How to Make Your Own SOURDOUGH STARTER (Part 2)
Let's check in on our baby sourdough starter. If you are just joining us, make sure to check out Part 1 first. In that video, I explain how to set up what will eventually be your jar of wonderfully versatile and useful sourdough starter!
Here in part two, we check in the jar a day later to see if anything is brewing yet. With a somewhat cooler night, it looks like the sourdough starter is not showing visible signs of activity (like bubbles). That's okay! If you are trying to catch wild yeast, particularly during cold months, don't get discouraged if it seems like nothing is happening. As you see here in the video, just continue to reduce it, feed it, and use your senses to gauge its health. There is yeast in there, guaranteed. We just need to maintain a good environment to let it do its thing.
I have to emphasize, by the way, how important it is to reduce and feed your starter every day (sometimes twice a day in really warm weather). When this video series lived on YouTube, I had lots of troubleshooting questions from people who couldn't figure out why their starters weren't working out. About 80% of the time, the answer was just to keep reducing, feeding, and waiting!
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Good video!
What editing software do you use?
We use VSDC. It has pretty much everything we need in editing software. You can find it here.
Thanks!
Hubby mentioned home-made bread the other day. We haven't made it in years, but might have to remedy that lack.
It is so much better than anything you can find in a store, that's for sure! We think it is well worth the effort. And once you do it for a few times, it really isn't all that difficult - especially for the great outcome!
No argument on that score! My main problem is finding a consistently warm enough spot for the sourdough to activate. My kitchen is notoriously cold in the winter as it faces north. Although, it would be the perfect excuse to fire up the oven for the final result. I'll have to give this some thought, but the motivation is kicking in... Thanks!
If you can store your starter in a higher place--like, on top of your refrigerator--I find that might help (since heat rises). Our houses' temperature is hardly consistent, too--we heat it with a woodstove during the day (sometimes it gets to 80ish) and let it drop to around 58 at night--somehow, the starter seems unfazed.
I bet you can make it happen!
That's sort of what I was thinking. (Honestly, I'm afraid I'd forget it up there. Out of sight, out of mind with me. Lol!) My alternative is the 'computer' room. It's the warmest room since I spent most of my time in here in the winter. The temp in here is well within that range.
You're gonna make me go dig out my old bread recipe book, aren't you...? ;~P
Nice. I've recently done yeast water as well. That is also a fun way to bake, especially if you don't fancy sourness in your bread.
One note - the starter doesn't only come from the air, the yeast and bacteria are present in the flour as well.
Obviously, this definitely deserves an upvote on all parts.
I've not heard of using yeast water! I imagine the process is similar?
I have also found that shortening my rise time to about 7 hours total results in a mild, not-sour loaf. I once let it ferment overnight, like the original recipe I read told me to do, and we ended up with what we not-so-fondly dubbed "Vinegar Bread."
True, there is friendly yeast everywhere! That is a good edit to add. Thanks so much!
Check out my posts, I have a couple about yeast water. It's basically water and fruit.
To have a mild sourdough, I recommend having it on the kitchen counter and feeding three times a day. It well be super active then. You can normally keep just a bit and discard most before feeding (or use for pancakes or waffles), and build the amount up before the bread o'clock. This will shorten the proof time significantly.
We have a recipe for 100% whole rye bread and it rises for 6-8 hours. It is kind of sour, but not much. The actual sourness happens if we have a very mature sourdough in it.
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
Thanks so much!