Someone gave me 2 oz of sourdough starter, now what?
nancyjane_gardener
3 years ago
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plllog
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agolindac92
3 years agoRelated Discussions
It happened Again! ***Sourdough Starter
Comments (28)OT.. :) Michelle I did not want to start a whole new thread, but I know you said you like white bread and even though I was in a hurry to watch the playoffs last night and should have let this bread rise a little more, this is one of the best white breads I have made. Buttermilk White Bread 2 packages yeast 1 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 cup warm water 4 cups unbleached flour 1 tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. melted butter 1 1/2 cups buttermilk Combine yeast, sugar and water and let proof for 5 minutes. Mix flour, salt, melted butter and buttermilk until smooth and then add yeast mixture. I used my KA dough hook and kneaded for 10 minutes. Turn out into large buttered bowl, roll dough around till well coated with butter. Cover bowl and set in warm place for 2 hours. Punch down the dough, turn out on floured surface and pat gently into rectangle. Fold in ends and then sides of bread, pinch seams together. Put into buttered loaf pan and let rise to double in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes....See MoreRECIPE: Sourdough Starter
Comments (13)I'd recommend getting a starter from someone rather than trying to create your own. If you create a starter yourself, the starter is created by yeast and bacteria in the air, and that is the reason why everyone's sourdough tastes different, it's because of the natural yeast and bacteria in that local, that's why San Francisco is known for it's sourdough bread. If you make your own, you might get lucky and get a good flavored starter, you might just waste some flour and time. And even if it does taste decent, chances are, it won't taste like San Francisco's sourdough. If you get a starter from a good source, it will continue to grow the yeast and bacteria in that starter. King Arthur Flour's web site has a good starter. Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur's Sourdough Starter...See MoreHave you tried using sourdough starter in a
Comments (11)I'm sure your starter is fine, but I think you'll find that after a year it'll be that much finer, especially if you stress it occasionally (let it go a little too long between feedings) to thin the herd. :) My own journey is a big old muddle of learning wild yeast (sourdough starter) and whole wheat at the same time, combined with water restrictions that made me look for ever less cleanup. Whole wheat actually requires at least eight hours of soak (in the liquid of the recipe) or rise, to fully hydrate, along with some acid to reduce the anti-nutrients. Along the way, I experimented with a number of traditional recipes, some white or with a large enough percentage of white to handle the same as white, many of which I documented in this forum (search on 'sourdough"). What worked for me was making a preferment (i.e., biga or levain--The Kitchn says "leaven") in the evening, and baking in the morning. I can't remember the timing well, because I have a bad relationship with mornings. There are some hours involved for the dough to rise. It only rises as fast as commercial yeast when you're counting on it not to! My best advice is twofold: One, get in the habit of baking bread so that it becomes part of your rhythm, and you'll have it ready before your chicks turn up hungry. The other is just to try some recipes and learn what it is you all like best. There may be one that does it for your daily bread, or a base dough that you can make up differently as in the 5 minutes method, or it may be a rotation of different flavors and textures. While learning one at a time seems wise, there's also something to be said from learning a bit from each thing you try and bringing the total learning back around when you try them again. Nine people, minimum, if I got that right, is plenty to be experimenting on, and should give you plenty of scope for learning what you're doing. So, do you want sour or just good bread with wild yeast? Sour takes some time to work, remember the rule of less starter = more sour taste requires longer rise. If you have your starter on the counter and feed it every day (maybe twice a day while it's young), you'll be ready to bake a lot sooner. I don't quite agree with some of what is said at The Kitchn about starter. It is an acidic environment (not "likes" one). It's also not finicky once established. While it's young, you have a number of organisms fighting for supremacy. The yeast will win, and as it strengthens, it'll do away with new organisms introduced in feedings without any protest. Once it's established, it's very hard to completely kill. Just feed it up and it'll start burping again. I'll also mention, that no matter the original source, all wild yeast in starter is the same kind. The whole location thing is silly. "San Francisco" sourdough is the name used for really really sour. That's about how hungry the yeast is, not the location (French fries aren't from France, either, though, I believe they got their name because frying was in vogue in France at that time, just as really sour bread was commonly made in San Francisco, and they did up beans mighty fine in Boston). Rather than getting too wrapped up in how long the process is going to take, it's best to just go with what you know and work it into your life. Eventually, you'll be able to adjust the timing. Like maybe you know if you set your dough to rise at noon, it'll be ready to bake after the school run, and before dinner. Or that if you make your levain after breakfast, you can mix the dough up after dinner, and bake after breakfast the following day. Also, have some interim breads, either quick to produce commercial yeast breads, or bisquits, waffles, cornbread, or whatever it is you can fill in with if your bread just isn't ready yet, while you're learning. You'll get there....See MoreSourdough starter question
Comments (26)Chris, if your kitchen isn't arctic, your starter should be fine on the counter while you're feeding it daily. If you have a heavy stone counter that never warms up to ambient, put the starter on a pot holder or something to insulate it from the cold mass. It doesn't need to be warmed. Even if most of the yeast died, there should be some left in there. The oven light shouldn't be hot enough to kill the yeast. Where there are bubbles, there's hope! My own guess is that the yeast gorged in the relative heat and settled in for a post-prandial nap. Let us know if it perks up on the next feeding....See Moreplllog
3 years agosleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years agosleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
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3 years agosleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agosleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years agoCloud Swift
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3 years agonancyjane_gardener
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3 years ago2ManyDiversions
3 years ago2ManyDiversions
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3 years agosleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years agoCloud Swift
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3 years ago2ManyDiversions
3 years agolindac92
3 years ago
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