SOUR DOUGH TIPS
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List of Ingredients
Sourdough Starter, Care & Maintenance
The important thing to remember about sourdough starter is
that it is a LIVING thing....and it changes, fluctuating
with the food, water, and ability to rid itself of it's
wastes, just like other living animals. As 'keeper of the
sourdough', you have to remember that it is much like a
pet....it has to be fed, watered, and pampered!
Why bother with sourdough starters in the first place?
Obviously, they lend a special flavor to baked goods - even
frying batters and pancakes -that is not available
otherwise. But, more important, the sourdough chemistry
gives breads a texture and keeping quality that cannot be
matched
in other freshly baked products, unless chemical
'preservatives' are added. Sourdough breads will keep 5-7
days with very little change, compared to homemade bread
that goes obviously stale in 1-2 days. "French" bread
begins to stale within hours after it comes out of the oven,
and no
self-respecting European would dain to eat day old bread
unless starving. Sourdough "French" bread is almost as the
second day as the first, and
there is a very slow staling, compared with all other types
of breads.
THE USE/FEED/REPLACE CONCEPT:
A typical sourdough starter sequence goes like this:
A portion of starter is removed, used in a recipe, and then
the same amount
replaced with fresh 'food' of flour and water (in about
equal amounts).
If the starter is not being used to bake with, about 1/3 of
it is poured off and the starter is 'fed' when the amount
that has been removed is replaced with fresh 'food'.
These feeding intervals depend on storage temperatures;
refrigerated starter requires fewer feedings than starter at
room
temperature. If the starter is kept at room temperature, it
must be fed every 4-8 hours. If kept refrigerated, it must
be fed every 2-3 days. If not to be used for
more than 3-4 days, it should be frozen.
The idea is to maintain your starter in an amount that
includes the normal amount of starter used for your bread
recipes, PLUS about 1/2 cup additional - as 'backup'. For
me, I maintain about 1-1/2 cups of starter in a large jar
that holds about 3 cups. This allows the natural bubbling,
foaming, expansion of the starter when it is actively
feeding and growing....sometimes doubling and tripling it's
size as it becomes frothy and light - much like cake batter
with a doubled amount of beaten eggwhites
folded into the batter.
The lid of the jar should never be tighted. The starter
will develop gases that can literally blow the jar apart if
they can't escape from the jar --as one lady sadly
discovered while transporting her starter on an airplane
trip! Barely tighten the lid, then back if off about 1/4 of
a turn. This will keep the starter covered, but allow
excess gas to
escape without harm.
As you work with your starter, you will develop the
'thickness' of starter that works with your recipes. The
standard 'recipe' for starter 'food' is
equal parts of water and flour. (Use the type of flour you
plan to use for most of your baking - bread flour for bread,
rye flour or whole wheat flour if you do more of the 'whole
grain' baking.)
Starter must be fed on a reasonably regular schedule.
Bakeries that bake sourdough bread every day will let their
starter stand at room temperature, feeding it every four
hours, without fail, even if it means a special trip back to
the shop if a 'meal' is forgotten. To let the starter go
longer, without food and the cleansing it requires, would
mean that the starter
would begin to develop a stronger, tarter taste.
Knowledgeable bakers know that, when 'unaware' people
proudly talk about their starter and it's VERY sour taste
and smell, that starter has been abused and either needs to
be
discarded or revitalized. A good starter has a slightly
tart, winey smell, like a crisp white wine. It is never
obviously sour smelling (as the name would imply), nor sour
tasting. The 'sour' of 'sourdough' means that it has
'soured' or 'fermented' -- as opposed to a 'sweet' starter
which is
composed of flour, liquid (usually water) and yeast - but
which has NOT fermented and is therefore a relatively bland
sponge.
If you only bake bread using the starter every 2-3 days, you
can leave the starter in the refrigerator, without feeding
it. However, if you do not bake with it (thus feeding it in
the process of replenishing it) for more than 2-3 days, you
should consider freezing the starter.
You can freeze it in a jar with a lid (not too tightly
screwed on) with room for the starter to expand once it is
defrosted and given it's first 'apres freeze' feeding.
FEEDING AND MAINTAINING SOURDOUGH:
After standing for 1-2 days, a liquid will form on the top
of the sourdough starter. This liquid may be a gray color,
and may be slightly yellow colored. It is a natural
condition that occurs as the flour settles. If the starter
turns pink or some other obviously unusual color, it has
become
contaminated and must be discarded and a new starter begun.
This is how I maintain my starter:
I keep the starter 'slurry' at a proportion of slightly more
bread flour than water -- say about 1/2 cup water to 5/8 cup
flour.
This makes the starter rather thick, like cake batter, and
it seems to maintain itself for longer periods of time when
kept refrigerated. You can keep your starter
thicker or thinner. The important thing to remember, when
using starter in a bread machine, is that the flour to water
ratio must be consistent, so your resultant dough will be
consistent. (Remember than 1 tablespoon flour or a few
drops of water will make a difference in the consistency of
dough
made in the bread machine.) As you work with starter, you
will get a
'handle' on how it works best with y ou.
IF I AM BAKING BREAD THAT DAY:
I usually try to remove the starter from the refrigerator
1-2 hours before I plan on using it -- to let it warm to
room temperature.
