Sourdough Starter: Day Eight-Baking Day

* Sorry this one is going to be photo heavy.  But that's ok.  It's BAKING DAY!

I woke up this morning so excited to bake.  I had a busy day, but was easily able to work this bread in and out of my schedule.  Now this is an old fashioned method of baking so it will take time.  But the tasks are easily broken into your day.  Alot of the time necessary for this bread is spent in waiting for the rising.

So how is your starter looking?  This is what I found when I checked on mine this morning.  Do you think my starter is healthy?  Happy?  It looks pretty happy to me.  

The smell is still slightly sour, but only mildly so compared to a few days ago.

Put one to two cups of starter into a glass jar and seal.  Place in the fridge for future use.

Here's what you'll need for your bread:

2-3 c. starter

2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 - 2 c. cold water

4-8 c. flour (I used 5 1/2)

Place remaining starter into bowl (I had 3 c.) and other ingredients.

Add 2 c. of flour at a time.

Mix thoroughly.

Now here's where I screwed up a little.  We've been focusing on using glass bowls, but without thinking I threw mine into a metal kitchenaid mixer.  From what I read, you want to avoid metal in the fermentation process as the starter can begin to taste metallic.

However, the mixing didn't seem to distaste the end product.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow the yeast to work.

My A/C was set on 75 degrees and it sat for about 6 hours.

Yeah!  Look at how that yeast is working.

Knead thoroughly.

My reading said about 5 min,

but I only kneaded about 3 min.

Divide your dough into three parts.

Knead into 3 round balls.

Oops!  There I am again with metal pans.

I'm sure you could use glass or even stone (Pampered Chef).

And I only had 2 pans,

so I divided the third ball into four

and made mini loaves.

Cover and allow to rise again.

This is what I had after 1 1/2 hours.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this experiment.  The bread came out wonderfully.  The sour taste was just right for my taste.  Not too sour, but definitely enough to know it was sourdough.  

Now hang onto that starter.  I'm going to be posting more sourdough experiments in the weeks to come.  And in the meantime if you want to do some experimenting of your own, here's how to reactivate the starter.  Remove 1 c. of starter the night before and feed it with 1 c. flour and 1 c. water.  Cover with cheesecloth and place in a warm spot to rise overnight.  If it's bubbling in the morning, your yeast has been activated and you're ready for baking.  Just be sure to save some starter for the future.

Happy Baking!

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Seven

Day Seven!

This is what I found this morning.

Can you see how close to the top my starter has risen?

I'm almost afraid to keep using the same bowls.

The starter is loaded with bubbles and the yeast is really active.

And there was NO dark liquid to pour off the top today.

Again I added 1 c. flour and approx 1/2 c. water. 

I like this consistency.

I think this will give me the perfect blend of sour and mild tasting bread.

Stir well and back to it's nesting place.

Tomorrow we bake.

How is your sourdough developing?

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Six

It's Day Six!

Are you counting down the days yet?

So close.

Today there was hardly any liquid on the top of my starter.

Amazing!

If you'll remember, I cut the liquid yesterday to 1/3 c.

So my dough is thickening.

It was still frothy on the top with lots of bubbles working.

I poured my starter into a clean bowl and added:

1 c. flour

and 1/3 c. water.

I'm hoping from this picture you can see the consistency that's developing.

Remember you can add as much liquid as you'd like (up to 1 c)

to change the "sourness."

Thin=more sour

Thick=milder

And that's it!

Cover with cheesecloth and return to your warm spot.

Happy Fermenting!

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Five

It's Day Five!  We've over half way to our sourdough.

This is what I found this morning when I removed the cheesecloth.

How's the smell?  Mine is smelling like old gym socks.

Sorry if that's nasty, but it really is the best description.

The liquid on the top is becoming less and less as time goes on.

This morning I probably only poured off about 1 Tbsp.

Here's a few tips on controlling how sour your bread will become:

The more liquidy your starter, the more sour your bread.

The thicker your starter, the more mild your bread.

Mine is still pretty liquidy so I decided to adjust the recipe a little today.

I added 1 c. flour as usual, but only about 1/3-1/2 c. water

This made my batter thicker and will hopefully produce a bread 

that's sour, but not too sour.

Be sure to still use enough liquid to mix in your flour.

How is your starter doing?

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Four

We're on Day Four of our sourdough and I'm still remembering to check on it.

Yeah!

In my past two failed attempts,

Day Three and Day Four were where I started to forget.

But not this time.

I removed the cheesecloth today to see lots of bubbles.

Lots of bubbles.

The sour smell is getting stronger

and the starter is bubbling throughout.

The top is very frothy and it's working!

I must admit that the smell may be starting to get to me.

But I'm going to hang in there.

After all, it will be worth it in the end.

Looking at my starter,

it's risen considerably since yesterday.

By now, you know the routine.

Pour the liquid off the top if you have any.

The liquid on the top of mine was miniscule.

Really there was hardly any.

Mix in 1 c. flour and 1 c. water

Mix throughly.

If you can see from the top picture,

it's about the consistency of cake batter.

Cover with cheesecloth and return to a warm place.

