Sourdough Starter
People love my sourdough. At least they say they do. I’ve had this starter going for about three years. Clearly not as long as many but it’s developing nicely.
Anyway, people think there’s some magic to this.
There isn’t.
Here’s the easiest way to create and grow your own starter and take care of it going forward.
Starting Starter
Using a scale, weigh out 1 ounce (30g) of dark rye flour and 3 ounces (90g) of all purpose flour. Add 4 ounces (120g) of good water — filtered, bottled, not chlorinated tap water. Mix well, cover, put in a warm place — top of the ‘fridge, oven with the light on. Let sit for 12-24 hours.
Throw out half of the above — do not pour it down the drain unless you’re really fond of paying plumbers — and add to it 1/2 ounce (15g) of dark rye flour and 3.5 ounces (105g) of all purpose flour. Add 4 ounces (120g) of good water. Mix, cover, let sit in a warm place 12-24 hours.
Keep only ~1/2 cup of the starter, chuck the rest, add 1/2 ounce of dark rye flour and 3.5 ounces of all purpose flour and 4 ounces of good water. Mix, cover, let rest.
You should be seeing a pattern.
After 4-7 days of the doing the above one or two times a day you should see a fair bit of activity — bubbles forming and the starter growing between feedings. I use a large, clear, acrylic jar and put a rubber band at the level where the top of the starter was so I can monitor activity.
Once it’s active like this, I add 1 ounce of dark rye flour and 7 ounces of all purpose flour and 8 ounces of good water and mix well. This gives me a good mass of starter to work with.
Maintaining When Not Using
I keep my starter in the ‘fridge. If I haven’t been using it and replenishing it when using it (see below) every week or two I take it out, stir it well, and take a cup or so out and toss the rest, then add 1/2-ounce of dark rye flour and 3.5 ounces of all purpose flour and 4 ounces of water to feed it. Let it sit at room temperature for 4-8 hours to start growing then return to the ‘fridge.
Maintaining When Using
If a recipe calls for “2 cups of fed starter” here’s what I do about 6 hours before I want to make the dough. You can do this the night before even.
I take a clean bowl and add 10 ounces of all purpose flour and mix in 10 ounces of warm (100°F, 37°C) water. Then I stir into that 3/4 to 1-cup of my starter from the refrigerator. Let that sit at room temperature for awhile until it starts to get puffy. Stir. Measure the 2 cups of fed starter out of that and use in your recipe. Whatever’s left in the bowl I add back to my saved starter.
If the recipe calls for less fed starter, start with less flour and water before adding your saved starter.
