Anybody ever make their own sourdough starter from scratch?

[umsami]

Watching Michael Pollan's "Cooked" on Netflix and now I want to make my own starter.  (BTW, am I the only person on the planet who did not know that Tracey Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is his sister?

 

I found this "recipe" that uses pineapple juice.  It looks promising. 

 

Any been there, done that advice?

[ikslo]

I have, although never with pineapple juice.

 

I have this cookbook, and no real advice.  I just followed the recipe and it came out great.  Tasted like sourdough.  Which DS promptly determined he did not like, and I have not made it since.

[Lecka]

I have done it with the King Arthur Flour kind.

 

It worked, and was not as difficult as I had thought it might be.

 

That said, my bread wasn't very sour.

 

Just bc I was already using a King Arthur Flour cookbook, I looked at their website, and they have info about trying to make your bread more sour in different ways.

 

Then I moved on to cooking other things, so I didn't keep going with it.

 

Anyway -- it is fun, and if you want you can look at the King Arthur Flour website, someone recommended their Bread-baking book to me so that is what I am familiar with.

 

Good luck!

[Bluegoat]

I've done it a few ways.  I've never used pineapple juice though I have used crushed grapes, but I didn't find it made a better starter than not using any fruit.

 

I would say two things:

 

Sometimes you get a culture that just has a bad taste - throw it out and start again.

 

The biggest challenge I always found was just baking bread enough not to have the culture die on me.

[mathnerd]

I used kefir to do it after reading it on a website. I baked a few loaves with it and it was somewhat sour.

[Guest]

Lol! I just started one on my counter yesterday. And by one I mean three. Wil letcha know

[Annie G]

I did not know they were related! So I guess technically you were just the second to last person to know. g

[SparklyUnicorn]

It's been awhile since I have, but yep.  It wasn't difficult.  It takes time though.  So if you want sourdough bread you won't be able to make a loaf right away.  Which is why I usually don't end up making something like that.  When the mood strikes me to make bread I don't have the patience for that.

 

 

[kubiac]

Yes! It's quite easy, it just takes time and a little bit of luck. I am not an expert, but my best advice is wait a week at least before you bake with it. It has to go through some cycles to mature. It'll have a couple of days where it smells like a baby's diaper, but it gets past that and starts smelling delicious.

 

VERY BEST ADVICE ON THIS, IMHO:

 

http://zerowastechef.com/2015/02/10/happy-birthday-eleanor-how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter/

 

I really like having this skill. It means I won't have to rely on store-bought yeast to leaven bread if hard times ever come. That said, I am actually quite allergic to wheat, and it ended up being a lot of effort for baking bread that I can't even eat and my husband would frankly prefer to buy from the store. :) 

 

P.S. Sourdough English muffins ARE THE BEST THING EVAR. Except maybe DELICIOUS SOURDOUGH PANCAKES. Have fun!!

[ktgrok]

Watching Michael Pollan's "Cooked" on Netflix and now I want to make my own starter.  (BTW, am I the only person on the planet who did not know that Tracey Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is his sister?

 

I found this "recipe" that uses pineapple juice.  It looks promising. 

 

Any been there, done that advice?

 

 I did! It was really fun and made yummy bread until I forgot about it and it died. Not sure i'd bother again, I'd probably order a starter next time, but it was worth doing at least once, just for the experience.

 

And I didn't know about Mrs. Fox being his sister either :)

[Guest]

Watching Michael Pollan's "Cooked" on Netflix and now I want to make my own starter. (BTW, am I the only person on the planet who did not know that Tracey Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is his sister?

 

I found this "recipe" that uses pineapple juice. It looks promising.

 

Any been there, done that advice?

Hey sis did you end up doing this? Ive had mine going continuously since i started and its been super great! I started with 3 different kinds...

 

One rye flour, water. One white-wheat flour, water and sugar. And one ap flour, water and 1t. sugar.

 

The rye molded and never got this enough (just ever stickier) no matter how much water i added. The wheat was a bust too.