However, this is not necessary (see below). If I want to be
sure that the starter is particularly vigorous (when using
whole wheat flour), I will often remove the starter from the
refrigerator, pour off 1/2 cup (of the approximate
1-1/2 cup total), and replace that with 1/2 cup water and
1/2 to 5/8 cup
flour, mixing well to aerate a bit. (A few clumps of flour
may remain.)
After the starter has had a time to warm up and start to
froth and crackle,
about an hour or so, I proceed with bread making.
You do not have to allow the starter to come to room
temperature, in order to use it in the bread machine - as
the machine warms up the ingredients.
You can remove the starter from the refrigerator, and
measure the excess liquid from the top as you pour it off.
Replace this 'old' liquid with an equal amount) of fresh
tepid water. Stir into the starter, and then use the
starter in your recipe. (Remember to feed the starter with
an amount of
'half and half' equal to the portion you removed for the
recipe.)
The standard 'feeding and cleansing' of starter requires
that you remove about 1/3 of the total (up to half the
starter if desired), and replace it with an equal amount of
water & flour slurry. Removing a portion of the starter
gets rid of built-up wastes that accumulate as the yeast
cells
metabolize food - which can cause the started to get too
strong tasting.
The addition of the 1/2 cup water and 5/8 cup flour
(proportions that I use) gives the starter fresh food and
fresh water.
Not too long after being fed, if kept at room temperature,
the starter will start to bubble and froth, and if very
vigorous will become quite light and fluffy. As the new
food is used up, the starter will become less frothy and
eventually look quiet with only open bubbly spaces remaining
-not obviously frothing and crackling as it had done when
active.
Although you would initially think that 1/2 cup water and
1/2 cup flour would yield 1 cup of slurry, the flour rather
miraculously absorbs into the water and the actual yield is
just a bit more than the original 1/2 cup of
water. As mentioned previously, I like to keep my starter
slightly more thick - so I normally use about 1/2 cup water
and 5/8 cup flour. But, for ease of reference, I will refer
to this replacement as 'half and half'.
REPLENISHING THE STARTER AFTER USE:
After you have used a portion of the starter in the recipe,
you must replace the amount removed from it. If, for
example, you
had approximately 1-1/2 cups of starter to begin with, and
you used 1/2 cup in your recipe, then you would replace that
1/2 cup (with the half and half mixture of flour and
water). If you used 1 cup of starter in the recipe, you
would
replace 1 cup water mixed with 1 cup flour - to maintain
your approximate 1-1/2 cup amount of starter. Remember that
the yield of the water/flour mixture will always be just
slightly more than the water amount - not double the amount
as you might initially think!
However, be aware that if you reduce the starter by more
than half, you minimize the amount of natural yeast that
remains in the starter...and it may take some time to 'build
back up' to it's previous strength of millions of yeast
cells. You can do this by pour off about 1/3 of the
starter, replacing it with the same amount of fresh 'half
and half', than repeating
this every four hours for several days, in order to build up
the starter's strength again. (You don't have to get up in
the middle of the night for the '2:00 am feeding' -
refrigerate it after feeding, just before you go to
bed, then start this 'force feeding' again the next
morning.)
If you let too long a time go between feedings, the starter
may develop a very strong sour, tangy taste that is
unpleasant. You can 'revitalize' your starter by pouring
off about half, replacing it with fresh 'half and
half', and then proceeding on a 'four hour feeding program',
if possible.
It may take some time (several days) to bring the starter
back to strength, and you may have to continue to remove
half, replace half, for a long period of time before you can
really 'sweeten' the starter to a 'like new' state.
If you are going to be unable to feed the starter for an
extended period of time (more than 2-3 days), you should
freeze it. Allow adequate room for expansion when frozen,
and for re-awakening when defrosted.
You can freeze the starter for six months or more. When you
defrost the starter, allow it to come to room temperature
slowly. Once it is defrosted, pour off 1/3 of the volume.
Replace it with a 'half and half' mixture, and aerate it
well when mixing it. Start an 'every four hours' feeding
program, and feed like this for several days, until you see
that it is obviously strong and
healthy, frothing and crackling, with lots of bubbles.
Be aware that young starters, and starters that have
suffered a 'starvation trauma' will not froth and crackle,
but will merely bubble a bit. It takes time and a little
effort to build up a strong starter - but the bread that it
makes is well worth the effort.
CREATING A NEW STARTER:
If you lose your starter, and have to begin all over again,
remember that you want to capture wild yeast forms. It is
these little beasties that make your sourdough breads
different from all others. I prefer a 'wild grape yeast'
starter. I use 1 pound of grapes (still attached to the
stem)
obtained from the grocery. (Organic grapes are best.)
Place the grapes in a large ceramic, glass or stainless
steel bowl, Crush them well, leaving the stem with the
crushed grapes. Add 1 cup water and 1 cup flour.
Stir well. Cover lightly, and keep at room temperature for
seven days.
During this time, you'll think you should throw out the
whole mess....but be patient - it just LOOKS gross! It's
really creating something wonderful!
At the end of the week's time, strain the crushed grapes,
seeds and stem pieces from the liquid. The new starter
should have a pleasant crisp white wine smell - and should
not be an unpleasant sour smell. It will not be bubbly at
this time, as most of it's food will have been consumed.
(You will shortly begin to feed it.) Some writers warn that
if the liquid has
turned pink it is contaminated and should be discarded.SOME
STARTERS TURN PINK.
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