Sourdough Starter

• Drinks

  • 1 Cheesecloth or coffee filter

• Tools & Equipment

  • 1 glass Or mason jar

• Other

  • wooden spoon

Found on practical-stewardship.com

Description

Ingredients

• -whole wheat flour (I have read white flour is good to start with until you get the hang of it. I used a blend of white and whole wheat to start. I heard rye and spelt works, too.)
• -filtered water or water that has been boiled and cooled (if using tap water, you can let it sit out over night so the chlorine evaporates out of the water. I have made this several times, and I have used water right from the tap sometimes, and I havent had any problems)
• -glass or mason jar
• -cheesecloth or coffee filter (will crust and tear if you get the dough on it, so I recommend cheesecloth) to cover the glass jar
• -wooden spoon
• 1/4 cup sourdough start (which is the flour and water together: read above)
• two cups of flour + more for the well-floured surface
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 t salt (update 10/30/12** I now use 2 t salt)

Directions

• Combine 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water in the glass container and cover it with the cheesecloth.
• Leave it on your counter top for 24 hours.
• There will be a separation of liquid on top (called the hooch or alcohol) that is darker than the start, and you can pour it off if you want, but you can just mix it back in. I mix it in.
• Stir, and feed your start with another 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water, and stir again. You can use a fresh container each day.
• Repeat this process for 7 days, and you have your sourdough start! When you see the bubbles, you have captured wild yeast. Isnt that crazy? The start should have a sourdough smell.
• If you wont use the start right away, you can put it in your refrigerator with a lid on it, and feed it equal parts water and flour once a week. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of months.
• Combine 1/4 cup of your sourdough start with two cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of water, and 1 teaspoon of salt.
• Leave in a glass bowl on your counter (if its a cold winters night, you may want to leave it close to a heat source) for 16-17 hours covered with plastic wrap. I have used the dough after about 12 hours, and I really dont notice a difference, but may be its less sour. It will look similar to a sponge, like the picture below, with all of those nice bubbles after the massive hours. It may feel really wet to the touch.
• Place dough on a well-floured surface, and turn a few times. You dont need to aggressively knead it. The dough can also stay a bit sticky in the middle, but the outside of the dough shouldnt be sticky. I have had to add a cup of flour before at this point because the outside of the dough kept absorbing the flour. I sometimes use a spatula in one hand, and my free hand to mix it all in. This helps my hands to be cleaner. Make sure the bread looks like the bread dough pictured in the corningwear below or the bread dough pictured in the crock-pot below. It is relatively dry to the touch.
• Put the dough in a colander (I like that colander has holes that allows the dough to breathe and can make a nice little pattern on your bread) or some kind of bowl lined with a cloth and cover completely.
• Leave the covered dough for 1 hour and let rise (by a warm heat source is best).
• Put an empty Dutch oven or some kind of corningware with a lid in the oven (or cook it in the crock-pot) .
• After an hour, turn on the oven to 500 degrees with the empty Dutch oven inside the oven so the Dutch oven gets nice and hot, and preheat for 30 minutes. This gives the dough a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes to rise.
• Carefully take out the hot Dutch oven placing the dough inside (I actually plop the dough in because its so hot), and put the lid over the dough. Often times my dough sizzles when it hits the Dutch oven.
• Put your Dutch oven back in the oven, and bake the bread at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes (I sometimes bake it at 400).
• Take off the lid, and bake for another 10-15 minutes to brown the bread if needed.
• Cool, slice, and enjoy!