I've
recently come across this new obsession of cooking with sourdough starter. My friend, Kathy gave me the starter back in
December. At first I was keeping it on the counter, feeding it daily and using
it every other day. After the holidays,
I started storing it in the fridge and using it on the weekends. I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting and
have come up with quite a few yummy recipes.
A lot of my posts for the A-Z challenge , as I mentioned in the theme reveal will
incorporate the dough starter.
I’ve
yet to try building my own sourdough starter; perhaps April 22nd
with the letter S. Once you successfully
create your own sourdough starter, you will want to keep it healthy with
regular feedings. If you bake a lot you
may choose to keep it on the counter at room temperature and feed it twice a
day. If you don’t bake a lot, then you
would want to keep it in the refrigerator and only will feed it once a week.
Instructions
for keeping your sourdough starter healthy.
Keeping
dough at room temperature
½ cup sourdough starter
1 scant cup
½ cup lukewarm water
Stir
the starter. Spoon ½ cup into a bowl,
discard or use remaining starter. Add 1 scant cup flour and ½ cup warm water to
the ½ cup starter dough, mix until smooth, return to the jar/crock and cover with
cheesecloth.
Repeat
this process every 12 hours, feeding twice a day. Remove the starter to bake with as soon as it
is expanded and bubbly, then feed the ½ cup and revert to the normal 12-hour
schedule.
Keeping
dough in the refrigerator
Keeping
dough at room temperature
½ cup sourdough starter
1 scant cup
½ cup lukewarm water
Take
the starter out of the fridge. There may
be a bit of liquid (it’s a byproduct from the yeast fermenting) on top. Stir it
into the starter. Spoon ½ cup into a
bowl, discard or use remaining starter. Add 1 scant cup flour and ½ cup warm
water to the ½ cup starter dough, mix until smooth, return to the jar/crock and
cover with cheesecloth.
Let
the starter rest at room temperature for about two hours, this gives the yeast
a chance to warm up and get feeding.
Then return to fridge and repeat this process at least once a week.
Cheers
