This week an internet friend sent me some flakes of sourdough starter, so that I could start my own from his culture. You can of course generate your own starter just using flour, water, and patience. But getting a bit of starter from someone else is the best way to give yourself a good head start.
There is a lot of mythology, rumor, old wive's tales, and urban (rural?) legend surrounding the sourdough starter. The first and most important thing to remember is that people have been using sourdough starters for thousands of years. The first sourdoughs were probably started in ancient Egypt, around 1,500 years before the birth of Christ.
Sourdough starters are a lot more robust than you might think, given the exacting instructions and debates over minutia you can find online. Sourdough starter is a culture of yeast and lactobacillus, swimming in and eating a media of flour and water. The lactobacillus turns its environment acidic (thus the sourness) which keeps hostile bacteria from gaining a foothold. Luckily, bread yeast can survive the acidic environment. The lactobacillus lends its distinctive taste to the mix, and keeps the culture clean.
The starter culture will eat the flour you give it, create CO2, and replicate. Your job is basically to make sure it doesn't run out of food. An active, mature starter (I have heard that a starter isn't considered mature and ready until it's been going for a month) should be able to double its volume within four or five hours at room temperature after a feeding. Its activity is dependent on the temperature, which is why that same process will take a week or two if you stick your starter in the fridge.
When you're beginning your starter, either from scratch or from a sample from a friend, there are two phases. In Phase 1, you want to feed it (throw away half the starter, then add about 1/2 C of water and ½ C of water) once or twice a day, depending on the temperature. I keep a cold house, and it's January, so I fed mine once a day. If you live in a hot part of the country, and it's July, you'd want to feed your starter more often.
Phase 1 lasts for a few days to a week, or until the starter begins to really get moving. In other words, at first, you should feed your starter whether it needs it or not.
Phase 2 begins when your starter's activity starts ramping up to typical levels. You will know you have hit phase 2 when your starter doubles its size after a feeding. In Phase 2, leave your starter at room temperature, and feed it once a day. This allows the culture to mature, and the proportion of bacteria and yeast to find a balance. Phase 2 should last for at least two weeks, from what I have read.
You can make bread from the discarded Phase 2 starter, but be prepared for the results to be erratic. Because a baby starter isn't ready yet, it can really affect the taste, rising time, and texture of the finished bread.
Once your starter has matured, congratulations! You made it! You can now safely keep your starter in the fridge, and follow regular sourdough protocols for baking bread. More on those in a future article!
There is a lot of mythology, rumor, old wive's tales, and urban (rural?) legend surrounding the sourdough starter. The first and most important thing to remember is that people have been using sourdough starters for thousands of years. The first sourdoughs were probably started in ancient Egypt, around 1,500 years before the birth of Christ.
Sourdough starters are a lot more robust than you might think, given the exacting instructions and debates over minutia you can find online. Sourdough starter is a culture of yeast and lactobacillus, swimming in and eating a media of flour and water. The lactobacillus turns its environment acidic (thus the sourness) which keeps hostile bacteria from gaining a foothold. Luckily, bread yeast can survive the acidic environment. The lactobacillus lends its distinctive taste to the mix, and keeps the culture clean.
The starter culture will eat the flour you give it, create CO2, and replicate. Your job is basically to make sure it doesn't run out of food. An active, mature starter (I have heard that a starter isn't considered mature and ready until it's been going for a month) should be able to double its volume within four or five hours at room temperature after a feeding. Its activity is dependent on the temperature, which is why that same process will take a week or two if you stick your starter in the fridge.
When you're beginning your starter, either from scratch or from a sample from a friend, there are two phases. In Phase 1, you want to feed it (throw away half the starter, then add about 1/2 C of water and ½ C of water) once or twice a day, depending on the temperature. I keep a cold house, and it's January, so I fed mine once a day. If you live in a hot part of the country, and it's July, you'd want to feed your starter more often.
Phase 1 lasts for a few days to a week, or until the starter begins to really get moving. In other words, at first, you should feed your starter whether it needs it or not.
Phase 2 begins when your starter's activity starts ramping up to typical levels. You will know you have hit phase 2 when your starter doubles its size after a feeding. In Phase 2, leave your starter at room temperature, and feed it once a day. This allows the culture to mature, and the proportion of bacteria and yeast to find a balance. Phase 2 should last for at least two weeks, from what I have read.
You can make bread from the discarded Phase 2 starter, but be prepared for the results to be erratic. Because a baby starter isn't ready yet, it can really affect the taste, rising time, and texture of the finished bread.
Once your starter has matured, congratulations! You made it! You can now safely keep your starter in the fridge, and follow regular sourdough protocols for baking bread. More on those in a future article!