This is my first attempt at using Sourdough Starter.
First thing I did was order sourdough starter which was free from Carl Griffith's Oregon Trail Sourdough site. I could hardly believe it was free as nothing seems to be free these days. It came to me a few weeks after I sent them a self addressed envelope.
I went to the Carl Griffith's friends web site and printed off the brochure with the instructions.
I started the reactivation process on a Friday morning at 8:30 am.
I live in Surrey BC, Canada. The water here does not have much chlorine and it is soft so I just used tap water.
I mixed it up as instructed. The instructions said to leave it for up to 48 hours. I couldn't figure out if that means 48 hours is the optimal amount of time or if the optimal amount of time is shorter than that. I did know it was supposed to be bubbly looking. I put it in the oven with the light on whenever I was home but when I went out I turned the light off. I just like turing everything off before I leave. I checked it many times in the first 24 hours to see what was happening. After many hours I noticed a distinct sour smell and it did have bubbles in it.
Saturday night around 10:30 pm I had been out for the evening and came home to check it. It appeared less bubbly and had a clear liquid on top. I decided maybe I should move on to the second step. Perhaps it was already past the optimal amount of time. I mixed in the ingredients as instructed and left it at room temperature overnight.
Sunday morning mixture was quite bubbly and really quite sour smelling. Around 1:00pm on Sunday it looked like it was starting to form a small amount of liquid on top again.
I stirred the liquid in and used it in a recipe.
After taking some out and using it in the recipe I fed it and put it away in the fridge in a glass jar with a loose cover over it.
Update 3 months later: I am still using the same sourdough starter. It seems to have improved as it has aged. By this I mean that the flavour of the bread I bake seems better.
I keep it in the fridge and feed it about every week or two. It always looks like it has bubbles in it. It often gets a little liquid on top.(Apparently this is called hooch and has alcohol in it. To be expected from the fermentation.) Sometimes it seems a little thicker than others. That is why when I bake I have to adjust the flour a little as to how the dough feels not just going by measurements.
Feeding it:
I usually bring it up to room temperature first.
Add:
one cup of warm water
one cup of flour (I use best for bread flour)
one Tblsp. of sugar
Every once in awhile I add one Tblsp. potato flakes. (I just have a box of plain instant mashed potatoes on hand) I have added this twice now in the last three months.
Every once in awhile add one Tblsp. of dark rye flour when feeding the sourdough starter. (Use 1
Tblsp. less of the other flour when doing this.) I have done this about once a month.
Instructions said to add a Tblsp. of apple cider vinegar if the sourdough starter looks sick. I don't really know how it would look if it was sick so I have never done this. Maybe sick sourdough starter no longer has bubbles in it. (I am guessing)
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