Starter
Sept. 26, 2011
After a number of failed attempts when we first moved to Maine and took a winter rental on Deer Isle, I have tried my hands at a sourdough starter one more time. This time I followed the sage advice of the author of the River Cottage Bread Handbook, a wonderful book full of delightful recipes and a few essays truly worth reading on the subject of yeast, the importance of gluten development and the sad state of the modern baking industry.
Long story short, everyone should try baking their own bread sometime. I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to stay in the rhythm of producing something on a regular basis that requires such a time sink. Though the other fact about bread baking is that once you start, it's really only about a 3 - 3.5 hour process. How many hours does the average person spend watching TV each week? And how often do those hours come in big block on weekends or after work? Yeah, so just give it a shot. Set the bread to rise while you catch up on your favorite TV show or, preferably, hunker down by the wood stove with a book.
For the most basic recipes, you only need to add instant yeast (often marketed as "Bread Machine" yeast) to some warm tap water. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then add about one more cup of water per two cups of flour. More or less. If the dough is hard to work with, add more flour. If it seems to heavy, add more water. The important thing is to just repeat the process over and over until you have a loaf you're happy with.
For me, this experimentation is the best part. I love to see what my loaf will turn out like. It's not always a really positive experience, but then, what things worth doing in life always guarantee a positive return? Answering my rhetorical question: none.
The next logical step after you've used store-bought yeast is to create your own sourdough starter. Nothing can compare to the flavor of your own sourdough. Even if you don't use the starter for making true sourdough loves, you can add a ladle or two to your normal breads to kick up the bready goodness. That's actually what I mostly use my starter for. Of course, a sourdough loaf or miché or boule does not go amiss every once in a while.
To make a starter, and this is what hung me up in the past, it should almost be soupy. You can make a starter with any combination of flour and water, but the longer time a dry starter takes to develop gives other bacteria and fungi a chance to take hold. Rather, add about one cup of water to two cups of the most organic, wholesome, nutrient rich flour you can find. You can move your starter away from the whole-grain flour over time, but a good whole-wheat, spelt or other natural flours start up so much faster than even the unbleached and unbromated flour from King Arthur.
That's it. Mix the whole thing in a decent size tupperware with a tight fitting lid and keep it in a warm place out of direct sunlight. Then watch the magic! Well, probably you don't want to sit and watch, but keep an eye on it. You'll have to add a cup of water and another cup or two of flour each day for the first few days, but as your sourdough matures you'll get a sense of how often it needs to be refreshed.
After the initial refreshes, be sure to discard about a cup or two of the starter each time you add more flour and water, or else you'll end up with infinity starter. Of course, instead of just throwing away the excess you could always bake a loaf with it!
I've managed to let my starter sit for almost a week (5+ days) and, while it looked a little sad and flat, adding more flour and a little cold water perked it right up. It's been humming along since July now.
