Establishing and Working with Homegrown Sourdough Starter

[weinoo]

Here's a resuscitated starter that I found in the back of the fridge. It's a few years old, and hasn't been touched since last fall - iow, since pre Steam-Girl. It had all sorts of weird looking stuff happening, but I dumped 99.9% of it and a few days later, bang...

 

 

 

[Chelseabun]

This is my second attempt.  I started it with Rye but have been feeding it with white flour.  It is now on day nine and is a relatively lively starter.  I will be baking with this in the next few days!

 

[ElsieD]

So here is a picture of Jayme's Sourdough Fruitcake. In the interests of this thread, I made a small loaf along with the two regular loaves so I could immediately try some. It is delicious, a keeper of a recipe for sure. Some of the candied fruit I used doesn't show up in the picture very well, (citron, pineapple) so it is actually fruitier than it looks. Can't decide whether I should next make more bread or to try pizza. Choices, choices!

[Jaymes]

So pretty. Thinking back to sourdough fruitcake and pancakes with just-picked wild blueberries sure does make me miss Alaska.

Thanks for the photo. If I were only right next door...

[Jaymes]

Can't decide whether I should next make more bread or to try pizza.

Or waffles.

Sourdough waffles are truly fabulous.

[bethesdabakers]

All this excitement is getting overwhelming!

 

Meanwhile Anna' stuck.  Anna, you say the mould forms after a few days. Have you tried going beyond this stage? I did a quick run around the net and there is a suggestion that starters build up their resistance to mould as the bacteria develops in the mixture so they are more vulnerable to attack in the early days. There's also a suggestion that mould tends to form on the sides of the container so they should be scraped down or wiped clean. I agree that tight fitting lids are not a good idea. Try scraping the top off the starter and from the remainder take about 50g and refresh it with 100g water and 100g flour and start again in a fresh container where the allows lid allows for a bit of air flow. Then persevere for a few days and see what happens.

[Anna N]

All this excitement is getting overwhelming!

 

Meanwhile Anna' stuck.  Anna, you say the mould forms after a few days. Have you tried going beyond this stage? I did a quick run around the net and there is a suggestion that starters build up their resistance to mould as the bacteria develops in the mixture so they are more vulnerable to attack in the early days. There's also a suggestion that mould tends to form on the sides of the container so they should be scraped down or wiped clean. I agree that tight fitting lids are not a good idea. Try scraping the top off the starter and from the remainder take about 50g and refresh it with 100g water and 100g flour and start again in a fresh container where the allows lid allows for a bit of air flow. Then persevere for a few days and see what happens.

Thank you Mick and everyone else who offered advice. Well the moldy starter is long gone! So it is back to square one. I opened a brand-new bag of flour this morning and a fresh bottle of water. Using approximately 2 tablespoons of flour I made a stirrable paste with the water in a clean ceramic bowl. I have covered it loosely with plastic wrap. I will have to find a way to put it on top of my very tall refrigerator as I have a couple of four-legged houseguests who are very curious! We will see how this goes.

[weinoo]

Keep the faith, Anna! You'll get there; but then you'll have to start baking sourdough.

[ElsieD]

Or waffles.

Sourdough waffles are truly fabulous.

If only I had a waffle iron....

[weinoo]

You can Google sourdough pancakes and get recipes that are all basically the same, much like this, super easy:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sourdough-pancakes-recipe.html

My family got so accustomed to that sourdough flavor that, even now years later, when I make what they call "ordinary pancakes," they complain.

BTW, while we were up there, I made sourdough fruitcake, too.

 

With my starter now up and running, I was thinking about pancakes. Sourdough pancakes.  As an fyi, the link above is not for sourdough pancakes, even though the geniuses at the Food Network like to call them that.

 

This one is though...nourished kitchen.

[Jaymes]

With my starter now up and running, I was thinking about pancakes. Sourdough pancakes.  As an fyi, the link above is not for sourdough pancakes, even though the geniuses at the Food Network like to call them that.

 

This one is though...nourished kitchen.

Oh, sorry. Should have looked more carefully. I just recalled it being so super easy, and the recipes/methods being so similar, that I just looked for a quick link.

[weinoo]

Of course - once you've got a real sourdough culture going, it can be subbed in for most any phony one, I guess.

[Anna N]

Keep the faith, Anna! You'll get there; but then you'll have to start baking sourdough.

Nothing would make me happier! (All right that's a bit of an overstatement.)

[ElsieD]

With my starter now up and running, I was thinking about pancakes. Sourdough pancakes. As an fyi, the link above is not for sourdough pancakes, even though the geniuses at the Food Network like to call them that.

This one is though...nourished kitchen.

As you know from this thread, I am new to sourdough. I did make the pancakes in the Food Network link, although I used my own starter. To me, the ingredients in the two recipes look very similar so I would like to know, what makes the one from Nourishedkitchen more authentic than the one from Food Network if you are using your own starter? Is it the flour (I use I unbleached AP flour vs the grain flour) that makes the difference or the fact you mix the flour with the starter 8 to 12 hours before you use it? Thank you. Edited October 31, 2014 by ElsieD (log)

[weinoo]

Take a look at that starter in the Food Network recipe linked. It's made with commercial yeast.  1.5 tablespoons of it!  Hardly a sourdough starter, more like some weird poolish.

