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Baking bread is a wonderful, delicious hobby. Bread can be as complex or as simple as you want. This instructable is about making simple but time consuming bread.
To make sourdough you will need a sourdough starter, which is essentially flour and water mixed and left to gather bacteria. Yes, sourdough is sour because of bacteria, which in turn eat away at the starter and produce waste (lactic acid). Yeast itself will produce alcohol when left to its own devices, which is why it is used to ferment things such as...well, alcohol. The bacteria eat that too, leaving behind what essentially amounts to vinegar. Neat.
Note: Thank you for the clarification, atomictesting. Fixed for correctness.
A fair warning before we get started: Completing this instructable can take anywhere from one week to several months, depending on the amount of time you are willing to spend and how many times you accidentally screw up.
I will not be using active-dry or rapid rise yeast at any point during this instructable at all.
Why wild yeast?
Why not? It's neat and, given the right about of time, your sourdough will take on its own distinct flour not quite like any other starter.
Why is it sour?
Bacteria and wild yeast. When you let the starter and the bread sit as long as you will be (days and weeks) it takes on that distinctive sour flavor.
How long does this take?
Forever. It's an ongoing process.
How much experience do you have?
Not a lot. I'm a hobbyist. I'm very open to suggestions or corrections if someone out there knows something that I don't know.
To make sourdough you will need a sourdough starter, which is essentially flour and water mixed and left to gather bacteria. Yes, sourdough is sour because of bacteria, which in turn eat away at the starter and produce waste (lactic acid). Yeast itself will produce alcohol when left to its own devices, which is why it is used to ferment things such as...well, alcohol. The bacteria eat that too, leaving behind what essentially amounts to vinegar. Neat.
Note: Thank you for the clarification, atomictesting. Fixed for correctness.
A fair warning before we get started: Completing this instructable can take anywhere from one week to several months, depending on the amount of time you are willing to spend and how many times you accidentally screw up.
I will not be using active-dry or rapid rise yeast at any point during this instructable at all.
Why wild yeast?
Why not? It's neat and, given the right about of time, your sourdough will take on its own distinct flour not quite like any other starter.
Why is it sour?
Bacteria and wild yeast. When you let the starter and the bread sit as long as you will be (days and weeks) it takes on that distinctive sour flavor.
How long does this take?
Forever. It's an ongoing process.
How much experience do you have?
Not a lot. I'm a hobbyist. I'm very open to suggestions or corrections if someone out there knows something that I don't know.
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Signing UpStep 1Starting the Starter
The first, most important thing to remember when making your first sourdough starter: It takes a while, it is going to smell weird, and it is going to demand your attention and love.
Other than that, a lot of this is just trial and error. If you don't like your result, scrap it and start over.
For this step you will need the following ingredients:
- A glass or tupperware container that can be sealed.
- White (standard, all purpose or bread) flour. Do not use self-rising flour. Buy the 5lbs all-purpose.
- Whole-grain wheat flour. Same rules apply as with the white flour.
- Warm, clean water (90-115 degrees Fahrenheit)
- A clean measuring cup.
- Something you can stir with. Non-metal spatulas work just dandy, and are preferred.
- Time. You will need to deal with this sucker once every 12 hours or so.
- Heat. Room temperature is great. The starter must be stored at room temperature (or close).
First things first. Pick a time when you will be available every day to start, and be sure that you will be available every day 12 hours later as well. I started mine at 7p.m. because I knew I would be awake at 7a.m. and home by 7p.m. Once you pick your time, gather your supplies.
This first step will be quick and painless.
Put 1/4c (cup) each of the white and wheat flours into your container. That is 1/2c total flour.*
*You do not have to use wheat flour. In fact, you can use only white flour or only wheat flour. It's a matter of taste. I like to add a little wheat flour to all of my bread, but that's just me. Maybe you don't.
Now, add 1/4c clean, warm water.
Stir 'em up. The water and flour should form a thick, sticky ball. Try to get all of the flour in there. Don't worry about it sticking to the walls. It's going to stick to everything.
Once you're happy, close it up and set it somewhere warm.
Walk away. For 12 hours. You can look, but don't touch.
Leave it alone.
Other than that, a lot of this is just trial and error. If you don't like your result, scrap it and start over.
For this step you will need the following ingredients:
- A glass or tupperware container that can be sealed.
- White (standard, all purpose or bread) flour. Do not use self-rising flour. Buy the 5lbs all-purpose.
- Whole-grain wheat flour. Same rules apply as with the white flour.
- Warm, clean water (90-115 degrees Fahrenheit)
- A clean measuring cup.
