Sourdough Babies

Every winter, somewhere around late January to early February, I begin to understand why pioneer women on the prairie went bonkers and began to consider ways to break the monotony of countless cold, snowy, dark days stuck in the log cabin, Unfortunately, this sometimes led to the demise of their entire family in a variety of rather unpleasant methods. After looking around my house and considering the options, I opted for becoming obsessed with sourdough starter and breads. My family appreciates my decision.

While working on my planned upcoming post, Bobby and Baguettes, I realized it would probably be helpful to get some of you prepared by providing a little insight into my recent success raising healthy, happy Sourdough Babies, as you too will need some of your own if you want to craft some bread.

After numerous failed attempts while still living in Louisville, I began to despair that I was just not meant to ever have my own little house of wild yeasties to love and care for. I set the idea aside and went on with my life. But this January, one of the coldest in some time here in scenic southern Indiana, and with Darlin' Mark off in Idaho waging the Potato Crusades, I started to dream again of all the happiness Sourdough Babies could bring me.

So I got out the jar, measured out some water and organic whole wheat flour and stirred it up, covered it and put it in my oven and turned on the light as a beacon for all the the yeasties to come and feast. Twelve hours later I was not hopeful, but decided to feed the little sucker anyway. The next morning, I thoroughly expected to open the oven only to find a dead glob of water and flour, but eureka! Success! It was bubbling and frothing and had doubled it's size overnight.

I spent the next 2 weeks feeding and tending and keeping it warm. I would talk to it, tell it how pretty it was and how proud I was that it was growing so big and strong (I told you it's been a long winter). And how has it rewarded me? It's taken over my life. It's on my counter tops, it's in my refrigerator. I've turned it into chocolate cake, waffles, pancakes, breads, rolls. I've dumped buckets of it down the drain. Although I'm starting to grow concerned that this may lead to it settling into the septic field and mutating into some sort of giant fungal monster that slowly oozes towards the house and envelopes it one night, trapping me in my own sourdough starter tomb. Maybe a little dramatic, but it has caused me to start throwing most of it in the trash, rather than down the disposal. I have started feeding it once a day rather than twice hoping it will slow down, develop belly fat, lose it's sex drive and feel tired and annoyed all the time. Oh, wait, that's Low T. Anyway, none of that has happened. It's still growing.

I'm sure after hearing this, you just can't wait to start your own little family of ravenous wild yeasties. Just keep in mind that while it initially requires some extra time and attention, it will become much more independent and self sufficient over time. If you plan to bake infrequently, it can be housed in the fridge which will lull the little yeasties into a state of suspended animation. You can usually feed once a week and the starter will be just fine.

So if you've read this and still would like to have a go, I'll share my very unscientific but wildly successful formula for doing so. Remember it's also perfectly acceptable to purchase one. King Arthur Flours has a starter available for purchase. The link for KAF is in My Happy Places. You can also obtain a free starter from Carl's Friends http://carlsfriends.net/.

I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale if you plan to make and obtain a starter. Also if you are planning to experiment and produce breads on a regular basis, most artisan recipes and processes will be provided in weights. I purchased a Farberware electronic kitchen scale which measures both dry and liquid, metric and standard measures, and has a room temp thermometer for approximately $40. There are many options in all price ranges available.

Yeasties Gone Wild!

Sourdough Starter Ingredients and Process

Water
Whole Wheat Flour (organic or unbleached)
Kitchen Scale
2 Cup Container (preferably glass or plastic, wide mouth and straight sides make it easier to mix and keep container sides clean)
Plastic wrap

I made and maintain my starter based on a 100% ratio. Basically this means I use an equal amount of water and flour (by weight) to start and for each feeding. It also means that as the starter is growing or being maintained that you feed it an amount equal to the amount you use or discard. There are many and varied opinions and directions for starters. So no one way is right. Play around with it as you gain more experience and decide what method works for you in your schedule and baking needs. 

I used regular tap water. Some people recommend using spring water or letting tap water sit at room temperature for 24 hours to allow any chlorine to dissipate when the starter is young to reduce risk of killing off the yeast as they are growing. 

Measure 50 ml of water (approximately 1/4 cup) into the container, add 50 gm of whole wheat flour (approximately 1/2 cup) and mix well. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and sit at room temperature for 12 hours. If your house is kept fairly cool, like mine, then sit the container in your oven with the light on. 

At the end of 12 hours you may start to see some signs of life, few bubbles, some condensation on the plastic wrap, it may have puffed up a little. Go ahead and feed it again, using the same amounts above. Add water first, then flour to mix until fairly smooth. Cover and sit for another 12 hours. 

At this time, if you see obvious bubbles, some foaming, then feed again. If you don't see any signs, give it another 12 hours and check again. If it looks active at that time, feed again with the same amounts of water and flour as above.

Feed again without discarding in 12 hours. After this, if the starter is consistently showing lots of bubbles and growing close to double in size every 12 hours, you will want to start to discard before feeding. This means you will remove approximately half the total amount of starter in the container before adding the 50/50 water/flour feeding. 

You want to continue to feed every 12 hours for the first 2 weeks, keeping the starter at room temp and loosely covered with plastic wrap. After the first week, if the starter is doubling in size every 12 hours or less, you can begin to transition the starter to all purpose flour if you want. I am currently maintaining mine with a 4:1 all purpose to whole wheat ratio using 40 gm of all  purpose and 10 gm of whole wheat with each feeding. 

After you have a healthy, thriving starter for a couple weeks, you can decide to refrigerate if you plan to bake less then a couple times a week. Once refrigerated you will need to discard and feed weekly. If you feel bad discarding starter all the time, keep in mind you can use discard for things like pancakes, waffles, cakes and other recipes that don't require the starter to be "fed" prior to using. 

If you don't succeed with your first attempts, try again. And as I said, this is simply the method that seemed to work for me. Remember that a starter is simply a way of wrangling the wild yeasts that are native to your environment. This means it's unique to you and your home and will give your breads and other goodies an individual taste and tang.

If my method doesn't bring  you success, there are many more ideas to be found following the links in My Happy Places. Check out The Fresh Loaf and Sourdough Home for ideas from other bakers around the world.

Now get started!