So my kids keep bugging me about this: WE WANT BREAD!
I can make the classic white stuff… it’s okay, but definitely not WOW. So for a few years, I’ve been putting off giving sourdough a spin… well, no more. The following is my interpretation of Joshua Weissman’s sourdough recipe, along with my notes.
There are multiple recipes available online, such as this one, made with all-purpose flour only.
Update: I had to transfer my starter to a normal rectangular glass container, and it’s definitely not ideal. Got myself a deal on a Weck jar set on Amazon, and what a difference it makes — much easier to mix.
(Experiment 25) Sourdough starter
Ingredients
- Rye flour
- Unbleached flour all-purpose
- 850 ML container glass and tall are preferred with a loose-fitting lid
- Water
Instructions
I recommend to use source water instead of tap because it contain chlore and can destroy the good bacteria and alter taste.
Day 1
- Weight your jar and write it down somewhere or better yet put a sticker on the jar with the weight on it. This will make each day maintenance easier
- 100 gr rye flour
- 150 gr lukewarm water ( ~85degree F)
- Stir until no flour clumps , cover with a loose-fitting lid
Day 2
- 24 hours later
- Take you jar and weight it. For instance if jar weight 500gr, it should now be 700+ as we added flour and water in the jar.
- Remove some of the mixture until you only have 70gr of the starter in the jar . Again as we weighted our jar, we know it should weight 500gr ( jar weight) + starter 70gr = 570gr total
- You can discard all the extra starter we wont need it
- Add to the jar :
- 50gr rye flour
- 50gr all purpose flour
- 115 lukewarm water
- Stir
- Put loose cover
Day 3
- 24 hours later
- Repeat day 2
- PS: Day 3 & 4 I didn’t see much activity , no need to panic keep the routine. In my case Day 5 it started to rise and fall again .
Day 4
- 24 hours later
- Same as day 2 but reduce water to 100ML instead of 115ML
Day 5
- Repeat day 4
Day6
- 24 hours later
- Same process but with the following amount
- 50gr starter
- 50gr rye flour
- 50gr all-purpose flour
- 100g water lukewarm
Day 7
- On the final day, again the same process but reduce starter
- 25g mature starter
- 50g stoneground rye flour
- 50g unbleached all-purpose flour
- 100g room temperature water
- Note that you need to repeat day 7 every ~24 hours. If you forget it 1-2 days, you should be able to bring it back to life by feeding it again ( day 7)
In the fridge
- If you don’t plan to bake a lot with it, you can put it in the fridge and feed it every 7 days, you can stretch it for 14 days if you want but you will need to do a few discard prior usage .
- Feed it as usual and let it sit 1-2 hours at room temperature then place it in the fridge. After 7 days ( or less), let it come to room temperature and feed it using the same pattern as “day 7”. Let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours and then you can put it back in the fridge
- If you plan on using the starter to make bread, it is preferable to take it out of the fridge 1-2 days in advance to get it activated again by doing a daily discard.