[ElsieD]

Take a look at that starter in the Food Network recipe linked. It's made with commercial yeast.  1.5 tablespoons of it!  Hardly a sourdough starter, more like some weird poolish.

As I said, I did not use the FN "starter", I used my own starter made as per Mick's instructions. As I had never made sourdough pancakes before, I had to start somewhere and I was grateful for the link. I did use the measured amounts of the other imgredients called for in that recipe and we were very happy with the results. I am hoping that someone can answer my question which is, using your own starter, not using the "starter" called for in the FN recipe, what is it that makes the recipe provided by the Nourished kitchen so much better than the FN? Is it the overnight sit of the flour mixed with the starter or the type of flour used?

[cakewalk]

I'm wondering about the baking soda, which appears in both pancake recipes mentioned above. What it is doing there? Is it just for browning? But the pancakes will be fried, so wouldn't they brown anyway? Re the question above (if I may), I think the addition of yeast (and so much of it) moves it away from actual sourdough, even though it uses a starter. It doesn't make either recipe better or not better, it's just a question of whether or not it is sourdough. I think that's the crux of Mick's thread, the idea that commercial yeast is really unnecessary. But that baking soda, really, what would happen if you left it out? (For the record, I'll never try either of these. I hate pancakes altogether, sourdough or not sourdough, not nobody not no-how. It's a texture thing.)

[ElsieD]

From what I have read, I think that baking soda is a browning aid, but I don't know that for sure as I am not an experienced baker. I did make sourdough pancakes again today using the Nourishedkitchen recipe. It calls for the addition of flour to the starter which is left on the counter for between 8 to 12 hours. Mine was left for 12. The FN recipe did not call for additional flour nor did it call for any sitting time. In both recipes I used my own starter, no commercial yeast added. I preferred the FN recipe as I found it to be more tender. The NK one definitely had more chew to it. But, I guess it depends on how you like your pancakes.

[Chelseabun]

I have just taken a look at the Nourished kitchen recipe.  Can i not just add some egg and blueberrys to the starter i discard when i feed it?

Edited November 1, 2014 by Chelseabun (log)

[pbear]

Hey cakewalk and Elsie.  Regarding baking soda in the sourdough pancake recipes, the other thing it adds is leavening, at least when used with a true sourdough starter.  (This is in addition to the leavening produced by the yeast.) The starter, of course, is a bit sour, from lactic and acetic acids.  These react with the baking soda, which is mildly alkaline, to produce bubbles.  The same thing happens with Irish soda bread, only the acidic agent is buttermilk.  In both cases, the reaction probably neutralizes any effect of soda on browning.  But, as cakewalk says, that's not a problem, as the pancakes are fried.

 

As for your last question, cakewalk, absolutely.  In fact, that's a common reason for making sourdough pancakes.

[Ann_T]

I fed both my starters on Thursday night and made a "preferment" with 60g of discarded starter, 225g of flour and 225g water.  Left if covered on the counter over night.  

 

 

This is what it looked like 7 hours later.

 

 

It went into a batch of dough Friday morning  - 1000g flour, 680g water and 27g salt.   Two autolyze rests, and a number of stretch and folds over the first hour and then into the fridge.  It came out of the fridge today just before 3:00pm and was ready to shape shortly after 6:00 pm.

 

Baked in Dutch Ovens.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Ann_T (log)

[Anna N]

So it has been a few days since I mixed up a stirrable concoction of flour and water. This morning it looked like this.

I moved it into a clean container and added 100 g of flour and 100 g of filtered water. I covered it loosely it with saran wrap and crossed all my toes and all my fingers.

I was away all day and came home to this!

If I understand things correctly tomorrow I will discard one half of this and feed the remaining with equal parts flour and water. Cover it loosely and let it sit for another day.

Edited to add

And repeat that same procedure for a few days until I am satisfied that I have a healthy starter.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Anna N (log)

[Ann_T]

Anna, Looks like crossing your toes and fingers worked.

 

~Ann  

[cakewalk]

The next installment of the Serious Eats bread series is up. As mentioned before, he is not dealing with sourdough. But his information is excellent, especially today because he is troubleshooting possible problems that can be applied also to sourdough baking. He says he will eventually get to sourdough.

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/troubleshoot-bad-bread-messed-up-loaf.html

[ElsieD]

The next installment of the Serious Eats bread series is up. As mentioned before, he is not dealing with sourdough. But his information is excellent, especially today because he is troubleshooting possible problems that can be applied also to sourdough baking. He says he will eventually get to sourdough.

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/troubleshoot-bad-bread-messed-up-loaf.html

Thanks for this link. I didn't know about it and plan to read all that he has to say on the subject.