I have been wanting to begin a sourdough starter for some time, but always lacked the get-up-and-go, to get-up-and-get-on-with-it! Over the last few weeks I finally got around to doing it. I did a ZERO research before I began, thinking that it would be easy. Hmmm...
Let me give this to you straight; it is not so easy! Well, based upon what I've read, at least not for most people. For my first attempt I began using a recipe out of one of my favourite reference/recipe books. It was a flop...literally! The instructions neglected to mention that I needed to throw most of my mixture away each day, and so my mixture was enourmous by the time I got to day seven. On that day, after some research, I realised that my starter had failed. *sniff sniff*
I took this failure as a personal challenge to succeed the next time around. I did quite a lot of looking around on the internet for recipes, noting what they had in common, noting variables...etc. And so I began again, this time with more emphasis on keeping the mixture warm. Not so easy in Ireland! But even just twenty-four hours later my mixture was showing promising signs of life! Hoorah!
Here is what I did:
Day One ~ Began with two cups of lukewarm water, to which I added 1 cup of organic whole-wheat flour and 1 cup of organic rye flour. I set it on a small towel (folded into quarters) directly on top of our wood burning stove.
Day Two ~ I woke to my "pet" having a layer of brownish water lying on the surface. Apparently that is a good sign and is called the "hooch". I simply stirred this back in with the handle of a wooden spoon. Then I poured about 3/4 of my mixture down the sink and added 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of rye and 1/2 cup of wholewheat to the mixture and stirred well. I popped the lid back on and set it back on the stove. **note that I only built a small fire at approx. 4pm and let the fire die down at bedtime - I did not keep it lit continually**
Day Three ~ More "hooch". I followed the same directions as the day before and set it back in it's place on the stove. Within a few hours I noticed bubbling on the surface and top 1cm. Starting to smell "fermented".
Day Four ~ No noticeable "hooch" today. Followed same directions as previous days. By the evening time however, my mixture has grown considerably in size and had bubbles throughout; it actually spilled out of my glass jar! The mixture smelled distinctly "fermented". As it was late I simply stirred my mixture and poured out half into another glass jar.
Day Five ~ Even though I knew my starter was "active" I fed it again just to be sure. I left them both on the stove for the day and by evening they were both frothy and smelly (the good kind). I popped them both into the fridge.
Since then I have baked with my starters multiple times, as I usually bake two loaves of bread, every other day and each time they have turned out just lovely! I love baking sourdough! To me, it is nothing short of miraculous to see bread rising, even though there is no yeast in it! Yes, yes, I'm easily pleased, what can I say? Whole-wheat sourdough recipe coming soon...
Since then I have baked with my starters multiple times, as I usually bake two loaves of bread, every other day and each time they have turned out just lovely! I love baking sourdough! To me, it is nothing short of miraculous to see bread rising, even though there is no yeast in it! Yes, yes, I'm easily pleased, what can I say? Whole-wheat sourdough recipe coming soon...