And try to hang in there with the smell.

That just means it's working.

How does your sourdough look?

I'm curious to know if it looks like mine.

How is it working in your area?

Has your experience been different than mine?

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Three

So this morning, I didn't have as much liquid on the top.

But there was probably about 1 Tbsp.

How is your sourdough smelling?

Wow!  Mine is sour!

Today was especially bad.

So I started by pouring off the liquid.

And I started to add the flour, I realized

my quart jar just wasn't going to work anymore.

Out came the bowl to the rescue.

Pour the starter into a clean jar or bowl.

Add 1 c. flour and 1 c. water.

Stir to a cake batter consistency

and replace the cheesecloth.

Return to a warm place.

Easy, peasy!

It's definitely smelling sour,

a weird sour,

but that just means it's working.

Let us know how your starter is going!

Sourdough Starter Series: Day Two

Here's what my starter looks like after 24 hours:

I was actually a little worried thinking it should have been separated more.

Several tutorials I've seen show more separation.

I WAS worried until...

Until I saw this.

There's the froathy sourdough I was looking for.

So it is working!  Yeah!

So here's what you do today:

Start by pouring off the liquid on the top.

I had very little, but you could have a couple of Tbsp.

Pour your starter into a clean jar.

And mix in 1 c. flour and 1 c. water.

Mix well to a smooth consistency.

Replace your cheesecloth and rubberband,

and return jar to a warm spot.

And that's pretty much it.

We'll be repeating the same process for several days.

You may or may not see a huge difference over the next several days,

but I'm sure it's working.

For tomorrow you'll need:

A Clean Glass Jar

(Mine's getting full, so I may need a bowl soon)

Flour and Water

Did you notice a change in your Sourdough Starter today?

Sourdough Starter Series: Day One

Are you ready to make some Sourdough?  I am!

I'm actually really excited about this experiment with you.  I'm taking bits and pieces from various tutorials that I've been learning from.  And working to put this series together.  So hopefully at the end of this, we'll all have a yummy sourdough for our efforts.  Ready to get started?

Here's what you'll need:

Four

Water

Large Glass Jar

(I started with a quart, but quickly outgrew it)

Measuring cup and spoon

Cheesecloth

First pour 2 cups of flour in your jar.

See how full it's getting already?

Add 2 cup of water

and mix thoroughly.

This is what it looks like from the top.

Pretty much looks like... flour and water.

Nothing exciting yet.

It should just have a smooth consistency,

Not too soupy, but definitely not dry.

Cover the top with cheese cloth.

You can also use a rubberband to secure it, but that's not absolutely necessary.

You can also use a coffee filter, but it won't gather as much yeast.

Don't use a towel or you won't get the yeast from the air that you need.

And place it in a warm place.

I'm keeping mine in the kitchen near a window.

There's no direct sunlight, but it's nice and warm.

And that's it!

Super simple for Day One!

Tomorrow you'll need:

A Clean Jar

Flour and Water

See you then!

*Linked to these Parties

Sourdough Starter Series

My DIY Project for April was to create a sourdough starter and experiment with baking a loaf of sourdough.  Unfortunately as the month turned out, I started several starters and kept forgetting to feed them.  Ooops!  Where was my brain?

So this month I promised to share with you what I'm learning about sourdough and creating a starter.  But again, I was afraid I would forget to feed it.  Until... DING!  What a great idea!  And I started to put it into motion.

What is this great idea?  As a way of keeping myself accountable, and sharing with all of you what I'm learning, I'll be blogging a series over the next week and a half about creating a sourdough starter.  Each day will include photos of what my starter looks like as well as what the next step in the process is.  And in case you want to try this experiment with me, I'm posting everything you'll need today and we won't actually begin until Monday.  So that gives all of us the weekend to gather our supplies to get started.

Are you with me?  Here's what you'll need:

*Flour
*Water (of course)
*Large glass jar or bowl
*Measuring cup
*Long measuring spoon
*Cheesecloth (can be found @ Walmart in the canning section)
*Rubberband (optional)

And that's it!  Simple, easy, ... and hopefully successful.  We'll see, huh?  So are you up for an adventure?  Check back Monday and we'll start our sourdough starters then.  See you soon!

*Linked to these Parties

Do-It-Yourself: Sourdough Bread

(Image Credit) 

Ooops!  This was one of the DIY projects I was most looking forward to and you know what?  I completely screwed it up.  For starters, the holiday threw me off at the beginning of the month and I forgot to even get my starter going.  About mid-way through the month, I finally did that, sat it in a nice warm corner for my kitchen,... and forgot about it.  About a week later, I saw it sitting there and realized I hadn't fed it at all.  That poor little starter was looking pretty pathetic.

So I finally put together another starter on Monday, but that's not enough time for me to follow through and give you results in this month.  I probably won't bake till this weekend and then still won't have time to work the kinks out.  Sorry!  Chalk this one up to a FAIL on my part.  But I promise I'll be back in May with a Part Two to this post and I'll let you know if it worked.  In the meantime, here are some of the resources I've been using to get started.

Starting a Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Starter

How to Make a Sourdough Starter