Back in the day when I worked outside of my home...no the dinos did not still roam the planet...I received a sourdough starter from a friend. While I enjoyed the results a lot ,it was like a wee bit of work at the beginning...It was like a relationship really, you had to remember it was there and you had to remember to "do" something to it regularly......A starter is a live thing that needs to be fed and stirred and you can't really do anything with it for about 10 to 15 days......
This is a method of, pardon the awkward pun here, of starting your own starter, it was commonly referred to as:
Herman/friendship/Amish starter,
2 cups of flour
2 cups of warm water
2 teaspoons of dry yeast
In a non-metal container add dry yeast to your warm water and let sit for about five minutes. With a wooden spoon/silicone spatula (never use metal on a starter please) stir in the flour and let sit covered loosely, (if a plastic container cover loosely do not snap the lid on, if a glass or ceramic bowl use a newly laundered tea towel draped across the top, if a large mason jar put holes on the top.) Put loosely covered starter in a warm place. ( I happen to incubate it on top of my freezer in the Kitchen.)
Now you have to feed the thing, use:
Herman/friendship/Amish starter food.
1 cup of flour/wholewheat flour can be used too.
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of your sugar or honey which ever you think you would like best.
The next morning when you get up your starter should be looking very bubbly and active. Time to feed your starter it's food, stir, loosely cover again and refrigerate. (It will be a wee bit lumpy at this point and that's o.k. ) You need to stir your starter once everyday to keep it active and you need to "feed" it every 5 days to keep it going. On the first ten day cycle you can now use it. The younger you starter is the sweeter it will be, as it ages it gets that delightful sourdough taste. It will also sweeten up every time you feed it when you have removed some to bake bread with.
Have a life? Tired of the same old breads, pancakes and cakes made from this stuff?Go camping, going to be away for a while and you like your starter? If for some reason you can't take care of your dough it can be frozen ( I have heard for up to a year) and then thawed when you have the time to get around to baking with it again. Feel free to hand some over to a friend, this homemade stuff can be addicting and It is always nice to have a commrade in addictions to compare and trouble shoot with.
Here are a few recipes that are great using the Herman/Friendship/Amish starter:
Pancakes....Nummmmmmmmmm.
Sourdough Pancakes
2 cups batter/starter
2 eggs
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
Optional additions of blueberries, Bananas and and for the kiddies Chocolate chips.
Mix the ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes or so before spooning it in to the fry pan or on your griddle.
*Because of the acid made when the yeast eats the flour, the baking soda will swell up like whipped egg whites. Do not be alarmed by this.
Warning: these pancakes are so freaking good you may become addicted.
Sour dough bread directions.
Sourdough Bread
- Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup sourdough batter
3 cups flour*
1 Tbsp veg oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp yeast
milk (to adjust moisture)
1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add sourdough batter, oil, salt, sugar and stir thoroughly. Add flour and mix thoroughly.Turn out on floured board and knead. Alternatively you could just throw this into your bread maker on the dough cycle and let it do this part. Simple and easy just like I like it!
If you don't have a bread maker here is a good you tube on kneading bread and how to figure out if your done. Simple and straight forward.
Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Punch down dough and shape it, if you want a round loaf just generally shape it, if you want a more "French bread" shape just generally shape it by folding it into that shape and then let rise for 1 more hour on oiled bread pan/cookie sheet. If you really want it to be authentic them sprinkle your pan with corn meal so the bottom of the loaf will have it adhere to the corn meal.
( I now use a baking stone that I heat in the oven and transfer the bread to it with a pizza peel, it gives a great bottom but is not necessary in order to get good if not great results.)
Use a sharp knife to make a few slits in the top of the bread so the inside of the bread can continue to expand while baking.
If you are fond of the hard, crisp crust of San Francisco sourdough bread and wish to duplicate that you need to have a dish in the oven that has water in it to steam the bread while it is baking. Use a spray bottle to spray the top of the dough/bread a few times before putting it into a preheated oven at 325 degrees. Re-spray the bread every 10 minutes for three times. This will give you that dark hard crust.
Alternatively for ease you can just brush the dough with raw egg or milk and pop it in the oven, (again with a dish with water in the oven) and be done with it.
Bake for about 45 minutes. You will know the bread is ready if you tap the bread and it sounds hallow.
* The flour you use does not have to be white, it can be wholewheat and or a combination of wheats, rye, what ever. It is very flexible recipe. You can even change the construct of your starter by changing the type of flour you feed into your starter. Get tired of that and you change what you feed into another type of flour. The possibilities really are endless.
Just Google Herman or Friendship or Amish starter and go to town on all the culinary variations available to you....tons of them. Enjoy!
I need to apologize right now to whom ever I took these recipes from, you are out there on the internet...some where and I H/T you respectfully but forgetfully. I hang my head.....
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