Believing it to be an easy endeavor, I’ve finally gotten around to making a sourdough starter. Or perhaps more aptly put, I failed twice before finally succeeding. What follows is a novice’s account of establishing a sourdough starter. It has not been a journey without its ups and downs. More on that shortly.
Despite the picture above, this is not a “how-to” post. I’m by no means an expert on the subject of sourdough starters. You’ll find links to the sites I found most helpful included as the story unfolds. Even so, there are a few lessons learned and personal insights gained I can offer to anyone who’s thinking of taking a stab it.
At this point in history, efforts at establishing sourdough starters are on the rise. All it takes is flour, water, and time. For a baking technique that’s nearly as old as civilization itself, it’s as much a science as it is an art. Scientific research on the subject (see Microbial secrets of sourdough, published by knowableMAGAZINE) indicates that starters are like snowflakes, no two are alike. Each is a diverse ecosystem of interacting yeasts and bacteria. Those microbes “depend not just on the native microbial flora of the baker’s house and hands, but also on other factors like the choice of flour, the temperature of the kitchen, and when and how often the starter is fed.” I encourage you to read up on the rest of the sciency stuff at your leisure.
As alluded to in the title of this post, it took me three tries before I succeeded. The instructions I followed can be found on the recipe blog by Sylvia Fountaine called FEASTING AT HOME. There’s a ton of information in her post along with step-by-step instructions that can be printed plus a video. In addition, there’s a variety of recipes for using a sourdough starter to make yummy treats other than bread.
Attempt #1
An expected timeframe for having a ready-to-use starter was said to be 6 to 7 days. The first lesson-learned I have to share is that it will likely take longer. And you might not succeed on your first try.
Attempt #2
Again, the starter wasn’t doing much and as such, I didn’t take any pictures. After all, I wasn’t planning to make a “how-to” post and the photos from one day to the next would look just about the same. Like with the first attempt, eventually I threw the towel in on this one as well.
Attempt #3
I’m not one to easily admit defeat. Even so, I took a few days to regroup, to rethink my gameplan. Had I missed something in the instructions? I read through them once again and concluded that I hadn’t but yet it seemed that I must have. A re-read of the blog post didn’t add any additional knowledge and then I considered the video. The video I hadn’t watched since I had the printed instructions. Would it be worth my time to watch the video?
It turns out that there were a few helpful tidbits of useful information in the video that weren’t in the written instructions. As detailed as the written ones were, it seems odd that those tidbits had been left out. Second lesson-learned; when all else fails, watch the video instructions. I went back to using the jar. However, I did the mixing in another vessel and then transferred the fed starter to the jar (one of those helpful tidbits from the video).
In addition to watching the video, I started searching for more information. Specifically, sourdough starter not rising. I found several sites where this same query had been made and I read all of the responses. I eventually landed on the King Arthur Baking Company website. If you’re thinking of trying this yourself, that website has a lot of helpful information and recipes. All of my research and reading encouraged me to be patient and stay the course.
The photo above was taken about 6 days into this last attempt. The yellow rubberband marks the level of the starter after its feeding 12 hours earlier. If all was going well and on the expected timeline, the starter would have doubled in size. The fact that it hadn’t didn’t mean that anything was wrong, I just needed to give it more time. I also did what I could to provide a warmer environment for the starter.
At some point, I’d started talking to the starter, to encourage it like when a person talks to their plants (everyone talks to their plants, don’t they?). A sourdough starter is a living thing that needs more than just basic nourishment. My son misheard me once as I said “come on, make some bubbles” and thought that I had called the starter Bubbles. Now my starter had a name and our family gained a new member. I’ve since discovered that it’s not uncommon for starters to be given names. Check out this article on Topic if you think I’m joking. And once you name your starter, you can’t give up.
By the following morning, Bubbles was, well, bubbly. While the goal of doubling had been achieved but it had taken almost 24 hours. Ideally, the doubling needs to be reached after 12 hours so we weren’t quite yet there. The feeding of a sourdough starter calls for adding flour and water to a 1/2 cup of it and discarding the rest. Which seems a bit wasteful, doesn’t it? Fear not, that discarded immature starter could instead be used in recipes that don’t require the full leavening power of a mature starter. The biscuits shown below were my first pass at using discarded starter and they were good. Easy to make and quite yummy with a drizzle of honey.
Be well and let’s connect! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, love, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
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