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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Celebrating sourdough! Let's get started...

Now that fall is here with its vibrantly colored leaves and crisp autumnal scents peppering the air, my thoughts turn to baking. I admit it:  I've been hooked on sourdough forever. In the early 80's I made some starter from scratch and coddled it along for 15 years. It finally succombed to some maurading airborn bacteria, so I sadly threw it out and shelved my sourdough endeavors for years. Then, 7 months ago, another blogging mom, Sheri, wrote about sourdough and whetted my appetite to take up sourdough again. I sent away for some dried starter, bought a gallon glass crock (which takes up a ton of room in my refrigerator, so I need to hunt for a slimmer half-gallon one), and grew my second starter.

I'd love to share the online source where my dried starter came from but it appears they aren't mailing it out any longer. Sad...this vigorous strain deserves to be perpetuated. But you can get some semidry starter from Carl's Friends with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. There are also some online sources that sell it. A web search for "sourdough starter" will lead you to a dizzying number of links; I haven't personal experience with any of them to know which one to recommend. If you have a friend with a good strong batch, perhaps you can beg or barter for some.

Starter that comes dry or semidry must be fed small amounts of flour and water twice a day as it develops. It sits at room temperature in a loosely covered jar or crock during this process. Begin by softening 1/2 tsp dried powdered starter in 1 Tbs water. After ten minutes, stir in 1 Tbs flour. Every 12 hours, you add flour and water in amounts equal to the quantity of starter until (so, 1 Tbs each, then 2 Tbs each, then 1/4 c each, then 1/2 c each, until your last addition of 1 cup. At this point, reduce the water you add to 3/4 cup. Increase once more with 1 c flour and 3/4 c water, allow the mixture to bubble 12 hours, and then your starter should be ready to use. Take out what you need for your recipe, up to 1/2 the total volume, feed once more and allow to bubble 12 hours. Now your starter can go in the refrigerator to be used and fed weekly (or as often during the week as you like!).

If you are starting with moist starter, you can build up a bit faster. Add flour and water in equal proportions to the quantity of starter you have. For example, if your friend gives you 1/2 c starter, stir in 1/2 c each flour and water. Allow to sit at room temperature 12 hours and repeat until you have enough starter to take out for your first recipe. Remove what you need, add 1 c flour and 3/4 c water, allow to percolate at room temperature all day or overnight, and move your starter to the fridge. Use and feed each week.

Give your new starter time to develop that characteristic sourdough aroma and flavor. It may not have much sour taste at first, but as long as it is bubbling with each flour/water addition, it has the power to leaven your bread.

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