Sourdough starter "recipe" and procedure?

[Don Howard]

Greetings everyone.

I want to get a good sourdough starter going so I can try my hand at sourdough bread for the parents. utube shows multiple versions but the posts are 1+ years old and no response from the other day. I tried my hand and mixed two "recipes" into one. I've seen the recipe for the starters to include flour and water only. another one shows potato flakes, water and sugar. all recipes says it will take 2-3 days for the stuff to get going.

without internet access to verify at night, I mixed flour, water and sugar. the next day after work the thing was bubbling so I fed it, but it smelled bad and not like the beer smell they say..then again, I'm not a beer drinker so...

If anyone has advice please share with me. I started another one with just flour and water and hope to see if this one takes on a different smell, etc.
Thanks.

 

[kcinnick]

TheFreshLoaf.com has a sourdough forum, probably best place to ask.

 

[pdmay]

Actually I think you're on the right track, but go to www.thefreshloaf.com and use the search function to research sourdough starters. You'll find a lot of advise on how to start one, feed it, and use it--plus tons of recipes. There are lots of different ways to get one going. Don't worry about the funky smell with a new starter; it'll get better as it ages. They can start out smelling like fingernail polish remover, but will improve over time to a beery or fruity aroma. You'll need to set up a feeding schedule for the starter to keep it going--it's like having a pet.

A new starter often doesn't yield the "sour" taste associated with sourdough bread. This will come as the starter ages.

Give yourself more time to make bread with a wild yeast starter than with commercial yeast. Fermentation (proofing) takes longer with a starter, and will vary with the type of dough and proofing termperature. For your first attempts, you might want to spike your dough with a little commercial yeast to improve your chances of success.

Once you get the hang of baking sourdough bread at home, you'll find all the store bought stuff is crap. (By the way, if your buying commercial sourdough bread at the store, check the label. Often it's not real sourdough, but regular bread with various ingredients added to give it a sourdough flavor.)

 

[Don Howard]

Actually I think you're on the right track, but go to www.thefreshloaf.com and use the search function to research sourdough starters. <snip!>Don't worry about the funky smell with a new starter; it'll get better as it ages. They can start out smelling like fingernail polish remover, but will improve over time to a beery or fruity aroma. You'll need to set up a feeding schedule for the starter to keep it going--it's like having a pet.

A new starter often doesn't yield the "sour" taste associated with sourdough bread. This will come as the starter ages.

Give yourself more time to make bread with a wild yeast starter than with commercial yeast. <snip!>

<snip!>

TheFreshLoaf.com has a sourdough forum, probably best place to ask.

Thanks for the swift responses. I hope they do age to a better tangy smell like beer. Right now the one I made with a/p flour, water and sugar smells rancid, but it's all bubbly like it should be. In a few hours I'll see if the second one with bread flour(actually, better for bread flour by gold medal) and water reacted the same as the one with sugar. I'm thinking a slow rise of yeast cultures would lend itself to a better flavor as opposed to all out infestation of yeast.

 

[TomTerrific]

Thanks for the swift responses. I hope they do age to a better tangy smell like beer. Right now the one I made with a/p flour, water and sugar smells rancid, but it's all bubbly like it should be. In a few hours I'll see if the second one with bread flour(actually, better for bread flour by gold medal) and water reacted the same as the one with sugar. I'm thinking a slow rise of yeast cultures would lend itself to a better flavor as opposed to all out infestation of yeast.

The "beer" smell is a pleasant, yeasty smell, very clean.

I've been on a bread baking forum for a while but haven't baked in a long time.
Brian Mailman in SF knows all there is to know about sourdough. He is on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bread-machine/?yguid=93874464 which is not a sourdough group per se but Brian and Rina are regulars and know all there is to know about the subject. Brian will send you some of his starter.

The advice from pdmay is excellent, too. Tell them Tommy in Baton Rouge sent you.

 

[Don Howard]

Thanks for the info tomterrific. Looks like I'll have to join yahoo group in order to reach him and read the info. By the way, my starters are not so rancid smelling anymore. Last night I read that one should first expect activity/bubbling of certain bacteria with associated rancid smells, then a period of slacked bubbling, then a gradual lower Ph and yeast formation followed by the "sweetened yeasty smell" that's characteristic of sourdough. Wednesday would make it day 7 of the experiment. The timing isn't that great: in two weeks I will start back my p90x exercise program (round 1 done, round 2 next) which of course would be about the time, hopefully, the sourdough starter would be ready for baking. Bummer since I will just about give up eating bread during the 90 day program.

I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[Don Howard]

I have my dough on the second rise right now and will bake it tonight when I get home. If it turns out alright I'll take pics to make hitman happy.

 

[Don Howard]

The dough proofed and was baked with limited oven rise, but browned nicely. The smell seemed off from regular white bread and tasted off as well. It tasted a little like I remember sourdough, but not as sour. I've read where something can be added to make it more sour, but I like it naturally. This wasn't a whole recipe because I didn't want to waste too much ingredients if it didn't turn out right.