Sourdough is probably the oldest type of levain ever recorded. Essentially, a sourdough starter is a cultivated set of yeasts and bacteria which are kept alive by constant feeding, quite unlike the dried yeast one tends to buy nowadays. In fact, some sourdough starters have been kept alive for over a 100 years and recently, a scientist made is own sourdough from material recovered in pottery dating back 4,500 years ago. It is easy to imagine our ancestors storing some left-over dough in an overnight jar to help ferment the next day’s bread or beer for that matter… the difference between the two is minute.
While this technique is certainly ancient, so little is known by scientists about the behaviour of the cultures in a sourdough that only now we are seeing microbiologists studying sourdough to determine how they behave over time. Is that dough garnered in San Francisco and smuggled over the border the same as the original batch?
Sourdough can be made from just flour and water or it can be given a “kick” by using fruits to enhance certain yeast strains. Below are the 4 starters that I have tried, along with some observations of their behaviour.
Considerations when making a starter
May people seem to forget that a sourdough starter is simply a damp environment that allows wild yeasts to grow. As such,one is acting against the best practices in food manufacturing and care must be taken to counter these.
Try to avoid the cheaper, overworked and sterilized flour most bakers use for cakes. This flour is normally bleached to prevent growth and to allow for a longer shelf-life – both bad qualities when it comes to making a starter.
By the same token, it is important not to use tap-water as is. Tap-water is also sterilised by chlorine and there will prevent the good yeasts and bacteria from forming. Ideally one would use bottled, non-chlorinated water, but in practice, it is easier to pass the water through a water purifier or simply to let it stand in a glass container on a window sill in full light for 24 hours. This will allow most of the chlorine to dissipate.
Sterile environments are also critical to ensure that the healthy yeasts are grown. As such, sterilise the work surfaces, utensils and containers with some prepared boiling water.
The initial starter will look odd and will have to be disposed of. The idea here is to enhance the growth of the good bacteria and yeasts, enabling them to create a hostile environment for the bad ones.
1.
Basic starter: flour and water
All sourdough starters consist basically of flour and water. To prepare this starter, you need to mix together equal amounts of flour and water in an air-tight jar and set aside.
Ingredients
- Flour
- Water as free from contaminants as possible
- A warm temperature, 20° to 30° or 70°-85°F. The hotter, the faster the yeast will grow and the more frequent the feeding will have to be
Equipment
- A non-reactive vessel in which you make and store the starter (glass or plastic). Make sure the container can hold about 1 litre or 2 quarts, to avoid overflow
- A non-reactive stirring device. I use a dining knife. It does the job
- A breathable lid such as a clean towel or coffee filter. If you do not have these, try to use a closed jar, with a lid that can pop-off
- A space to ferment with no other cultured foods nearby. Your windowsill will do just fine. If you live in a cold place, allocate a space in front of your heater or in an airing cupboard
Procedure
- Combine ½ cup flour and ½ cup warm water in a glass or plastic container.
- Stir vigorously to incorporate air; cover with a breathable lid.
- Leave in a warm place, 70-85°F, for 12-24 hours. Feeding every 12 hours will increase the rate at which your sourdough starter is multiplying its organisms; feeding every 24 hours will take a bit longer, but may be more sustainable depending on your time commitment.
- At the 12 or 24 hour mark you may begin to see some bubbles, indicating that organisms are present. Repeat the feeding with ½ cup warm water and ¾ cup flour.
- Stir vigorously, cover, and wait another 12-24 hours.
- Repeat feedings every 12-24 hours by removing half of the starter before every feeding and discarding it. Feed with ½ cup warm water and ½ cup flour.
- After about 5-7 days the sourdough starter should have enough yeasts and bacteria to be used for baking.
- Take a dollop of the starter and drop it in a jug of water. If it floats, you are ready to cook. I used a tablespoon to grab the dollop.
What I thought:
This was the first starter that I tried and being skeptical, I did not want to toss in a cup of flour every 12 hours. I went with 2 tablespoons of each instead. This may have been insufficient as the material barely fizzed before it went pale pink and separated after 5 days. I decided to throw away the batch and restart.
2.
Apple Starter
With an apple starter, you need to find a fresh apple that is organic and does not have a wax layer on it. Wax is often used on fruits to preserve the fruit longer in stores and to prevent degradation. However, this also kills the natural yeast on the apple and prevents the fermentation process. With the right apple, just grate it into your water/flour mix from above and replace half the flour and water every 12 hours. After 4 days, you will have a fizzy mix that is ready to be used.
What I thought:
This mix produced a much more lively starter, that smelled wonderful. The mix was perhaps too fizzy for my licking and I had trouble controlling the growth. In hindsight, i should have fed it much more frequently and it probably died of starvation. The one bread that I made certainly was a hit.
3.
Raisin Starter
There are two methods for this starter. The first one uses the raisins directly in the flour/water mix and after refreshing the mix for 4 days, carefully fish out the raisins.
What I thought:
This is my favourite starter. The process was not too fast and not too slow, giving me enough time to practice the feedings and
4.
Wild Yeast Starter / Traditional Raisin Starter / Natural Starter
This is the alternative version of the raisin starter. To be honest, I started down this route but then changed my mind half-way through.
Take a cup or two of raisins, about two cups of lukewarm water and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Place everything into a jar with an airtight lid, adding enough water to cover the raisins with 1 cm of water on top and seal the jar. Shake it vigorously to dissolve the sugar and leave in a warm place for around 3 days. Keep an eye out for bubbles that form on the raisins. The raisins will start to float and the bubbles will be released more vigorously. Strain the liquid into a clean jar, discarding the raisins (rather than discarding, use them in another recipe).
Now, the trick is to convert the liquid into the starter. For this, take 100 mL of the raisin yeast water and add in 100 grams of wheat flour.
To refresh the starter, just add 100 mL of water and 100 mL of wheat flour. Do this every 4-6 hours as needed, or about every 5 days if keeping the starter in the fridge.
To ramp up the the volume of the starter (400 gram) and prepare for a bake, take 50 grams of the starter, add 150 grams of water and 200 grams of wheat flour. Wait at least 4 hours or overnight. Refresh the left over starter as above for another day.
You can freeze the leftover yeast water to use at a later stage, for example to revive a sluggish starter.
