Hi angels! It's Kira (Cacti Wellness Founder) and I felt inclined to make this post because I've been testing "beginner" bread recipes for the past 6 months or so and have finally worked up the courage to venture into Sourdough. It always felt like too big a time commitment and responsibility (especially since I travel often and I'm away from home).
That being said, my dad (a full time scientist and part time bread aficionado) came to the rescue and was kind enough to write out a very thorough Sourdough Starter Guide. He also assured me it's only a serious commitment for the first seven (7) days or so and then you can put the starter into a dormant state in the fridge when you are traveling, aren't baking frequently, etc.
So, I guess I'm spilling the family secrets!! I've officially started my starter and if you're also feeling up to it, I invite you join me in the "rise" of the sourdough era (lol).
Sourdough Starter: Dad's Way
What You'll Need To Get Started:
**this is optional, but you'll need all of the individual items included in this kit!
General Notes:
*It’ll take about a week, but only requires ~5 min/day to build the starter.
*The starter gets its yeast from the natural wild yeast that already lives on wheat or any other grain. Its already there in the flour. Unless the flour has been bleached, which kills all the good stuff.
*Its WILD yeast, not commercial standardized yeast. That’s why every sourdough is unique, each loaf tastes special and different from store bought bread.
Day 1:
a) Buy 5lbs of UNBLEACHED BREAD FLOUR
b) Get a vertical transparent glass container, like a 1-pint canning jar. You can use anything, but vertical, glass etc makes it easier to monitor the progress of your starter. And get a rubber band. **Kira here! Again, this kit is what I am using.
c) In the jar, thoroughly mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup UNCHLORINATED water. Chlorine and fluorine are added to our tap water to kill things that are bad for us, but also kill the good stuff we want in sourdough. You can buy this as “Spring water” from most stores or you can just boil tap water for 1/2 hour and let it cool to room temp. DO NOT add hot water to anything. That would also kill the good stuff.
d) Cover the jar with the “starter” and set it somewhere out of direct sunlight at a temp between 68-75 deg F. Place the rubber band around the jar to mark the top of the mixture, then wait.
**I like my starter to get plenty of air. So I don't cap the jar while its festering. Instead cover it with cheesecloth to keep bugs out but let air (and wild airborne yeast) in. If no cheesecloth, use a coffee filter (rubber band also useful here) or just don't screw the lid tightly.
Day 2 - Day 7:
It might look like nothing has happened. Don’t worry, keep going. You’re essentially gonna repeat the above, every day, until you have a healthy starter. The point here is to “feed” the yeast so that they can grow.
a) Take the original jar, add 1/4 cup UNCHLORINATED water + 1/4 cup flour. Mix thoroughly and put it back where you're keeping it. Wait til tomorrow and check again.
b) Keep repeating this every day until you have a “healthy starter”. About 1 week. See below.
c) Your starter is “healthy” when, about 4-8 hrs after a feeding, it has doubled in volume and is very bubbly. That’s what the rubber band is for. To wrap around the container to mark the initial volume so that you can see later how much expansion has happened. The bubbling is a sign of healthy yeast - eating flour and giving off carbon dioxide - which will ultimately make your bread rise properly.
d) just keep repeating this every day until you’ve got a starter thats very bubbly and expanding, about 4-8 hours after you've fed it.
e) You may have noted that the volume should be increasing every day. If things are going well, it will start overrunning the original container. That's fine, indeed thats a great sign. Just remove as much stuff to get back down to about 1/4 cup, and toss it down the sink (there are uses for “starter discard”, but let’s worry about that later). Feed the remaining 1/4 cup as described above, and keep going. 1:1:1, starter:flour:water.
**We’re feeding the wild yeast, and it takes a while to wake them up and get them to remember what it was like to thrive in their natural environment. They need something to eat (grain), clean water (unchlorinated) and air. And thats all they need (!) they will do the rest.
Seems like a lot, but really its about 5 min/day for a week to get it going. Once the starter is going, the effort gets less. My starter (several years old) is stored in the fridge and the only time i ever feed it is a few days before i bake, to wake it up and get it ready.
To wit: There are some possible health concerns when dealing with wild organisms. With bread, prolly nil because everything is baked at high temp. With pickles, cheese etc, its a possible serious concern, but if you follow thousands of years of advice, prolly fine. I’ve never had a problem with anything I've made, but I’ve also paid a lot of attention to safe practices.
Love,
Dad
Hope this is helpful and here's my current progress pic! If you want to follow along on Instagram - I'll be sharing my journey :) x Kira
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