Sourdough Chronicles: The Intrigue

Hello fork musketeers!

I've decided to try making my own sourdough starter.

I've never made sourdough and I'm not very fond of it. However, my sister is a big fan and we recently played around with fermented apple water. It made our baguettes taste like apples. Seriously.

The pink/red tones are from the apple skins.
Nice colour, no?

This has intrigued me since we made fermented apple water. I kept thinking of different ways to flavour a bread and thought the "off" taste of sourdough with a sweeter, fruity note would be a nice contrast.

I've done some research and it seems a bit more involved than other breads. So I've decided to keep track of my baby steps into the world of sourdough.

What's in a sourdough?

Sourdough's name gives you a hint at what it's about. As described by my sister, sourdough "tastes a little off... but in a good way." The reason why it tastes off is because of the starter/pre-ferment used in sourdough. In general, pre-ferment is a 1:1 ratio of water:flour plus yeast to get the fermentation process going.  Sourdough pre-ferment still follows the 1:1 formula, however you don't add yeast. Bacteria, including several strains of yeast, is everywhere and what you've just done is created an open house for the bacteria in your flour to grow. So you leave it outside, preferably in a warm place.

I'm still pretty new to this so I'm reading a lot of articles about making your own starter. So far it seems to follow a certain formula but some of the details are kind of hazy for me.

1. Start with organic flour; whole wheat flour or rye flour. These flours have more micro-organisms that will help you in your bread adventures. If you don't, I started mine with all-purpose.
2. Do a 1:1 ratio of flour and water and whisk well. Incorporating air will help the bacteria grow.
3. Leave for 8-24 hours and "feed" it again. All this means is add more flour and water in equal amounts. So if you started with 1/4 cup of flour, add another 1/4 cup.
4. Repeat step 2 over and over again until your starter is stable.

Mine showed activity within 24 hours. Depending on your conditions, there might only be signs between the 24-36 hour mark.

AAHHH IT'S ALIVE!!

It also smelled really fucking stinking awful. Did I mention stinking awful? Because it was really awful. I was worried I got my ratios wrong but I marched on and fed it again. It was simultaneously an exciting but disgusting moment.

I've read tutorials where parts of the starter is discarded. When you're first starting a sourdough starter, the bacteria in the starter is not very stable. I've read one article where the author high advised against using a week-old starter. So apparently it can take at least a week before things get in order.

Second, when you have a stable starter it needs to be fed in equal parts, therefore increases exponentially (basically doubling at each feeding). So unless you have a lot of empty swimming pools, you'll either use it in pancakes/muffins/whatever or chuck it. When it's first starting, the amounts people suggest varies...

So far my feedings have been all-purpose flour and whole wheat. I've been doing more research and some tutorials suggested 12 hour feedings and others have done 24 hour feedings. My guess is your schedule will depend on the weather. If you're in a warmer area, you'll most likely experience faster bacteria growth so a 12hr feeding is probably best. If it's more cold, you can probably get away with 24hr feeding.

Honestly guys, I have no clue what I'm doing and I'm just winging it.  It's been relatively cool (yeast likes warmer temperatures of 27-35˚C) so I'm going to wait 24hrs today and see if it changes anything.

Smells pleasantly sour. I must be
doing something right!... Right?

 So we'll see how much George grows and stabilizes.

Yes, I've named my starter George. He's my new bacterial tamagotchi pet that I will love, hug (through the container), feed and tuck in at night.

Good thing it isn't a real tamagotchi pet 'cause mine always died on me. Yeah...