Sourdough starter...a living, breathing thing that makes the best thing to replace store bought yeast! So renewable and sustainable for an indefinite amount of time as long as you feed it and nurture it regularly. There are starters still being used today from the 1800's. Awesome huh? But how do you start this life? There are many ways which you can find on the net. Basically it's water and flour and you need to catch some wild yeast from the air. I have mentioned wild yeast in previous posts. It's what starts the process to make sauerkraut. It is on most fruit and veggies. It's that dull finish on grapes and plums. An easy way is to take a cup of water and flour, mix, then toss in a whole grape or two, cover and wait 24 hours. You shouldn't wash the grapes first or you will defeat your purpose by washing off the yeast. You should see some bubbling going on after that time. What you have now is a starter. Feed it equal parts flour and water every day or so to keep it growing. I also use leftover whey from making cheese.
I store mine in the fridge to let it grow slowly as I don't bake with it every week. But when I do, I use up to three cups of it at a time. You can make pancakes, bread, pizza dough, the uses are endless. There are several very good sites on modified recipes to use sourdough starter with. Get started today and catch your yeast because sourdough bread is coming up in a future post! *wink* There was a reason for this post!
Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions below!
Enjoy!
Steph
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