Easy Sourdough Starter

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Heidi's Easy Sourdough Starter

I got this recipe from an old friend and have used it successfully for years, it hasn't failed me yet.  In a large ceramic or glass mixing bowl add the following:

2 c. flour (I have used as much as 50% whole wheat flour successfully, it w/not rise as tall and w/b denser)

2 c. warm water (about 108-110 degrees F)

2 & 1/4 t. active dry yeast

2 t. granulated sugar

CARE- I mix these things up well, cover bowl with a moist, clean kitchen towel and place it in a dry, cool corner in my kitchen.  I check on it daily.  After about 24 hours I notice bubbles.  I stir them back in once each day.  I replace the moist kitchen towel daily too.  Usually at about the end of the second or third day, the entire lower floor of my house smells like yeast.  At this point I use my starter.  You can wait up to four or five days, the extended incubation time will just make it more sour.  Once you have determined your starter is sour enough for your taste, you need to "feed" it daily (if kept on the kitchen counter).  

Starter Day 3 eight hours after feeding. Bubbles...

FEEDING- Once your starter has "matured" and you are going to start using it; to keep it going, you must feed it.  To do this, I remove 1 cup of starter daily and replace with a mixture of 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water.  I mix it thoroughly into my starter.  I bake with the 1 cup extracted daily.  Feeding your sourdough starter can become overwhelming, especially if your family doesn't eat that much bread.  When we suffer sourdough burn out, I just take my starter and place it in an airtight glass container (Ravenhead bailtop canning jar) in the refrigerator.  This way, I only have to stir and feed it once a week, instead of daily.  It keeps fine and I just have to take it out and bring it back up to room temperature, feed it once, and let it set up (ferment) for 24 hours, then, it's ready to go again.

I have heard from others that it can be frozen, brought back up to room temperature, "fed" and fermented in the same way, but I've not tried that yet.  I am going to try that this week and I will report back my results.  

Have a GREAT week!