Sourdough Starter – My FIRST Fermentation Project

Complete candor and honesty – I have historically been PETRIFIED of home fermentation projects of any kind. This includes pickling, canning, wine and beer making, kombucha, and yes, sourdough starter.

In my head I imagine making a recipe, and thereafter everyone I feed my goodies to becoming awfully sick, and leaving me feeling guilty and, well, dumb.

(Sidenote – I was the recipient of a friendship bread starter in school, and I kept it alive exactly 3 days. It has not been a strength of mine historically, but here goes nothing! Hopefully 20 years + a little more knowledge will work in my favor).

As one of my new year’s resolutions I had decided to jump in, and try some easy fermentation projects. That resolution was officially completed with my recent sourdough project.

I did some research and determined that of all the possible fermentation projects out there, sourdough seemed the easiest to embark on.

Corona tip – Can’t find yeast? Make your own! While the recipe I used took advantage of a packet of yeast, there are several that don’t. You may have to wait longer, but the results are the same.

I used this recipe from Allrecipes.com. Additionally, in researching, I did find different recipes and methods tweak the gist of this a little bit, so as a novice I feel like nurturing a sourdough starter is as much an art as it is a science.

Also, when “feeding” your sourdough (why does that bring to mind images of Little Shop of Horrors?) I found recipes that encourage an even split of flour to water, some include a pinch of sugar to boost the yeast, and some have slightly more water to flour.

Whichever method you prefer, the idea is the same. You have a loose plastic or glass (never metal) container that is lightly sealed. Air needs to access it, just like eons ago when sourdough first became a thing (seriously…eons. Romans did it). You create the beginning starter, then toss a bit and feed it every day, hoping the bubbles on top continue to be happy bubbles, and don’t disappear.

You want a fresh, yeasty smell. To me, it smells like craft beer. I suppose it would smell the same as most fermentation projects. If you see a COLOR other than a white or off white (sometimes the liquid is a little to the tan side in mine), that’s a no go. Toss and start over. I’m not talking bread colors – I mean Christmas colors. If your starter has red, green, etc, tinges and complements your Christmas tree, you don’t want a piece of that. YUCK. Toss toss toss. It WILL make you sick.

I keep mine in my laundry room, which tends to stay a few degrees warmer because of my dryer. It seems to be very happy, so I plan to keep it there.

Once your starter is well-established you can keep it in the fridge if you don’t use it often. I also found some people will freeze it. Not sure how the science of it works, since to me I feel like living things would die in temperatures that cold, but I suppose yeast is different.

Today I’m off to make my first sourdough farm boule from my starter. I’ll post the results in an upcoming post. While my sandwich bread bakes in the breadmaker, I plan to hand bake my boule, because all of this breadmaking is making me miss the process.

Something about kneading my own bread is inherently relaxing to me. A close second to my morning yoga.

Have you made your own sourdough starter before? How did it turn out? Any tips for a newbie like me?

Katie