For tips on making your own sourdough starter, start here!
My new pandemic starter has had a couple of weeks to settle down and it is performing pretty much how I would expect.
Feeding your starter every day really helps it out. I've been feeding this blob since 3/16. I have reduced the amount I keep going on my counter and only feed 1/4 cup of flour and slightly less than 1/4 cup of water per feeding. This saves me ½ cup a day of precious flour.
Feeding the starter twice on bread baking day really increases my chances of turning out a good loaf. I've learned that unlike my former, trusty Muir Beach starter this new Dog Town starter has an hour shorter cycle after feeding for when it is truly ready to be used, but I am figuring it out.
You will find many related posts on Sourdough and baking here! Read the rest
UPDATE: Click here for Saturday's Sourdough Waffles!
A reader suggested I not discard any excess sourdough starter I didn't have plans to bake and make fry bread instead. So I did.
You are looking at ½ cup of sourdough starter fried in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
I started this starter on Monday. I am pretty sure after today's feeding it'll be ready to bake a loaf of bread.
Previously:
Pandemic Starter Day 1
Pandemic Starter Day 2
Pandemic Starter Day 3
Pandemic Sourdough Waffles (Day 5) Read the rest
Everyone I know is on a sourdough kick. My sister was talking some stuff she learned in a class, so I took these photos to show her what "waking up the starter" means to me.
When I took my starter out of the fridge and looked in the crock I saw a deep pool of hooch. It has been since Thanksgiving that I used it, and I may have put this batch in the fridge back in June or July 2018.
I take a heaping spoonful of the starter and...
...gently mix it with 1/2 cup of warm water and 1/2 cup of flour. Then I set it aside for 4 hours.
I feed the starter every 4 hrs when I am awake, until it is awake. When I sleep the yeast can sleep. Once I have 2 cups of starter in my bowl, I discard 1/2 and add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour again, maintaining the volume at around 2 cups. When the starter looks like this, it is ready to use.
I used the starter, baking a loaf of bread in my Dutch Oven.
Bread with butter, jam and cheese was yesterday's meal. Read the rest
