[Sca-cooks] Seeking

[James]

First off, from what I know you want one with good leavening qualities 
but not a lot of the sharp/sour taste some of them have. From what I’ve 
read, and been told, the real sour sourdoughs are fairly recent. (But I 
could be wrong...) Also, there are many people who use fruit, or sugar, 
the get a starter going. While you can use that you don’t have to. Truth 
is, most flour that’s fairly fresh has enough of the little beasties to 
get fermenting on their own, as long as it that hasn’t been overly 
processed. Besides, the yeast that acts on fruit isn’t the same yeast 
that acts on sourdough. It can work, and does for many people but, I 
haven’t had much luck with it.

The only thing you need to really watch is the feeding cycle. I feed 
mine everyday when it’s at room temp, and at least once every seven days 
if it’s kept in the fridge. This way the yeast culture you have going in 
your starter it strong enough to resist infection. And I wouldn’t use 
commercial yeast to get a starter going, that tends to give you off 
flavors. Same reason I do not use milk, or any milk products, in my 
starter. I same the dairy stuff for my actual bread.

Secondly, I do know of two starters that might fit your needs;

1. One cup stone ground flour (the freshest you can find) mixed with 
enouth good water to make a paste like pancake batter (about 50/50). But 
in a non reactive container (I use a lexan flip top jug) and cover 
loosely. Let this set covered in a warm spot for about 12 hours then 
feed again. Let this set another 12 hours then remove half the starter 
and add in more flour water. If the flour is fresh and the water is 
anything but tap water this is usually foolproof.

and 2. Same as above but just use rye flour. Many bakers say that rye 
flour ferments better than wheat. But as always ymmv.

Just take about a good cup of starter, add the same amount of 
flour/water to your starter btw. Then using the starter make a sponge (a 
real wet dough) that you let set overnight. Then use that sponge to bake 
the next day. That’s the way I do it anyway. Another thing you can do if 
you’re baking every day is leave a good sized chunk of dough in a 
covered bowl in a cool spot. But then again, there are as many ways to 
do this as there are shapes of bread. So play with it till you find what 
is easiest and works for you.

Take care,
James

wildecelery at aol.com wrote:

> I know that there was a thread on it a while ago... does anyone have a 
> simple, quick recipe for a periodish sourdough starter?
>
> -Ardenia