Sourdough Season

Making a Sourdough Starter had been on my to-do list ever since COVID when I started to research bread-making. I learned that sourdough was the healthiest bread since it doesn’t require traditional yeast which causes a spike in blood sugar. Furthermore, I was never a fan of making bread from scratch, since I found kneading tedious and I always ended up with flour everywhere. Sourdough, on the other had does not require kneading (unless you are making something specific like bagels or pretzels), but instead uses a process called “Stretch and Fold.”

The downside of Sourdough is that you have to plan ahead. So if I want a fresh loaf I need to allow about 36 hours from when I feed the starter, mix the dough, and wait for it to double in size. Plus you have to allow at least a week to create a functional starter. In my experience, it took about a month since my first attempt was a complete failure. Clearly my initial starter did not have enough strength to make the loaf rise, so it was extremely dense and flat.

I started over with a new recipe from The Clever Carrot. After about a week, I discovered there was mold growing in my jar, so I threw that away and started again. This time I used 2 containers, just in case something went wrong.

Let the Baking Begin!

Finally with a functional starter I was ready to bake another loaf. I made the round loaf recipe from The Clever Carrot, which turned out great. In the meantime, I had also invested in some additional supplies, such as a kitchen scale and banneton basket.

Over the summer, I tried a few different bread recipes.

Discard

Sourdough Starter must be fed regularly (daily if kept at room temperature and weekly if stored in the refrigerator. The feeding ratio is 1 part starter:1 part flour: 1 part filtered water (I use sterile tap water, since we have a well. Chlorine will kill the starter). If you simply add to the starter your batch will grow exponentially and will soon outgrow the jar. As a rule, 1/2 should be discarded before feeding. I had a bit of trouble with this part, as I am a hoarder by nature. However, the good news is that there are many recipes you can make with the discard, such as cornbread, banana bread, and delicious cookies. Following are some of my favorites:

Choosing a Name for my Starter

One of the fun parts of creating a Starter is to give it a name. Usually they are a clever variation of a famous name; for great ideas check out the Reddit Sourdough Subreddit. My starter was finally ready to use (i.e., doubling in size) on the first day of Summer, so I named it Summer Solstice 20, and the second jar Summer Solstice 21.

For most of the year I maintained multiple jars of starter. I have only recently gotten down to one jar which I renamed “DoughPool” since we are big fans of the “DeadPool” franchise, having seen the latest one, “DeadPool vs. Wolverine” in the theatre twice and also purchased the movie for streaming anytime. I also purchased the pictured Sourdough Starter jars from Amazon, which are much more user-friendly than my oversized mason jars and Pyrex measuring cups.

More New Equipment!

In September I finally got a KitchenAid Stand Mixer! I had been using a 30 year-old Krups hand mixer and decided it was time to upgrade. Although the Stand Mixer is not required for basic sourdough, it is essential when making pretzels and bagels, because the dough is very thick and would require the dreaded kneading. The stand mixer makes it a snap!