Sour Dough Starter

At the moment I'm making a sour dough starter. I began it on Thursday. But instead of Wheat flour ....which I didnt have any of, so initially I used Rye flour. So far so good.

I used 100 grams of flour to 100 mls of water. I  used tap water and in hindsight am not sure if thats a good idea. But we shall see, it seems to be bubbling away and fermenting alright. I have fed it twice adding another 100 gms of rye flour and 100 mls of water, the second time using plain wholemeal flour. At the moment it looks like this .......

I will let it rest on the shelf for now with a damp cloth over it to stop any bugs or dust getting into it. Sour dough starter is made by absorbing wild yeasts and  good bacteria which are yeast forming and exist naturally in the air.
Once made you use a 200g to make bread and  feed the starter to keep it going, there are sour dough starters that have been around for decades and the owners just keep adding to them to keep them going. All sour dough starter is different, individual you might say, depending on the flour the water and the atmosphere.
During the week after I think it has fermented enough and fed it a couple more times I will make some bread. The trick is not to allow it to get too hot or too cold as then it will either go off or just die. You need to keep an eye on it, a bit like a gold fish!

Sour Dough Starter and Bread

Acouple of months ago I was talking about sour dough starter but was having some trouble getting it happening, the weather was not helping as it was the middle of summer and pretty hot.

 This is the starter after being left for about 6 hours to prove.

Just recently a reader left a comment on my sour dough starter post and left me a recipe for both the starter and the bread, It was so easy it was practically laughable. The outcome, the finished product is just the best bread I've ever made. And all it has in it is flour, water, salt and oil.

This is the dough after being mixed and needed and left overnight then needed and left for about 5 hours in a floured teatowel.

Here is the beautiful loaf after being baked in the over for only 35 mins.

Finally the bread.... so yummy yet so simple. 

Now here thanks to my lovely reader here is the recipe!

Thanks so much Suzy this is the nicest recipe and it was really lovely of you to share it.

Suzy wrote.......

I was given a sourdough starter by a friend recently and had great success with my bread from the very first loaf! It had a wonderful crust and a great aroma.

When I first got her starter (which was in a glass jar containing about 200g of it), I first "fed" it by adding 100g of unbleached flour and about 100ml of lukewarm water, then stirring well until it became a paste. I then covered the jar with a damp tea towel and left it in a warm place for 6hrs. (After 6hrs it will look bubbly and have a milky smell - it shouldn't smell sour or bad.)

To make the dough for the bread, I weighed out 200g of this starter into a separate bowl and mixed it with 240ml of lukewarm water until it was runny (consistency of milk).

In a large bowl I mixed 450g of unbleached flour,50g wholemeal flour with a pinch of salt. Into this went the milky-looking starter mixture and this was made into a dough and kneaded well for 10 mins on a floured board, then placed in an oiled bowl covered with a damp tea towel and left to rise in a warm place for 8hrs. Then I knocked down the dough with my knuckles, shaped it into a round and placed it into a colander lined with a "floured" teatowel. This was then covered with a damp teatowel and left for 6 hrs in a warm spot to rise again. Then it was turned onto an oiled baking sheet, the top slashed with a sharp knife and baked for 35mins. Hope this is helpful.
I "fed" the original starter "mother" again by adding 100g of unbleached flour and 100ml of lukewarm water to the jar, blended to a paste and left,covered with a damp teatowel for 6 hrs after which I put the lid back on the jar and placed it in the fridge until next time.]

Sour Dough starter.

Hi to everyone who is new to my blog and thanks for taking an interest in my weekly ( or thereabouts) ramblings!
A couple of days ago I started my first sour dough starter; sadly the weather was just a bit too hot and it died! So being a determined lass i made up a new lot and have put it in the laundry cupboard to grow. This lot did absolutely nothing.

I got the recipe out and have remade it. I suspect my mistake may have been that I used a cup of flour and a cup of COLD water , when warm water is what is needed to get the growing process started.

So I've started it again . I've mixed 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour and 1 cup of warmish water together and have left them in a jug in the laundry cupboard. The recipe I am using for the starter is as simple as one cup of flour added to one cup of warm water and mixed. Then you place it in an open container made of glass or plastic in a warm clean area. Like a cupboard or pantry. Then every 24 hours you tip half out and add another 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 cup of warm  water.  This gooey concoction should start to gather natural yeast from the air which then begins to grow, you will know if its working if their are bubbles on the surface. My first lot exploded but since then have been having trouble getting the brew happening, bit now it seems to be doing what is required as there are bubbles forming on the top!!!

This is how our grandmothers and their mothers made bread before you could buy yeast in a packet.Very simple and natural. I will take photos of it as it progresses and when I finally am able to use it will of course show a pic of the final baked result!

 Any feedback from anyone who has made this before would be much appreciated!! In fact any feedback at all is always appreciated and inspires me to write more.