Sourdough starter.

Categories

• Baking
• Bread

Preparation Time

5 minutes.

Sourdough bread is leavened using wild yeast, rather than baker's yeast. A colony or 'starter' can be easily made from flour and water, and kept alive indefinitely. Our starter, Siegfried, is over ten years old and there are some out there that have been kept going and used for centuries.

Ingredients

• Wholemeal rye flour¹.
• Filtered water.

Equipment

• Glass jar to store starter in.
• Kitchen scales.
• Tape or label to record jar weight.

Method

Getting started

1. Weigh the empty jar for storing the starter, and write this down².
2. Feed the starter by mixing together 40 grams of wholemeal rye flour and water in the jar.
3. Leave to stand and feed again once a day.
4. After a week or so you should see bubbles or other signs of activity³, you are now ready to move onto the stages below.

Feeding

Once the starter is established it can be stored in a fridge for up to a week without feeding. When taking it out, allow to warm up for 12 hours or so before the first feeding. If being stored at room temperature, it must be fed once a day with equal parts rye flour and water, as above.

Pre-bake

1. Two days before baking, take the starter out of the fridge to allow it to become active again. Remember to feed daily.
2. The night before baking, separate excess starter out into a different container, leaving about 40 grams behind⁴.
3. Feed the remaining starter in the jar as above (40 grams of flour and water).
4. Feed the new starter in the bowl with 70 - 80 grams of flour and water⁵.
5. Leave both out at room temperature overnight.
6. The following morning the original starter can be returned to the fridge, and the new starter used as instructed in whatever bread recipe you are following.

Notes

1. Many types of flour can be used, but wholemeal rye seems to work best. We suspect this is due to the high protein content compared to wheat.
2. This is so you can judge how much to remove when preparing to bake later. We writes this on a label and sticks it on the jar so he doesn't lose it.
3. Your starter may also start to smell. We find that Siegfried smells alcoholic when he has not been fed enough, and like slightly overripe fruit when he is ready to bake.
4. This is where knowing the original weight of the container comes in handy.
5. If you want your loaf to be sour, you don't have to feed the new starter here. Just make sure you have enough for the recipe you are following.