- Something you can stir with. Non-metal spatulas work just dandy, and are preferred.
- Time. You will need to deal with this sucker once every 12 hours or so.
- Heat. Room temperature is great. The starter must be stored at room temperature (or close).
First things first. Pick a time when you will be available every day to start, and be sure that you will be available every day 12 hours later as well. I started mine at 7p.m. because I knew I would be awake at 7a.m. and home by 7p.m. Once you pick your time, gather your supplies.
This first step will be quick and painless.
Put 1/4c (cup) each of the white and wheat flours into your container. That is 1/2c total flour.*
*You do not have to use wheat flour. In fact, you can use only white flour or only wheat flour. It's a matter of taste. I like to add a little wheat flour to all of my bread, but that's just me. Maybe you don't.
Now, add 1/4c clean, warm water.
Stir 'em up. The water and flour should form a thick, sticky ball. Try to get all of the flour in there. Don't worry about it sticking to the walls. It's going to stick to everything.
Once you're happy, close it up and set it somewhere warm.
Walk away. For 12 hours. You can look, but don't touch.
Leave it alone.
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I have had a few flies buzzing around lately and today, I found a fly in the sour!
When I did click the lid on it suddenly blew off one night (scared my wife)!
Will baking kill anything nasty from the flies or must I throw it all away?
We are making low carb, whole wheat bread using Tuscan farro.
The results have exceeding expectations.
For anyone intimidated about trying this -- don't be. It's easy, and very forgiving. I neglected my "pet blob" during November, and it bounced right back from the missed feedings.
Has anyone tried this starter with a bread machine, yet? I'm a big wimp, and I don't think my arms would survive the kneading process of making bread the hard way.
I had a jar of yeast that I bought right before I moved to a place where the kitchen was too small for my bread machine. Used maybe a couple teaspoons of the yeast. It sat in the fridge for, I kid you not, over two years. Then I moved to a larger place and decided to make bread again and -- the yeast was fine. Worked perfectly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNNwzt8eoTQ
Thanks
What if I can obtain a pure yeast culture? I work in a genetics lab where we use yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). If I can grow a pure yeast culture on a agar medium, could I take that culture and apply it directly to the flour? (Would this even be safe? I think there's only one single type of yeast to make bread/beer, and that's Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Are there even strains of yeast that may be infectious?
If I can use a pure culture from my lab, how much of the yeast should I place into the dough?
Would hooch benefit or harm a compost pile? Should it go down my waste drain or can it go into the greywater system?
I'm imagining that the stuff may create a stronger presence of yeast in my patio garden, which may infiltrate the air and make subsequent sourdough starters even more flavorful and localized...
I'm reading on the sourdough wiki that unwashed organic grape skins are good seeds for yeast...
From wikipedia: The use of potatoes, water from potato boiling, eggs, or sugar in a bread dough accelerates the growth of yeasts. Salt , hot water and fats such as butter slow yeast growth[citation needed].
I have one question - I tried making some biscuits, but the dough was stickier than any bread dough that I've ever used before and my biscuits didn't come out very well. Even though I used a lot of flour, most of the dough stuck to the counter and my hands. How can I make the dough less sticky?
"Actually, all doughs contain at least some bacteria. So why aren’t all breads sour? In doughs made with bakers’ yeast (the kind you buy in the store), the yeast outnumber the bacteria. Since both compete for the same sugars, the yeast win out, and the bacteria don’t have a chance to produce their acidic by-products. In sourdough, yeast and bacteria are more closely balanced, so the bacteria have a chance to add their flavors to the bread. "
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-sourdough.html
1. Make sure your starter doesn't go off -it can be lethal
2. Leave the starter outside to capture bacteria
3. Use organic rye flour to start the starter, it's got much more good bacteria in it
Check my blog for more details: foodings.blog.uk
It won't matter if the flour is organic or not. The flour is ground up starch from the inside of the seed, and not exposed to chemicals. Also no herbicide, fungicide, or pesticide would have been used on the wheat prior to harvest. These chemicals go away with time and whould have left the plants prior to harvest.
You can use organic flour to support organic farming, but it won't make a difference when it comes to the starter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye#Diseases
Ergot fungus are used to harvest the medication ergotamine, which is used to treat postpartum bleeding and migraine, among other diseases, because if it's vasoconstricting effects on humans. Ergotism, on the other hand, can make you loose your fingertips and earlobes.
I only bake fresh rye flour when making rye bread, I never make the starter out of it.
If you ever see colorful streaks in your starter it is no good anymore. It will be pretty obvious and pretty not good tasting. To my knowledge there is no danger in having a rye starter, it is quite common practice among artisan bakers.