pease porridge

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter Three

I know you're all probably tired of looking at pictures of dough, but we'll all really enjoy the final product, won't we?  Well, I will, and you can experience it vicariously through the wonders of modern technology.  Of course, food blogs will never be all they can be until you can replicate smells along with the sights and sounds of cooking (memo to myself: podcast cooking show?).  I was thinking of how wonderful smellovision would be tonight while I was making curry... but more of that tomorrow.  For now, here's how you get to the next starter:

Take out 1/4 cup of your already fermented starter
Dissolve it in 3 TB of lukewarm water
Add in 2/3 cup bread flour, to make another nice, firm dough
Cover it with plastic and wait a day or two, until it is once again sticky and bubbly and smelly.

And we're going to keep repeating that there step every couple of days until we can get it to quadruple in volume in about 8 hours.

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter Two

I know you think I had forgotten all about my starter already, but you're wrong!  It's just a little chilly in my kitchen pantry in the wintertime, so it's moving a little slower than the recipe indicates.  I'm happy to report, however, that it did finally bubble up and stink, and so we're ready to move on.

Add 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour to the starter, mix it up to form a firm dough, cover it and put it back in the pantry for one-two days (or so), when it should be sticky and full of tiny little bubbles.

We'll see how long that takes.  In the meantime, I wanted to clarify that this starter is for use in everyday bread to give it a little tang, and extend the shelf life of the loaf.  It's not strictly for French- or San Francisco-Style sourdough breads, although you can certainly use it for those as well.  The yeast comes from the rye flour, and should be fairly pleasant, although there's always the chance you'll pick up local yeasts, which may or may not taste as nice.

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter One

I've tried twice, recently, to get a sourdough starter started.  Once was right around the holidays, so it didn't count, but the second time I really just kind of stopped paying attention, which won't do at all because there are several breads I would like to bake that I need starter for.

I've had starter problems in the past, including a horrible incident in the summertime when it got too hot and... well, I don't want to talk about it, but, if you've seen any of the Alien franchise movies, you have an idea of what it ended up looking like in my pantry.

Hence, this, my new sourdough journal, which will hopefully help keep me on track and relatively goo-free.  Feel free to play along at home.

The recipe is from Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glezer, and the first starter is a mixture of 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 3/4 cup whole-rye flour.  Mix them up, cover them with plastic wrap and let stand for about 2 days.  According to the directions, it should, "bubble up, smell and look awful, and then subside."  I can't wait!