I have been missing making sourdough bread for a while now… my starter died when I was pregnant with Khéna… so I have been trying to make some sourdough starter again…
The first attempt…. failed… just failed… no idea what happened…
The second attempt… put too much water by accident while feeding it and didn’t catch my mistake… no go…
Third… I decided to try cheating and starting with a bit of yeast… foam… looking good… then flat… dead…
Fourth… mixed some flour and water and just let it sit… fed it and slowly I saw bubbles… after about a week I wasn’t getting more but I knew there was potential… so I added about 1/4 tsp of sugar and it doubled within the hour…fed it again the next day with flour and water and it foamed again… and it is perfect!!!
So I have been making sourdough again…
- I cup starter
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cup flour
Knead and let rise until doubled…
yummy!!!!
That looks like heaven. I may have to make a batch myself. Oh boy, I foresee a couple phone calls with you on the subject. Do you get tired of that?!
Of course not!!
This might be totally undesired advice…but…I love bread and am sad when people have difficulties!
– starter does best at room temp very loosely covered or covered with cloth
– stir as often as possible
– start initially with rye or other dark whole grain flour
– add an onion or apple (even a potato) cut in cheesecloth for additional enzyme activity
– table sugar is of little use to feed the yeast until it has been converted…try suggestion above for more enzymes
– feed every day equal parts water and flour (or a little more flour) and then feed 2-3 times 24 hours before you plan to use it
Just ignore if you knew all that already. Maybe it will be helpful?
Thanks Kyrie!
Those are mostly the things I did for it to finally work… (except for the flour and the apple/onion etc)
The table sugar I added was after more than a week and the results were almost instant so the yeast was probably ready…
So I’m wanting to give sourdough a go but need to do a starter first obviously. I’ve never made or used a starter before so what would the measurements be when starting one (like how much flour and water, etc)?
Thanks!
You need 2 cups of warm water and 2 cups of flour. Then you need to let it ferment for nearly a week until it is nice a bubbly and has a sour smell. Once it has fermented you can put it in the fridge.
To feed the starter you disgard half and then add back a cup of flour and a cup of warm water.