Makin' Sourdough Bread

A few months back, I made some Sourdough Starter.  If you aren't familiar, it's basically flour, yeast, and a little sugar or honey.  And it's ALIVE.  Some people have sourdough starter that is decades old.  When you use it, you replenish it so that you never run out and the mixture gets more and more pungent and flavorful as time goes by.  You still have to "feed" it even if you're not using it in order to keep it alive.  It's like a gooey goldfish or a delicate houseplant (neither of which I have had any luck with, so who am I kidding?)  

Since its creation, my Starter is actually doing fine, so maybe it's harder to kill than I thought.  Every couple of weekends I pull it out and add a spoonful of sugar.  That's the food.  I also leave it on the counter at room temperature overnight when I feed it.  It doesn't like to eat the sugar unless it's warm.  

So far I have had great luck using it in breads and pizza dough.  I began with the basic sourdough bread recipe from my old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook but then I've boldly branched out and added some starter to some other recipes as well.  Recently I was gifted with a Kitchen-Aid mixer (thank you Missy and Kate! You guys are awesome!) and added starter to the (white bread) recipe that they suggest.  The results were perfect and sour-licious!

Today, I decided to make some sourdough bread, basic recipe again, but forgot to add the starter!  The resulting loaves were stunted to say the least, and sort of inexplicably yellowish.  I have no idea what happened there, just that the moment I asked myself "when was I supposed to add the starter?" it was too late!

This is the Starter.

Finished loaf!

It's definitely worth the wait.  

It takes more than 10 days to make the starter because the ingredients have to ferment.  Neat, huh?

How to make sourdough starter:

1 pkg. yeast dissolved in 1/2 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)

Stir in 2 cups warm water, 2 cups all-purpose flour, and 1 tbsp. sugar or honey and mix everything until it's nice and smooth.  Cover the bowl with a cheesecloth, then leave it on the counter for 5-10 days, stirring it a few times a day.  When that's done, you can put it in a jar and store it in the fridge.  When you want to bake with it, let it get to room temperature before you use it.  For example, I will take mine out of the fridge on Friday night or early Saturday morning if I know I'll be baking on the weekend.  After you use it (most recipes call for about a cup of starter) you replenish it by adding 3/4 c. flour and 3/4 c. water and 1 tsp sugar.  Stir it up and leave it at room temp overnight.  If you end up not using it and replenishing it regularly you just need to feed with a spoonful of sugar every 10 days or so to keep it going.