Real Sourdough Bread — From Scratch

Starter Basics

As already mentioned, the basic ingredients required for sourdough bread are flour, water, a little salt — and some time. 

The first step is to is provide a ready environment: the food, water, welcoming temperatures and a little protection from unwanted competition.  In the microbial world, competition comes from other bacteria, yeasts and molds.  You will know if you get the wrong crowd of microbes.  The color and smell will be all wrong, for one thing.

Should I use sour milk, sugar, potato water or fermenting fruit?

Ideas and myths abound when it comes to sourdough and the sourdough starter.  Some folks swear by the use of milk, potato water, or other ingredients.  But the facts of life are very simple, when it comes to the yeast that will make your bread rise.  Sourdough yeast is attracted to wheat flour, not anything else.

To invite and raise good sourdough yeast, you will need to provide good food.  Good food is the flour you plan to use when you make sourdough bread.  If you plan to bake with whole-grain spring wheat, then use spring wheat to attract the yeast.   If you plan to bake with rye, then use rye to attract the yeast you will need.

The concept is very simple, very basic.  In order for bread to rise, the yeast must feed on the flour and produce the gases that will form the tiny bubbles in the gluten.  So you would not use a bacteria that feeds on milk, or a yeast that feeds on rye grain to make wheat bread rise.

On the Other Hand...

It all boils down to a matter of taste.  If you mix other ingredients in with your flour, such as fermenting fruit (some bakers like to add fermenting grapes or raisons, for example) you may still get some of the same rising effect.  If the fruit is mixed in with the flour, and continues to ferment, one of the results will be expansion, just as when the yeast consumes flour.  But you will want to be sure that you have healthy and active flour-eating yeast, and that you don't add anything that will kill off your preferred and necessary yeast.

Making the sourdough starter.

The first rule in any sourdough starter is cleanliness.  Serious attention to maintaining a sanitary environment will be rewarded with a healthy, robust and long-lived starter.  It's not uncommon at all for a good sourdough starter to live for years, and even for decades.  The healthier a starter is, and the longer it lives, the better the flavor.  You can begin using a starter within a few days.  But the real flavor will come later.

Starter: Day 1, mark the level.

Choose a container that is large enough to hold the maximum amount of starter you plan to keep on hand.  If possible, I recommend a glass jar or jug, sterilized, along with it's lid.  You can also use a plastic container, but be aware of the fact that plastic does not sterilize as easily as glass, and some unwanted microbes may find plastic an easier surface to take hold on.  This simply means that you will probably be changing and sterilizing containers more often if you go with plastic.

Recipe for starter:

1 or 2 cups water

2 cups flour

The amount of water you add to the flour is up to you.  I've tried it both ways, forming a firm ball of dough, and mixing a creamy (and often lumpy) mix.  Both have worked out fine.  But I prefer the creamy mixture.  It has less tendency to dry out while you're waiting for the yeast to settle in and do its work.

Mix the flour and water in your sanitized container, and stir everything together.  It's okay to beat a little air into the mixture.  Then cover the container loosely or with a clean, dry cloth, and allow it to sit quietly for a day or two. 

If possible, provide a quiet place to keep the container where it will be away from direct sunlight, not often moved or bumped, and not too hot or cold.  A lower shelf in a cabinet is good, as is the floor in a closet, or a spot behind the door, even under the sink, if that's all you've got.  Dark, cool places are best -- but not cold places.

Check back after 24 hours and see how it's doing.  If there's no change, then check back after about 36 to 48 hours.   I keep my new starter at a fairly cool average temperature, between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.   This means there is slower growth and development, which I prefer.

When active bubbles begin to form and a slight sour smell develops, the starter is showing signs of life.  The bubbles tell you that the yeast is present and active.  The sour smell tells you the lactic acid bacteria are working. 

If the mixture separates some, just stir it after the first 36 hours or so.  As long as the smell is a clean sour smell, and the color is good (not turning dark or growing mold), the starter should be healthy.

Feeding time: After the starter has doubled in size, you can pour off as much as half the starter and then add an equal amount of the fresh flour/water mixture.  If your container is large enough (with room for the starter to expand to 4 times its size) then you won't need to  pour anything off. 

I like to use new starter for pancakes and biscuits, rather than bread.  The starter will continue to mature over the next couple of weeks, developing its flavor.  I enjoy the bread more after the sourdough has matured some.  But you can try it for bread after just a few days, if you wish.

Exactly how much is a part?

There are many recipes that use a sourdough starter.  Some will call for a cup of starter.  Some call for 3 or more cups of starter.  The amounts you use in making and keeping your starter need to be based on the amounts you plan to use each day, each week, and so on.   It's always good to begin with a small amount, such a cup or two.  Every time you feed the starter, you'll be adding flour and water.  And you must also have room in the container for the rising of the mixture.  A healthy starter can grow a lot while the yeast are active.  Better safe than sorry.

If you only plan to use a cup of starter every three days, you don't want to end up with a gallon of starter.  A healthy, active starter will need to be fed each day, which means that you'll be wanting to use a certain amount each day, or at least you want to be able to draw off some of the starter and refrigerate it.

Shortcuts?  Yes and no.

Making a pseudo-sourdough.  If you need to bake bread in the next couple of days, you can always add a pinch (just a pinch) of commercial yeast to flour and water.  It will still take about a day to get going. 

The starter will be ready for use much faster, and it will rise faster, than the genuine sourdough starter.  And the flavor will never be like a real sourdough.  The reason is simple: the yeast are different, and the friendly bacteria that produce lactic acid (the "sour" in sourdough) will not be present to anywhere near the same extent.  No matter how long you keep the pseudo-sourdough going, the flavor will always be different — somewhere between a regular yeast bread and a sourdough, but always closer to the commercial flavor than the natural sourdough flavor.

And your starter will not be long-lived without replenishing some commercial yeast to help it along.  The reason is simple.  The yeast you need to cultivate for true sourdough competes with commercial yeasts.  They are not friendly to each other.  And the commercial yeasts are in far greater number when you add them directly, so they will overpower any naturally occurring yeast in your region and community.  But they are not able to replenish themselves by air and environment.  So if you go commercial, you must keep going commercial, and the resulting flavor and texture will always be more of a commercial nature than any real sourdough.

NEXT: From Starter to Bread

©2006 Jim Sutton

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