 

Ap flour for the win! I never added any sugar after the first time, and ive been feeding it with white wheat and water ever since too. I keep it on the counter covered with a kitchen rag.

 

Ive made all kinds of bread, pancakes, bisquits...

 

I got lots of different kinds of sprouted flour from whole foods and have been playing around with it. Everything ive made (no recipes) has come out fine-to-great! For bread, i have made a sponge first or not and the ones where i did make a sponge do come out better, but not SO much better that i dont bother when im pinched for time.

 

I tried to do sourdough with a starter i ordered once before and could never get it going. I mean it never even made it to the bread stage. It was tooooooo finicky for me at that time i reckon.

 

Anyway if you havnt done it yet, do! I am so super pleased! I feel like i fershur NEED a $$$$ grain mill for a holiday gift this year haha. Maybe all holidays combined into that one thing lol

[Guest]

Wow im surprised i JUST started on march 10. Weve eatten sooooo much bread since then lol. Coming from eating zero bread.

 

I really got the bug for it haha

[KungFuPanda]

My starter has been alive for about a decade. I started it using commercial yeast. The wild yeast takes over SO quickly and the end result is the same, so I never thought it was worth the effort to start with grapes or whatnot. My starter has a lovely sourness to it. Fortunately for me, neglected starter gives a nice sour loaf. I use it for my favorite pizza crust recipe too! Darn, now I want homemade sourdough and it's a two-day process.

[Tsuga]

Watching Michael Pollan's "Cooked" on Netflix and now I want to make my own starter.  (BTW, am I the only person on the planet who did not know that Tracey Pollan (Mrs. Michael J. Fox) is his sister?

 

I found this "recipe" that uses pineapple juice.  It looks promising. 

 

Any been there, done that advice?

 

Whoa, I did not know that either about him being M. J. Fox's brother in law.

 

Anyway.

 

Yes, I have, and I used a squirt of lemon juice. I had to let it go when we moved here from Germany. :(

[Rosie_0801]

I discovered a jar of chickweed vinegar we made about six months ago and had forgotten about, just yesterday. It had globs of yeast floating on top. I was very excited because we've never done that before. Usually as soon as yeast forms, mould grows on top of it.

 

We need a rabbit smilie. I feel the need for a running rabbit as a "rabbit trail" smilie.

[nd293]

I bought expensive organic rye flour and followed complicated recipes with no luck.

 

It finally occurred to me that bread has been made long before recipes were around, and if yeast was complicated it never would have happened: I mixed bread flour and water and left them on the counter. I removed and threw away any crust that formed and every day I added a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of flour. After about a week it started to form bubbles. Sourdough! I fed it a few more times then baked with it.

 

I've made several starters in the past year - the only difficulty I've had was when it was cold in the house. It works much better in summer.

[umsami]

It did work.  I was so pleasantly surprised.  LOL

 

We've made sourdough pretzels, sourdough pancakes/waffles, and even bread.  I kind of think it has a sort of pineapple-y smell/taste, but that's probably my imagination.  I have two different bread baking books on hold at the library, so I'm hoping to expand.  Of course, now I want a grain mill, which is completely impractical.  I think I'll try grinding wheat berries in my Vitamix and see what happens.  I have a dry container that I've never used.  :)

 

ETA: My sourdough "crock" is an old ceramic cookie jar I had.  It works great. :)

Edited April 4, 2016 by umsami

[KrissiK]

I've been experimenting with it to no avail. I used the very basic recipe in Betty Crocker. Just bread flour, yeast, warm water and time,Simple yes. Sour no! Made good French bread, but not sourdough French bread.

[ScoutTN]

I have, but not for years. I used to keep mine in the fridge when I didn't need it ready to go, then let it come to room temp over a day or so before using some and feeding it. I had it for at least seven years. I think I let it go when Dh and I started eating low carb and the yummy bread was just too tempting! Seconding what others said about needing to have some age to be very sour.