Water, flour, and a little love. These are the ingredients to so many delicious meals. When I set out to make my sourdough starter over a year ago, I thought I was only going to be making bread. I had no idea I would be using my starter to make such a variety of sweet and savory meals.
I have and maintain a hydration starter. A hydration starter is equal parts water and flour. When you’re ready to start your sourdough starter you need, a good amount of flour, filtered water, a large glass bowl or jar, and a cloth or beeswax wrap to cover the bowl.
DAY ONE:
Mix equal parts flour and water. 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour with 1 cup of filtered water. Mix well and cover with tea towel. Let sit over night on the counter.
DAY TWO TO FIVE:
Remove half of your original mixture from the bowl, discard, then add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water. Mix well and cover with tea towel. Let sit over night on the counter.
DAY SIX:
Today you will feed your starter twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Each time you feed your starter use 1 cup of water and 1 cup of flour and remove and discard half of the starter before feeding. Leave covered bowl on the counter to ferment.
NOTE: The warmer your home is the faster your starter will ferment. We live in Florida and after 3 to 4 hours on a summer day the freshly fed starter will be fully fermented and ready to use. In the winter, it takes 5 to 6 hours for my freshly fed starter to be fully fermented.
DAY SEVEN:
Your starter should be looking nice and bubbly. Discard half of your starter before feeding. Feed your starter 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water twice today. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Mix well, cover, and allow to ferment on the counter. After today your starter should be ready to use for basic recipes like pancakes, pizzas, and skillets.
I would wait until day 10 before using your starter to make bread. You need a good strong, well fed starter to make bread rise. Continue feeding your starter everyday.
You can now store your starter, covered, in the fridge overnight. Take out of the fridge in the morning, allow to get to room temp, feed equal parts water and flour, mix, and have sit on the counter for a few hours until peak fermentation is reached. Then place back in the fridge when done using it.
Peak fermentation is when you have big active bubbles in the starter. The starter will feel stretchy when you mix it. If you have tiny, foam like bubbles forming on the top and it feels watery when you mix it, your starter is hungry, over fermented, and needs to be fed with water and flour. If your starter is hungry or not fermented enough, your bread will not rise well.
Best wishes on your sourdough journey! Message me with any questions or follow along @homesteadonlakeside
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