Storing sourdough starter
susytwo
12 years ago
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teresa_nc7
12 years agograinlady_ks
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Preserving sourdough starter?
Comments (114)It was fun reading through these oldies - but goodies. I can now make a fairly decent loaf of sourdough bread - but it wasn't easy - lots of trial and error. Thanks to Ken and all the folks here, my bread finally gets my family's "thumbs-up" - although it took some doing. I would add one bit of information though. I have a bread book that I recommend to beginners. It is "The Cornell Bread Book" by Clive M. McCay and Jeanette B. McCay. I happened to see it advertised - while surfing the net, and found several copies on - I think - Amazon or? - but very inexpensive. It has lots of recipe for all kinds of different breads, rolls, using whole wheat, rye and other flours. It was very helpful for me. It does advise making sourdough cultures each time you bake, which I do not do, preferring to have my culture made up and stored in the fridge. As Ken mentioned, it is made ahead of time. I remove 1-1/2 cups for each baking, feed it until it starts to activate. then proceed with the recipe. The remaining starter - kept in a quart jar, then needs to be replenished with water and flour to build back the starter for the next batch. While in the fridge it may develop a dark watery upper layer (hooch - or is it hootch?). This is just stirred a bit before the next use before adding more flour at next baking session. It was a lot of fun - and I try to keep a loaf on hand now. It is great - especially with spaghetti. I like to slice rather thick, sprinkle Roman cheese on top and pop in the toaster oven till browned. Great with soups too. Just my 2 c's. I think - for beginners, they would like "The Cornell Bread Book" - my MIL gave me my copy - it was revised in 1973. You might find one in the library also. Bejay...See MoreWild Yeast Sourdough Starter
Comments (65)hello all : Been looking at this page for a while - and was inspired to try something I read - a wild yeast captured from Caraway seeds. After 5 days and a few additions of my own - think I have a live sponge - Started with soaking FRONTIERS ORGANIC Caraway seeds ( I read this - dont remember what site - said organic would be sun dried as to heat dried) in some water in jar - dash of flour - not really sure why next morning drained seeds , added 1/2 of flour closed cap of jar and shook to mix - within 1 hr I had froth - next day still frothy - so put into bigger jar and added 1/2 flour and water - shook to mix - cracked lid for outgas - very frothy and smelled like fermentation next day less froth strong fermentation smell - so added some apple cider vinegar from a dropper I was cleaning out - secured cap and shook - cracked lid for outgas - next day, little movement but lots of hooch and strong fermentation smell - so I added more vinegar , did the mixing etc... this morning I was making bread with yeast - decided to play with the concoction - used up organic fruit juice sweetened apricot fruit jam jar took 1/2 of the mix I started - just shook that to mix and cracked the lid - could smell a touch of vinegar in the mix - the main jar I just added some home stone ground white winter wheat flour - maybe 2 tablespoons and mixed with wooded spatula I mixed the yeast dough I had started last nite -now thick like pancake batter - just checked it a moment ago and appears to be live and starting to bubble I shall report back tomorrow with more result - thought those might be interested in my experiment cheers:...See MoreSourdough starter - should I dry it or freeze it?
Comments (7)I have always had both refrigerated and dried. I make the starter batch, and spread a little onto some plastic wrap. Its allowed to air dry for about 2 days. By then it crumbles easily. I simply place in a small plastic bag and its fine for almost forever, if stored in the fridge. You MUST create the starter from just water, flour, and the orignal sourdough culture. Do not add salt, sugar or anything else to the culture!! Every time I make a batch of sourdough, I mix my jarred, refrigerated one with flour and water to give me a stiff batter, almost a sticky dough, as well as adding a little of the dried. I keep the dried ones in the fridge too. I have several, one for rye, one, my grandfather used 100 years ago, and one with a more recent (30+ year old) sourdough culture from San Francisco. All three are viable and will start 'working' within 4 hours. The water I use has no chlorine, so bottled might help prolong the cultures. I do have a new one pound bag of regular yeast, and its compressed and granulated. I store it in the freezer, unopened. Once it is opened, it goes into a canning jar with air tight lid, then back into the freezer again. Everything mentioned in the King Arthur descriptive above is exactly what I do. I don't mind smelling top of the starter liquid in the fridge, as its 'hooch' (booze) like another person mentioned. There is also another recent post I made that covers the same issues of keeping a sourdough culture alive and well. I don't even bother to feed mine, and it could be sitting in the fridge 6+ months at a time, with no ill effects....See MoreConfused with sourdough starter
Comments (7)Ginny, I am very familiar with Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough culture. Mine has been going strong for 3-4 years now. Usually the starter is fed with equal measures of flour and filtered or bottled water. If you continue to feed it every 12 hours, you will end up with way more starter than you need. Following is from the information sheet that I provide when I share either of my starters: The starter will need feeding about every couple of weeks; just add 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour. When you want to bake bread, take the starter out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature (this will take 1-2 hours). Then, feed the starter with 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water and let it sit in a warm place overnight to ferment. The next morning, remove the amount you need for baking. Pour the remaining starter into a clean jar and refrigerate. Wash the previous jar very well. I have only fed my starter with water and flour, no milk, no potato flakes or potato water and only used sugar and the potato flakes at the very first to activate the dried starter. Beat some air into the starter with the spoon or fork as you feed it. If you find yourself with only a small amount of starter left, you will need to build the starter  i.e. donÂt dump a whole cup of flour and water into 2 TB of starter! To build your starter amount: add 1-2 TB of flour and water into a small amount of remaining starter, let sit to work; then add about 1/4cup flour and water, stir well, let sit to work; next feed, add another 1/4cup flour and water, stir well, let sit to work. Let the starter work for a minimum of 2 hours each time after you feed it. Now you have built up additional starter so you can feed with 1 cup each flour and water, let sit to work, use to make bread, or store in fridge. Store the starter in glass or crockery. I mix the bread in my Kitchen Aid stainless mixer and let it rise in the stainless bowl or in a crockery bowl. There is a lot of speculation about the sourness of bread. One idea is every once in awhile use dark rye flour to feed the starter or some in the bread dough. Another is to let it rise at a lower temperature (60?) so it rises longer and gives the bacteria a longer time to do their work. Some feel that making the starter more firm (adding more flour than water when feeding it) results in a more sour taste. DonÂt expect your starter to ever taste as sour as commercial sourdough bread  they add things to it to get that really sour taste. The starter will develop "hooch"  a mixture of alcohol and water  while being stored in the refrigerator. If there is more than one-inch of hooch, I pour most of that off, let the starter come to room temp, feed it, let it expand 4 hours, then use it to make bread or put back in the refrigerator. Any sourdough recipe you may try assumes that the starter has been fed and left to rise, then you begin the recipe. Hope this helps, Teresa...See Moreilovetn
12 years agograinlady_ks
12 years agoteresa_nc7
12 years ago
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