Sour Dough Starter

[Ducatiboy stu]

I started a soughdough stater last weekend

1 cup flour, beer, and a small amount of yeast made to a batter consistency and left on the bench in the bowl

After checking today it smells slightly vinigarie, but not really that smelly, and tastes VERY sour and acidic and is still bubbling slowly

Have I got it right or should I start again

 

[Airgead]

Sounds fine to me.

I usually start them with no beer or any other yeast - just let the wild yeast do its thing. Takes a week or 2 to get a starter going but its never failed me yet.

You'll probably find the starter changes flavour over a few months as the brewers yeast is slowly replaced by wild yeasts. It will stay sour as you get the lacto from the natural bacteria in the flour.

Make some bread with it. If it tastes good keep it. If not ditch it.

I hope that made sense.. I've just had most of a bottle of red.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The starter actually started out as a beer batter,for doing fish pieces, and I let the remainder sit overnight and noticed that it was bubbling in the morning...

Never seemed to go off or smell bad, so I kept it...

But, it is very sour...

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

No need for additional yeast, just flour, I throw in a teaspoon of uncrushed grain for good measure, works a treat.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I tried the starter and it worked....

Bread was very, very slow to rise. Took all day in a warm oven...

The crust is very chewy and the bread has a distinct flavour to it.. :icon_drool2:

Definatly keeping this starter :icon_cheers:

 

[Airgead]

I tried the starter and it worked....

Bread was very, very slow to rise. Took all day in a warm oven...

The crust is very chewy and the bread has a distinct flavour to it.. :icon_drool2:

Definatly keeping this starter :icon_cheers:

Slow is normal for a sourdough. I make my dough in the afternoon round 4 and bake the next morning round 9. Rises overnight at room temp.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Make the sponge up the night before, let it proof/rise overnight then bake with it next day, after a second slow rise.

 

[Mercs Own]

A traditional sourdough starter does not have yeast added to it instead it is left out or open to the atmosphere and the naturally occuring yeasts floating around will get in and infect the flour/liquid combo. The process of getting a starter culture going can take a week or two before you can use it.

Sounds like you have a good dough anyway!

edit:spelling

 

[DeGarre]

A starter recipe I have says to separate the crusty and dry outside of a starter and throw it away and use the moist dough inside to add fresh flour and water every 2-3 days. I tried this and everything got mixed up together because the dough was so flat in the bowl it was difficult to separate.

Should I just use the dry crusty bits too?

In the end I had to bake using yeast and it turned out very good but I really want to get into this proper sourdough malarkey. Cheers.

 

[Maxt]

Just about to put a loaf in the oven in the next few hours. It's a slow process. My 250gms of starter was started this morning at 8.30, and I still won't be baking until 8pm tonight.

Here's a link to a really useful site. I make the white sandwich loaf now, it rises better than the others which can be like rock.

http://www.sourdoughbaker.com.au/

 

[seamad]

A starter recipe I have says to separate the crusty and dry outside of a starter and throw it away and use the moist dough inside to add fresh flour and water every 2-3 days. I tried this and everything got mixed up together because the dough was so flat in the bowl it was difficult to separate.

Should I just use the dry crusty bits too?

In the end I had to bake using yeast and it turned out very good but I really want to get into this proper sourdough malarkey. Cheers.

I have a fairly dry starter that will last about a month in the fridge in a tupperware container with a vent left open on top. To make a loaf i use 150 g starter, add 300 g each water and flour, and leave most of the day, then another 300 g flour and salt, knead put in basket and leave overnight, bake in morning. To refeed starter 50 g water and 100 g flour, normally has dry patches of flour in it but as it ages it will go gooey, just mix any crusty bits in before using.
Cheers
sean

 

[DeGarre]

Thanks Sean, I'll try that. Good bread is rare in Finland and very expensive, I already brew my own beer so why not bake my bread too...

 

[benno1973]

When I make a sourdough, I start the process ~36hrs before I want to bake.

1. I take around a cup of starter, add a cup of flour and a cup of water and let it sit ~12hrs room temp by which time it's all bubbly.
2. I then add another cup of water and another cup of flour, and again let it sit ~12hrs room temp, and again it's all bubbly and active.
3. I then add a cup of water and 3 cups of flour and mix, adding more flour until I get a good dough consistency that doesn't stick to my fingers. Knead for 10-15 minutes, and then allow to rise until it's around double the size (~5hrs)
4. Punch down, cut, knead and shape into loaves, cover and leave to rise again (~2hrs).
5. Bake.

I find, even though there's a fair bit of pre-planning, the multiple steps and long slow rise times produce an awesome dough with large air bubbles and a great flavour. It's fine to omit step 2 to shorten the process, but I guess I include it as it's always worked to produce great bread. Must experiment with a side by side test some day.

Regarding the crusty bits, just stir them in. I use a fairly liquid batter and store it in the fridge feeding once a week. It doesn't get crusty bits, but I assume that's because it's quite liquid. There's always a bit of hooch floating on the top at the end of the week.

 

[Airgead]

If you ask 10 sourdough bakers how to do it you will get 11 answers...

My method is different again. I use a fairly dry starter (50% hydration) which sits in the bottom of my fridge in a sealed bowl. When I come to bake I take out 800g of starter, add that to around 1.8kg of flour (I bake in big batches) and after making the dough and kneading, it then goes through around 12-24 hours of rising depending on the temperature. The starter gets fed and put back in the fridge. I have the process calibrated so that I end up with exactly the same amount of starter after baking and feeding as I started with.

Cheers
Dave

 

[DeGarre]

I have been feeding the starter quite regularly now for 5 days. It's quite a liquid and runny starter and it sure does smell fermenting just before I feed it. It's fluffy and is almost bubbling so it's looking good.

I have about a litre of it. If I want to bake 2 medium loaves that with dry yeast would take about 750g of flour, with this starter how much do I need to use it? I assume I need to leave about a cup or so unused at least so I can build it up again by feeding it?

Thanks.

 

[Rod]

I have been feeding the starter quite regularly now for 5 days. It's quite a liquid and runny starter and it sure does smell fermenting just before I feed it. It's fluffy and is almost bubbling so it's looking good.

I have about a litre of it. If I want to bake 2 medium loaves that with dry yeast would take about 750g of flour, with this starter how much do I need to use it? I assume I need to leave about a cup or so unused at least so I can build it up again by feeding it?

Thanks.

1 cup

made a loaf yesterday using the bread machine on the dough cycle and then in a warm place in the sun to rise a 2nd time

 

[DeGarre]

Ta very much for the advice, great results: the crust tastes very rye crisp bread-like, the inside has the air holes I like and is chewy, not crumbling at all. Good taste and the starter is definitely one to keep and cherish. I had the dough rise for 18 hours. Only thing I don't understand as a bread novice is that when I formed the dough into two balls they fell quite flat so I didn't get round breads, the dough was quite soft. Perhaps not enough flour or too long rising the dough?

Went down very well with butter and cheese and home brewed Klsch...

 

[chefsantos]

I have made a lot of different starters and found if you put a handful of currants or raisins in a jar add some water to cover and add a 1tblsp sugar. seal the jar and leave for about 7 days opening daily to let in oxygen.After that strain out the current and use the liquid to make your starter ie . start adding flour this is now known as a bitch, you will have to feed the bitch every few days . this will get better the longer you keep it alive

 

[brettprevans]

sounds fine.

heres a link to some info I was given on sourdough starters and bread recipes

bake on!