Necessary Ingredients - Sourdough Starter

OK, OK, OK.  So my first recipe calls for something that not everyone keeps around. I thought about that when I posted my recipe for San Francisco Sourdough Bread first without telling you about the starter. How could I honestly expect you to try the recipe without giving you all the information? I dunno, but I did it anyway. Starting my Blog with Starter seemed BORING.

I used to be terrified of recipes that used sourdough starter, but 7 or 8 years ago I read through the information on Sourdough Starter and Breads in the La Leche League cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole Family and overcame my fears -- I've had many starters since that first time. Starter can be kept alive for multiplied decades, but my family travels a lot and keeping starter alive for years is not a priority for me.


As I said, Starter is a live product; if you use it every week, it can live out on the counter. We named ours "Eggar" - after the Bug in "Men in Black." If you don't use it weekly, it can live in the refrigerator. You can name your starter whatever you want. I like Eggar.


Sourdough has some protein value in it because it it made up of yeasts and bacteria - plus it tastes good. Well, we like it. You don't have to let it get really sour; keeping it in the refrigerator slows down fermentation. Also using it daily and replenishing it daily keeps it from becoming too sour. You can also add (1/4 - 1 t.) baking soda to your recipe to help sweeten it up. And if you are afraid to try it because you don't like the taste of bakery sourdough bread, you really should try the recipe anyway; I don't like commercially produced sourdough breads very much, but I love homemade sourdough bread. The recipe from my first post - San Francisco Sourdough is a good one to begin with. It is a very easy bread to make and is delicious. I have played around with the recipe a little bit and had discovered that it's awesome in its original form. Adding any amount of wheat flour (as little as one cup) is not as nice as when it is made with just bread flour.


Here's the recipe for the starter; you'll need to begin the starter several days before you use it to make bread.

Sourdough Starter

1T yeast

2c warm water

2c flour, whole wheat, bread or unbleached

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. You can use a 1 ½ to 2 quart glass jar, crock or casserole. (A BIG plastic container also works - just don't seal it tightly.)  Don't use metal. Let the yeast/water mixture stand 10 minutes, then stir in the flour. Cover it with a lid or plastic wrap and let it stand in a warm place overnight or at room temperature for about 2 days, until bubbly and slightly sour-smelling. Let stand longer if you like it more sour. Use it immediately, leaving a little in the jar, or store, covered, in the refrigerator. When you use some, stir equal amounts of warm water and flour back into the remaining starter and let it stand until it gets bubbly. 


Since I began making bread every day and we like pretty sour sourdough, I increased the amount of starter I keep on hand. When it's almost gone, I replenish my starter with about 2-3 cups of flour and an equal amount of water. This way, we get more flavor from our starter as the days go by. (Replenishing it daily makes for a less sour starter.) If you keep your starter in the refrigerator, let it stand until it gets bubbly again after replenishing it and stir it down before returning to the refrigerator. If your starter gets too sour, discard 1 cup and then add 1 c. warm water and 1 c flour and let stand as above. The starter will last out on the counter indefinitely if used at least once a week.

Other recipes can also be converted to sourdough:
In recipes using about 2 c. of liquid, you would substitute 1 c of sourdough starter for about 3/4 c. of liquid in the recipe that you are replacing and use about 1 t. baking soda for each cup of starter.


You should also know that Sourdough breads are stickier to knead than regular bread - be careful to not add too much flour.


If you keep your starter in the refrigerator, you'll need to take it out several hours ahead and let it warm up before using it or use 110 degree liquid in the recipe.


You will find that starter separates after time. The liquid that collects at the top can be stirred back in, unless it turns pink, in which case all the starter except ¼ c should be discarded and you'll have to start another batch with the remainder. Don't worry about molds; scrape the moldy encrustations off the inside of the crock with a spoon and throw them away (they are not harmful). Occasionally, you might want to clean out the crock. Pour the starter into a clean jar and wash the crock and let it air dry before returning your Starter to the crock.


You can use 100% whole wheat flour in your recipes, but the yeast bread recipes tend to be heavy, too sour and doughy for me; try adding eggs, mashed potatoes or potato cooking water in place of all or some of the liquid; try adding some yeast to help the rising; or try adding ¼ t. baking soda per cup of starter to "sweeten" it a little. You can also use part unbleached flour. You should not have a problem with 100 % whole wheat sourdough quick breads.


You can start a bread the night before by making a "sponge" - mix the starter, the liquid in the recipe and about half the flour and let it sit in a warm place overnight. The sponge should be kept at about 85-100 degrees while it ferments. Over 110 degrees will kill it. The next day, add all the other ingredients - I've read that you can leave out the yeast, but allow a little more time for rising, but haven't tried it myself; they say this process allows more sourdough flavor to develop. I always use yeast in my sponge, but I make my sponge in the morning and bake my bread in the late afternoon just before dinner.


(Tips: warm spots to rise dough -- on top of the stove while baking something else, in the microwave with the door ajar so that the light warms the oven, on top of or next to the refrigerator. The temperature should be 70-80 degrees. You can also rest your rising bowl over another bowl or pan of warm water. It is a dangerous prospect to rise dough in a warm oven; I am embarrassed to admit that I melted my favorite Tupperware bowl when I turned on the oven to heat up lunch, forgetting that I had bread rising in it. Oops.)

Now that I have imparted to you most of my Sourdough wisdom, get out your apron and try that San Francisco Sourdough Bread recipe!