Sourdough. What does the name conjure up for you? Maybe the beautiful loaf that you have waiting in the proofing basket all ready for the oven; or a trendy café where you had the most amazing scrambled eggs on freshly baked sourdough; or the supermarket loaf that you paid an arm and a leg for and it tastes like they just poured a vat of vinegar into the dough (it does and I'm pretty sure they do) or maybe you feel slightly befuddled at the mere mention of sourdough and think it just sounds pretentious.
Well this is my attempt to demystify the whole process, to encourage you to not only give sourdough a go but show that it does not have to be terrifyingly difficult.
Making your own sourdough sounds pretty intimidating and at the start it can seem impossible. It isn't. Really it isn't. I'd actually go as far as saying that once you have an established starter it is easier than yeasted bread. Of course it takes longer to make than yeasted but like all good things.....well you know.
There is so much information out there about things like hydration levels and float tests that it can be a little off putting to the uninitiated. But I have been able to make sourdough successfully for the last 8 years without worrying too much about it. It might not be technically brilliant but it works for me; I can make delicious bread and I seldom discard any starter.
OK. So what is a starter? Very basically, it is fermented flour in water. This process creates a natural yeast which if looked after can last years. Yep that's right with plain old flour and water you can produce a live, bubbling substance that needs feeding, a little nurturing but is surprisingly low maintenance.
Once you have an established starter you can make more than bread with it. Fed or unfed it is a ready made batter to make pancakes, cakes, piecrust, flatbread and many other delicious and healthy foods.
But bread isn't heathy is it? Well this is one of the real benefits of sourdough. It is far healthier than yeasted and non yeasted breads. The fermentation process breaks down the grains so that it is easier to digest. It is also full of friendly bacteria and nutrients.
The whole process of making a starter will take you roughly a week. It can take a little less or a little more depending on the warmth of your kitchen but in 7 to 10 days you can start to bake with your very own sourdough starter.
What you will need:
A glass jar with a wide mouth
Good quality flour
Filtered water
Spatula
Measuring spoons/scales
Method
Measure 50g of flour into a clean jar and add to it 50g of warm (not hot) water. Mix together until you have a smooth paste. Cover with a clean cloth or lid.
12 to 24 hours later feed again by adding 50g of flour and 50g water and mixing. again cover and leave for a further 12/24 hours.
Repeat above process once more.
On the next feed you will have to start to discard some of the mixture so that it doesn't overflow. Do this by throwing away half the flour/water mix and then feed the remaining starter with 50g flour/50ml water.
Continue this process for the next few days until you start to see your starter bubbling up.
It will begin to look spongy and bubbly and will rise after you feed it, doubling in size for a few hours before falling again.
It is during this rise time that the starter is most active and perfect to make bread.
Now that your starter is established you need to maintain it, and that is very simple: If you want to use it to bake all you need to do is to feed it and use it (like here). If you are not planning on using it, feed it and put into the fridge where it will keep for ages. And I mean ages. When you want to use it again, just bring it back to room temperature, feed and wait for it to start bubbling again.
You may notice a dark water sitting on top of the starter: If you do, don't panic. This is called hooch and is the alcohol given off as the wild yeast ferments. Basically it means your starter is hungry. You can carefully pour this liquid off or stir it in and feed as normal.
Give it a go. I promise you won't regret it.
