Sourdough bread hot from the oven -- now that's something to look forward toThis is my second attempt to keep a sourdough starter; the first one fell over in the cooler and took on some contaminated ice melt. You're supposed to store it in a container that allows a little air, so we had punched two holes in the jar lid. So you have to take care that it doesn't fall over, feed it regularly and dispose of half of it regularly, preferably by giving it away. I found a lot of information about sourdough starter, including how to make it from scratch without adding potatoes, sugar and a lot of other fuss, at S. John Ross's web page.
John says it's almost impossible to kill a sourdough starter, once it's going well, and that a some starters date back hundreds of years. Like the cockroach, it'll be around long after I'm gone. But you're not supposed to stir it with a metal utensil or in a metal bowl; stick with glass or plastic, he adds. And the murky liquid that forms at the top is called "hooch" -- right, just like you'd refer to alcoholic beverages except you can't drink this stuff. Somebody has already tried, I'm sure, but regretted it. Anyway, you just stir the hooch back into the starter when you feed it. I don't know how people kept it in the days before refrigeration, but all the instructions I've seen insist you keep it in the fridge.
I've talked to a number of first mates here and in La Cruz who keep sourdough starters, and given the lack of good bread to be found here in Mexico, I thought I'd try making my own, at least until it gts too hot to use the oven. And there's always sourdough pancakes.
Nobody I know has named their sourdough "pets," but I thought if I did, it might help me remember that it's another entity that needs feeding and maintaining. Bubbles?
10 comments:
It turned out pretty. I'm currently raising Amish Friendship Bread... it takes a little less feeding than the Sour Dough.
No, that's not my bread, that's a generic photo of what I'm hoping my bread will look like.
I'll have to google Amish Friendship Bread, I've heard about it before and it sounds interesting.
Minnie the Hootcher? Or for a more streamlined use: Mini the Hootcher?
There are loads of variations to the AFB... I don't name mine, it's easier to pour it down the drain if I get tired of it. Kind of like when you raise cattle or hogs for food... never name it. But Minnie the Hootcher is a good name, kind of exotic.
I seem to be pretty good at killing off starter ;-(
We have a bread oven, stone wheat grinder, large dough mixer, triple beam scale etc. Just no starter ;-( I should try making a starter I suppose - but it was always fun having some vintage starter around.
'Hard enough to keep alive on land.
Steve - I like it.
Jomamma - I wonder what it does to a septic system if you pour sourdough starter down the drain. Here on the boat it goes into the bay.
Calypso - are you using non-metal utensils? Refrigerating it, with a lid that has at least one hole? Remembering to feed it? John says it's really hard to kill. Try again. And when you pour off half, as the instructions say, keep it and start a second batch, maybe you can experiment.
Ha ha - Sharyn got that starter from me! Remember a few months ago I was trying to figure out how to get starter to you? It made it!! ;)
Meerkat - Sometimes we just need a little help from our friends. I originally passed on to Sharyn on SunSation some starter I got from Sharon on Escapade. Then I got my own batch from yet another Sharon on Lotus. Sharyn ruined her first batch and I ruined mine. Then Sharyn got more from you, and shared it with me. What came around, went around.
Maybe you and I need to change our names to Sharon.
Naaaah, it got confusing enough as it was.
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