Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter is freakishly easy.  No really.  I used to think otherwise, too.  Then I asked my friend Nikki for some of her starter.  That's when she explained that it's nothing more than flour and water.  (She also sent me the link to S. John Ross' Sourdough page.)

Ingredients

Double, double toil & trouble
Fire burn, & cauldron bubble

Unbleached flour
Unfiltered water
A jar with a snug lid
A cool, dark place
Patience

Process

Put equal amounts of flour & water in the jar, close the lid tight & shake it.  Unscrew the lid to "burp" it.  Re-close the jar & put it in your cool, dark place.  

That's a lot of hooch!

In a few days, take the jar out.  Hooch should have formed.  Some sourdough aficionados advocate pouring off the hooch before adding in more flour and water.  I say shake it up.  Then add a couple of tablespoons each of flour & water.  This constitutes "feeding" your starter, which you must do at least once a week.


Ross recommends feeding your starter every day.  I'm pretty sure Nikki feeds hers daily, too.  I don't.  I suspect it has to do with where I store my yeasty-beasties... the liquor cabinet.  Feed yours as often as seems right.

That's also a lot of hooch!

How much flour and water you add will depend on two factors.  First, the more starter you have, the more you need to feed it.  So you'll want to increase the amount of flour you use each time.  If your starter has a lot of hooch, you probably want to back off of the water a bit.
After you add the flour & water, close the jar, shake it, burp it, re-close it.  Put your starter back in its home.  Keep doing this until your starter smells sour.  That means that your yeasty-beasties are ready to help you make some Sourdough Bread!  Shake up your starter & start proofing your sponge.

If you have too much starter, and you're not ready to make bread, you have a couple of options.  You can throw some of the starter out so that you have room to continue feeding it, or you can split it.  Remember, most people don't realize how easy this is.  You can always find someone who will take some of your starter, and you'll seem so generous.  They don't need to know it's just costing you some water, flour, and a jar.