Quarantine Day 8: INTERMISSION!

Today I'm probably going to have two posts, I told a friend that I would give some instructions for Sour-Dough-Starter, and unfortunately, Social Networking is a little restrictive. So while I drink my coffee and get my early morning day-dreaming out of the way I thought I might as well type them up.

A note on the apocalypse: Shortages are everywhere, hoarders and their ilk have depleted venders of staples, you cant find many canned goods, sanitation products, and food staples. Even though I have 80 lbs of flour (not hoarding, just a hobby baker) there is no Yeast to be found in the city, and I can't violate the Lockdown Order just to go chase my tail looking for it.

So I remember, my mom would make sourdough bread, and she used the starter for a variety of different things, from waffles to homemade doughnuts (Trying to get those recipes from my siblings as we speak).

There are many ways of making sourdough starter, in the last few years it has become popular to quick start the sourdough starter by adding a teaspoon of dry active yeast.

This is UNNECESSARY.

All you need is a clean container, flour, and water.

You want to dechlorinate the water so that it doesn't stunt bacterial growth. You can do this by filling a pitcher with tap water and leaving it on the counter overnight, chlorine evaporates VERY quickly. You can use bottled water if you don't trust your culinary water. But again open the bottle and leave it exposed to air for a while. Again YOU WANT THE BACTERIA.

I use a Quart sized canning jar, cleaned, and set aside, I keep the ring and set aside the cap seal, and I use a piece of muslin, you can use cheesecloth, but you want a few layers of it.

There is a huge benefit to using canning jars, first, they have measurement lines on the glass, and second, when you "discard" you can actually divide your starter and feed both halves, double value for your work, or right now? The Starter makes a great gift.

Your Starter base:
3 tablespoons whole rye or wheat flour. (all-purpose is fine, but the richer whole-grain flour adds flavor)

Enough water to make what looks like cake-batter

Stir to mix and let it sit out, loosely covered, for 24 hours (best temperature is about 70°F my house is a little cooler in temp.). I have cats, so for me, I place the cloth over the mouth of the jar and secure it with the O-ring lid, minus the cap.

After 24 hours - Stir your starter and take (1/4 cup) of the sourdough starter, discarding the rest (or split it to another jar), and mix it with (1/4 cup) of water and (3/8 cup) of flour (People that can't math 1/4 cup is 4 Tbsp, 1/8th is 2 Tbsp or 1 shot glass, so 3/8th is approximately 3 shot glasses or 6 Tbsp).

Repeat this process every 12 hours for 4 to 6 days (Because my house is usually closer to 65°F it can take a couple extra days). By the time it’s obviously alive (slightly bubbly and smelling distinctly acidic) you’ll have succeeded in creating a Levain (starter).

You can jump straight to baking (from room temperature) in the section below (Recipes pending my siblings) with this the new starter or store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake.

Note: I may edit this post to add pictures, as my Starter matures.