sourdough starter

 

"But how do you make the sourdough?" Mrs. Boast asked.   "You start it," said Ma, "by putting some flour and warm water in a jar and letting it stand until it sours."   "Then when you use it, always leave a little," sais Laura. "and put in the scraps of...dough, like this, and more warm water," Laura put in the warm water, "and cover it," she put the clean cloth and the plate on the jar, "and just set it in a warm place," she set it in its place on the shelf by the stove. "And it's always ready to use, whenever you want it."   By the Shores of Silver Lake   A sour-dough starter is a leaven that develops from microscopic wild yeast and bacteria present in the air. Its usual form is a batter; for traveling it was worked dry with flour and stuffed in the flour sack.   Home bakers who were far from yeast supplies used sour doufh to raise bread, biscuits, and pancakes, longing all the while for the makings of a "sweet loaf." Today, when the sweet loaf is everywhere, the tart flavor and distinctive texture of sour-dough bread are highly prized, and loaves are flown all over the world from commercial sour-dough bakeries in San Francisco.   Laura makes beginning a starter sound easy, but it is not.  She had patience, experince, favorable climate, and the warmth of a "shelf above the stove."  If you want to make a starter exactly as she did, without such helps as sugar, yeast, or milk, you may have to try several times.  When you succeed you will understand why gold prospectors in Alaska so cherished thier starters that they became known as "sourdoughs."   To begin a starter you will need: White flour, 1 & 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose Water, 1 cup bloodwarm (see below) Glass jar, 1-quart, with lid or piece of cheesecloth; saucer; rubber band; bowl, 1-quart Mix flour and water in the jar and let stand until the batter bubbles and rises.  This may take anywhere from overnight to a week!  Success will depend on several factors: WATER QUALITY.  Chemically-treated city water may be hostile to wild yeast.  If your efforts with city tap water fail, try using bottled spring water.   TEMPERATURE.  The batter must be warm but not hot, between 80 and 95 degrees Farenhiet.  In cool weather place jar in an oven warmed only by a 60-watt light bulb, under a hanging 60-watt lamp, or near the furnace.   HUMIDITY.  Since yeast needs moisture to live, sour duogh is hard to start in dry desert climates. What's more, the amount of moisture in the air seems to affect the final product.  A starter from foggy San Francisco might produce a quick-rising dough with a coarse, airy texture, while one in sunny San Jose 50 miles away might result in a slow-rising dense dough.  The same kitchen can produce different starters on different days.   OBSERVATION. When you mix the starter notice the feel and aroma, for later comparison. A rubber band around the jar at the starter level will help you note any rising.   COVERING. A loose lid or covering of damp cheesecloth will keep out insects and prevent drying of the starter. A jar under a hanging bulb should not have a cover.   STIRRING. Stir only if liquid rises to the top.   Bubbles in the dough and expanded volume, or rising, are the chief signs that the starter is "alive" and working. The aroma should be pleasantly sour, the texture tacky. If after several days the batter  has developed only a bad smell, throw it out, scald the jar, and start again.   A new starter needs to ripen before it is ready to use. It must also be fed to keep from dying. In the bowl mix up another flour and water batter and stir in the live starter. This is called "doubling." leave the mixture in a warm place for several hours until it is bubbly. Return half to the jar and give the rest to a friend.   Store the starter in the refrigerator for a few days to ripen. After that it will be ready for doubling again and to use for biscuits[, pancakes,] or for other breads of your choice.

 

my first attempt at this didn't go so well;  the gory details are pretty boring, but let's just say that a newly-emptied plastic pickle jar is NOT a good place to keep your starter, unless you want it to carry a heavy essence of dill and garlic.

 

so here is sourdough attempt #2.

 

after talking to john (RIVET), there was a slight variation of the original method posted above that i wanted to try. john mentioned using potato flakes in the starter , which would do a good job of reproducing the "potato water" that many starters used, and would also give it a real, old-time sourdough taste, evoking images of old san francisco and alaska in their gold-mining heydays. with that in mind, i decided to give it a shot. also, i will add a dollop of honey to give the yeasties something to feed on.

 

i started this project friday evening just before i turend in for the night. here's the goods, other than some spring water from a spring just a couple of miles south of town:

 

 

the first thing i did was add that dollop of honey; no real measurement here, just a little to provide a sugar to feed on:

 

 

then, i added 1 cup of the spring water, which i had heated to about 100 degrees.

 

 

anywhere between 98 or 110 or so should be good, but i wouldn't go over 112 or below 95, myself.

 

i then added 1/4 cup of potato flakes:

 

 

i was at first concerned about a few "extra ingredients" that i saw on the label, but after discussing them with john, who knows a few things about food additives, he assured me that they are in very tiny trace amounts and also that they shouldn't affect anything. they are added mostly to keep them from clumping.

 

after this came 1 cup of unbleached AP flour:

 

 

i considered the idea of using bread flour, but since i am in new territory here, and the recipe said AP, i used AP.

 

we used a butter knife to stir the mixture around into a batter:

 

 

here's what it looked like when it was ready:

 

 

i then put the lid on loosely so that fermentation gasses could escape and a rubber band around the container right at the level where the batter was in order to give a person an indication of whether it is rising and when it will be doubled in size.:

 

 

the container i am using this time is about a quart-and-a-half and originally held mixed nuts; it has been empty and for quite a while and re-washed several times - smelled completely neutral to me.

 

after this, i put the container in the turned-off oven with the light on overnight. here;s what it looked like this morning:

 

 

judging by this, i think things are coming along pretty well! we'll see how things go as time passes.