Starting a sour dough starter.

gmac · December 2016

I'm thinking 2017 may see more bread in my life. I love sour dough so I am wondering how to start one from scratch. Any advice would be great. I know it needs to be fed regularly and I assume the sour comes from a lactobacillus of some sort, could use some malted barley as a started for bacteria since it's supposedly covered with lacto. But that's a guess to be honest.
Any advice would be great. Will check google but I know I will get real, actually proven advice from here.
Thanks.

gerhardk · December 2016

Sourdough is a balance of yeast and lactobacillus, the yeast is naturally present on flour but in very low concentration. The way I started mine was with flour and water and giving it a stir a few times a day. After a few days you will see bubbles forming, after it starts bubbling stir it down a few times and then dump half of it and add flour and water. After daily feedings for 10 days or so you have a viable sourdough culture. Maintaining a culture is much easier, I keep mine in the fridge and feed it about once a week. If we are going to be gone for a while I make the culture much stiffer and keep it in the fridge. It has survived 6 weeks of neglect in that state.

An easier method is to have someone give you a little bit of their culture.

Gerhard

kl8ton · December 2016

I failed to jump on it but Craigslist by me had someone with free starters from family culture. 98 years old I believe. I can't find it now.

Check your local CL.

bigbadben · December 2016

I will send people dry starter if they send me a self addresses stamped envelope. It will take about a week to get healthy.

I suggest most most people start their own.
day1 25 g WW or rye flour + 25 g water mix
day 2-14, 25 g from previous day + 25 g whole grain flour + 25 g water. Mix.

I have started a few. Never fails. After that you can change every variable imaginable to tweak flavor. If you are starting out I suggest any of three Bread baking books. Tartine Bread, Josey Baker Bread, or FWSY

gerhardk · December 2016

I see you are in Mt. Elgin, I can send you a bit of my sourdough in a baggy, post office should have it to you in a day or two. If you are interested just pm me your address.

Gerhard

girbim · December 2016

I am going to make one this weekend. I purchased a culture on the internet and it was a disaster. I was expecting a dough-like form that King Arthur uses, but it was powdered. I kept it at exactly 90 for the first 24 hours like recommended and it bubbled. However the two times that I tried to make bread, the bread flattened out like a pancake and did not rise. i am guessing that the lactobacillus was alive and well, but the yeast was non-existent. Too acidic of a sourdough culture can do this, but I was following the directions carefully.

I plan on using a more advanced Peter Reinhart recipe that calls for a mash, but his basic recipe is described here:

http://breadtopia.com/make-your-own-sourdough-starter/

If this attempt fails, I will give up on sourdough.

bigbadben · December 2016

@girbim don't give up. Once you get the hang of it it is quite easy. I made flat breads for years, I was overproofing.

I would suggest starting with a commercial yeast loaf. Once you learn how to read the dough. How it is ready for the next step, then you should move to SD.

gerhardk · December 2016

If you are reviving a culture from dried culture it will take a week or so to bring it back to being active enough to bake with. General rule of thumb is that after feeding the sourdough culture it should double in volume in 6 to 8 hours. There are variables such as the temperature of your work space, and the hydration of sourdough. You might have just been a little impatient to get baking.

Gerhard

girbim · December 2016

Thanks for the suggestions.

Bigbadben, I'll try not to give up. I have regular yeast loafs down pretty solid. I plan to branch out to try whole wheat and sourdough breads for a change. My instincts are not as sharp with sourdough cultures yet.

Gerhardk, I did daily feedings for about week before trying to use it and about 2 weeks for my second attempt. I had a thin culture and it would always start bubbling in a couple of hours, but it seemed like it might be too thin to double in volume. It did take off for one of my two cultures and started gaining volume after just letting it sit on the counter for a couple of days without feeding. It just wasn't what I was seeing and I interpreted it as an infection. The yeast may have finally taken off and I could have dumped it just when it was useful.

I'll have the seed culture started in a couple of hours. I just started the mash that the seed culture calls for. The mash is supposed to provide the nutrients for the culture. 3 tablespoons are used on days 1 and 2. It is a little like the all grain brewing that I do. Flour, diastatic malt, and water are held at 150F in the oven for at least an hour. My oven only goes down to 170, so I will need to fuss with the oven a big more.

Dave

gerhardk · December 2016

Dave I think when you are making beer you are adding yeast so holding the mixture at 150º might be to kill off the wild yeast, when making a sourdough culture you are promoting the growth of wild yeast. I think the temperature that yeast starts to die off is fairly low, I think around 120ºF. When I created my culture it was all done at room temperature. I know some people that want to hurry the process or have a cold kitchen will put it in their oven with just the light on as a heat source.

Gerhard

gmac · December 2016

gerhardk said:

I see you are in Mt. Elgin, I can send you a bit of my sourdough in a baggy, post office should have it to you in a day or two. If you are interested just pm me your address.

Gerhard

That would be great. I will send you a pm. Are you in Canada? I assumed that crossing the border would be an issue. Will send a pm.

Shiff · December 2016

I tried making my own starter but had problems. Then I found this reference to a free starter from family and friends of an 1847 sourdough starter. It has worked well for me. It is available free, but I put a few bucks in the envelope with my request to help defray their expenses.

http://www.carlsfriends.net

gerhardk · December 2016

gmac said:
That would be great. I will send you a pm. Are you in Canada? I assumed that crossing the border would be an issue. Will send a pm.

I don't live too far from Mt. Elgin, just north of London between Exeter and Grand Bend. I will send it on Tuesday so if Canada Post does it's job it should be there Wednesday or Thursday.

Gerhard

gmac · December 2016

Thanks @gerhardk.

Little Steven · December 2016

gerhardk said:

I see you are in Mt. Elgin, I can send you a bit of my sourdough in a baggy, post office should have it to you in a day or two. If you are interested just pm me your address.

Gerhard

Caledon isn't far from MT. Elgin

demo · June 2018

Check out www.culturesforhealth.com I used their Sourdough Starter Recipe, and the Basic Sourdough Bread recipe from www.kingarthurflour.com Had great results, the first time.

Starting a sour dough starter.

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