SOURDOUGH STARTER

Being a KISS kind of guy keeping it simple comes naturally to me so after reading numerous descriptions of the process for growing a sourdough starter and watching several videos I decided to do just that – keep it simple. I started with a 1L plastic food storage container and added a cup of whole wheat flour and a cup of room temperature water, mixed it up well then placed the cover almost on top leaving it about a half inch opening on one side to allow airborne yeast to get into the container. The next day I discarded a half cup of the mixture and then added another half cup of flour and half cup of water and the same the next couple of days so I ended up with a little over a litre of starter. There were soon signs of active fermentation and from then on it was one cup of starter out and a half cup flour and half cup water in each day until a very strong fermentation was evident, about ten days. At this point you can use your starter according to your recipe or refrigerate it for later use. It still needs to be fed once a week while in the fridge but many people claim that it can be kept and used for years this way, bringing it out and up to room temperature and feeding it well for a few days then using the needed amount and putting the balance back in the fridge again. ALWAYS REMEMBER – It takes much longer to rise than packaged yeast, an 8 hour rise is not unusual, more like the norm.

Sourdough starter can be used for all sorts of baking instead of packaged yeast where the flavour profile is appropiate, it is just a matter of adjusting the volumes of ingredients to suit the recipe.