You can buy a starter powder, or you can make your own. How much fun is buying the stupid powder?!
There are many different instructional sites on-line, so I found one I like, and mostly stuck to it. (Please note: if you plan to make your own starter, you might find my account humorous, but please click the link I provided in the last sentence for actual instruction.)
Basically it all started with a cup of all-purpose white flour, a cup of whole wheat flour, and about 1 1/2 cups of warm water, combined in a plastic tupperware bowl with a little hole punched in the middle of the cover. That is all Day 1 requires.
The starter should be fed every 24 hours for about 6 days. So on Day 2 it got its first feeding.
When I removed the cover on Day 2, this is what I got:
Pretty gross. I mixed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, and 1/3 cup warm water. The point is to add about equal weights of each, and water is heavier.
I mixed til it was like a creamy batter:
Cover goes on, and it has a nice warm home on the counter.
24 hours later, on Day 3, this is what I had:
More bubbles, and a darker color than when I closed the top yesterday. Day 3's instructions are to remove half of the mixture, and to replace about that much in flour and water, again at about a 1.5/1 flour/water ratio. I added 1/2 cup unbleached white flour, and 1/4 cup warm water.
Put the top back on, and put it back in its spot on the counter.
Before Day 4's feeding, the whole mixture needs to about double in size.
i attempted doing the sourdough starter thing last summer. it was not a success.
ReplyDeletei am SO ENJOYING your blog, Jeff!
Lan
Thanks, Lan! I'm so glad you're here and enjoying it. Thanks for being my first commenter!
ReplyDeleteMy starter's success still remains to be seen... I'll post later today about Day 4, when the mixture is supposed to have magically doubled in volume in 24 hours.
It seems like people have all sorts of trouble with it, but I encourage you to try again. Make sure you start with something other than bleached white flour, like any wheat, rye or durum flour. And apparently using a stainless steel bowl won't work, either; it needs to be glass or plastic.
Let me know if you do decide to try again; I'd love to know about your adventure!
i just re-read my blog posts about my sourdough experiment and it wasn't quite a failure in regards to edibility, it was more of a problem with being photogenic. i did make sourdough muffins that came out well.
ReplyDeletehave you read Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible? i swear by this bread book. that is where i get my bread recipes now.
Sooooo... not to get all technical on you here little brother, but if you just leave the leftover goop from the first batch of REGULAR WHITE no knead bread in the bowl, make another batch, and let it sit in the fridge for a few days, and then do it again- you will also successfully make sourdough bread. I used to do this inadvertently all the time. Just never wash your bread mixing bowl. That said, your science fair way seems like much more fun. And really, I usually just make the white bread, so I can't account for what wheat flour would do. Can't wait to see you.
ReplyDeletexo