind will do, however I suggest organic and not enriched and I started out with an all-purpose)
3. measuring cups
4. water (distilled is preferred however I use my Brita)
Alrighty! I am about to shake some things up... bare with me this is gonna get tough... I will now tell you the instructions to making your own "starter"
INSTRUCTIONS:
Grab your container, preferably one you can semi see through and then grab measuring cups. I use 1/4 a cup however depending on how much starter you want to make you can start with 1/2 a cup too. Pour in 1/4 or 1/2 cup a flour and then pour in the same amount of water.. so either 1/2 or 1/4. Stir to combine. Do this once in the morning and once in the afternoon/evening. That. Is. It.
I am not kidding either. Do this twice a day until you see bubbles and rising. (see above picture for bubbling)
With a new starter, I mark the level with a piece of tape where the line is on the flour and water mixture.→ That way when it starts to bubble I can see how much it is rising and know when its ready to bake with (it should about double in size). Once you start seeing constant rising and falling (after it bubbles to its full potential it will start falling back to the original line. To put it simply the bacteria has eaten all the food and is now depleted) you may go down to only feeding once a day and if that becomes too much of a hassle for you feed it one last time and put the little sucker in the fridge. When I put mine in the fridge I can go about a month before having to feed it again. When it comes to putting the lid on it needs to be lightly on the top; not something that is air tight. The gases from the starter can actually make the glass explode. I thankfully have never personally witnessed this but I don't feel like testing it out either. I just set a mason jar LID, not including the screw ring on top and leave it.
THAT IS IT! once it is bubbling that means it can rise bread!
Some caveats and little tid bits from other fellow sourdough bakers and myself:
Some sourdough bakers: Every time you go to feed your starter take out at least half, it may seem sad and wasteful but otherwise it will overflow!
Lauren: This is why I only use 1/4 of a cup instead of 1/2 or 1 cup. I don't have to empty my container as much.
Some sourdough bakers: There may be water on the top of your starter when you go to feed it again, this is called "hooch" pour that out.
Lauren: When it comes to the "hooch" it can either be poured out or mixed back in.. no biggy try not to overanalyze too bad. 🎶"We got the Hooch, Baby, we got the only sweetest thing in the world"🎵-raise your hand if you know the song 🙋
One more tip- The smell of a starter can be a bit... well.. gross. They are very pungent and potent! One issue I had when first starting, was not knowing if it was going bad or not (again I overanalyzed a lot) and what I have to say now is you'll know! Every time after you feed it wait about 20 min and it will smell like nice strong bread dough. Try to always smell it after you feed your starter, that way if it ever happens to go rancid you will know.
That is it on the starter, my next post will be about making the leaven. Feel free to ask any questions or leave some feedback!
Alright onto the instructions of making your starter which in other words is pretty much your "yeast" or "wild caught yeast" as many like to call it. You will either need a plastic tub (fairly decent size to accommodate for rising) or when I started out I just used a mason jar.
MATERIALS NEEDED:1. plastic tub or large glass jar (with lids)
2. flour (any kind will do, however I suggest organic and not enriched and I started out with an all-purpose)
3. measuring cups
4. water (distilled is preferred however I use my Brita)
Alrighty! I am about to shake some things up... bare with me this is gonna get tough... I will now tell you the instructions to making your own "starter"
INSTRUCTIONS:
Grab your container, preferably one you can semi see through and then grab measuring cups. I use 1/4 a cup however depending on how much starter you want to make you can start with 1/2 a cup too. Pour in 1/4 or 1/2 cup a flour and then pour in the same amount of water.. so either 1/2 or 1/4. Stir to combine. Do this once in the morning and once in the afternoon/evening. That. Is. It.
I am not kidding either. Do this twice a day until you see bubbles and rising. (see above picture for bubbling)With a new starter, I mark the level with a piece of tape where the line is on the flour and water mixture.→ That way when it starts to bubble I can see how much it is rising and know when its ready to bake with (it should about double in size). Once you start seeing constant rising and falling (after it bubbles to its full potential it will start falling back to the original line. To put it simply the bacteria has eaten all the food and is now depleted) you may go down to only feeding once a day and if that becomes too much of a hassle for you feed it one last time and put the little sucker in the fridge. When I put mine in the fridge I can go about a month before having to feed it again. When it comes to putting the lid on it needs to be lightly on the top; not something that is air tight. The gases from the starter can actually make the glass explode. I thankfully have never personally witnessed this but I don't feel like testing it out either. I just set a mason jar LID, not including the screw ring on top and leave it.
THAT IS IT! once it is bubbling that means it can rise bread!
Some caveats and little tid bits from other fellow sourdough bakers and myself:
Some sourdough bakers: Every time you go to feed your starter take out at least half, it may seem sad and wasteful but otherwise it will overflow!
Lauren: This is why I only use 1/4 of a cup instead of 1/2 or 1 cup. I don't have to empty my container as much.
Some sourdough bakers: There may be water on the top of your starter when you go to feed it again, this is called "hooch" pour that out.
Lauren: When it comes to the "hooch" it can either be poured out or mixed back in.. no biggy try not to overanalyze too bad. 🎶"We got the Hooch, Baby, we got the only sweetest thing in the world"🎵-raise your hand if you know the song 🙋
One more tip- The smell of a starter can be a bit... well.. gross. They are very pungent and potent! One issue I had when first starting, was not knowing if it was going bad or not (again I overanalyzed a lot) and what I have to say now is you'll know! Every time after you feed it wait about 20 min and it will smell like nice strong bread dough. Try to always smell it after you feed your starter, that way if it ever happens to go rancid you will know.
That is it on the starter, my next post will be about making the leaven. Feel free to ask any questions or leave some feedback!
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