Simply Sourdough

  A Look into Sourdough

  

                   So I'll just say it, I was not very confident about being able to start a successful sourdough starter. There was TONS of information on the internet, all different and most resources I found were pretty over complicated. BUT I'm making this for all of you that feel the same way I did about it. 

I don't want you to not find your inner artisan bread baker! It's so much fun, and it's a way of making something nourishing and long lasting for your family for many years to come. There's something about making a loaf from scratch that just feels SO REWARDING. Especially when you have little hands to help in the kitchen.

So Lets Get Started

First and Foremost, Sourdough Starter is essentially fermented flour and water. A weird way to think about fermentation is that it is pre- digested. Gross kinda right? But it is the BEST way for your body to absorb the nutrients faster and get your probiotics in. It's important to remember it's still bread, so I'm not advocating that it's healthy in a diet sense, but it is certainly the most nourishing for your body. 

Starting a Sourdough Starter:

I'm going to sound like your grandma when I say it's all about eye balling it. So forget the notion you need a big fancy scale to measure each gram because you don't. The important thing to remember with sourdough starters is this: PANCAKE CONSISTANCY/FILTERED LUKE WARM WATER/ WHEAT FLOUR. 

If you have those 3 things correctly you are on your way. Most of us know what pancake batter looks like right? That's all you need to remember. 

If you don't like waste, I recommend starting with a very small amount of starter. Equal parts of whole wheat flour and warm water stirred together. I started mine in a sauce dish. It's important you don't SEAL the lid, just lay it on top. It's important for the starter to have access to oxygen, just not TOO MUCH or it will dry out. 

You will need about 2 weeks to harvest a mature enough to bake with starter. So set a time frame around the same time every single day to "FEED" your starter. I like to do mine first thing in the morning before I start my day.

How to "FEED" your starter?

All you need to do is take out half of your starter and add fresh flour and water and stir. For the first 2 weeks of cultivating your starter make sure you just throw the discard. It's just flour and water and nothing more. So you really don't want to add it to anything.

What to look for?

You should start seeing your sourdough rise a little every single day, once it reaches its peak it will fall again, THATS NORMAL :) You should also start to see little air bubbles in your starter. That means the process is working! If you have a gray film over the top of the starter, this is also normal. It can mean that it sat without a feeding for a little too long and that it's hungry. Sour starters produce alcohol, so you may just want to scrape that layer off instead of stirring it in. (IT WILL BE EXTRA SOUR IF YOU STIR IT IN)

KEEPING IT ALIVE:

The key is to make sure that you have your starter in a warm area in your house (windowsills ex.)

If your house is too cold, you can also put it in the oven with the light on. For safe measures write yourself a reminder that it's in the oven and put it on your oven. It's also a good idea to place it onto a pan incase of rising overflow. (If you started off small you shouldn't need to worry about overflow)

AFTER THE 2 WEEKS:

YAY! You did it. You can now start your first bake with your starter. You can now store it in the fridge with a SEALED LID (FRIDGE ONLY) this slows the process of the feeding, and make sure to take it out to feed it at least once every two weeks if not once a week. When you want to use it for a bake make sure to take it out the night before and feed it.

What IF I FORGET to FEED IT?

In my experience it's usually just fine, just feed it a little bit more flour! 

I Hope You All Found this helpful! Feel Free to Ask Me Questions or Tag Me in Your Sourdough Process!