Experiment: Prepping the levain for my sourdough loaf

So... I've been feeding and dividing my sourdough starter for the last week.  Most instructions for cultivating your own starter will tell you to discard 1/2 the starter each day before feeding it.  The science behind that makes sense.  But I'm ... frugal.  Thrifty.  (Ask my husband and he'll probably tell you I'm cheap...but that it has saved us over the last few years.)

So I've been saving it.  And storing it in the fridge.... trying to find the right way to use it up.  There are many recipes, I just haven't had the time and energy to try anything.  Hopefully this week I'll at least try some pancakes or pretzels or even some crackers.

For now, on to the pre-show.  Tomorrow will be the main event!

Depending on how you're managing your starter, there are a couple of things to do before you can actually make the sourdough.  Since this was the first week of life for my starter, it hasn't been living in the refrigerator.  I wanted it to be alive all week, maturing and getting wonderfully tangy.

If you have a mature starter and generally let it live in the fridge to control the growth, you'll need to bring it out and let it warm up a few days ahead of your baking day.  You're only going to need a tablespoon of starter for this recipe, so feel free to just bring out a small amount to feed for the next few days.

The day before you want to bake, you will need to turn your starter into a levain.  This will hang out on the counter overnight and we will turn it into our dough in the morning!

I'm following the steps at The Kitchn, mostly.


Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active sourdough starter
75 grams (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour or bread flour (I'm using AP)
75 grams (1/3 cup) water (not tap water)



Instructions:

Tonight's instructions are insanely simple:

1. Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. You need room for it to grow. I used a small bowl to weigh them because the larger ones are annoying on the scale...
   
2. Mix-y mix-y until thoroughly combined.  A whisk is great to incorporate it all and add some air to the mix.
   
3. Cover and leave on the counter.  I use both plastic wrap and a tea towel. I misjudged the amount of levain and ended up moving to a smaller bowl than my big red one... 
   

Ta-daaa! Levain made and ready to rest.  Give it about 12 hours.  Get a good night's sleep.  Wake up ready to have some fun with Sourdough!

Experiment: Sourdough Starter Day 1

I'm going to try to cultivate wild yeast and make my own sourdough starter!

Doesn't that sound cool and tricky and so advanced?!  Yeah, I thought so, too.  Turns out, sourdough starter is.. well.. it's 2 whole ingredients.  Yep. 2.  That's it.  Flour and water.

The idea is to attract, feed, and cultivate naturally-occurring wild yeasts to give breads that amazing sourdough tang as well as the lift we usually get from baker's yeast.

You can use a whole lot of flours and sources for water/liquid.  But in my reading (because I don't do anything without reading and researching), most recommend starting with just AP flour and water.  There are some that will have you use cabbage or fruits (like grapes) or pineapple juice to try to jump start the yeast.  I'm choosing to be a purist (some might say 'stubborn') and just use good old AP flour and bottled water.

The only caveat I've read about water is that you don't want to use tap water.  The additives can kill or seriously harm your yeast development.  So I used some bottled water that I happen to have on hand.

Mix. Store somewhere warm.  Feed.  And wait.

Hold on..."somewhere warm".  Uh oh.  If you've met me, you know I don't like warm.  In fact, I keep our apartment quite chilly.  Hmmmmm.... this could be tricky.  I'll have to see what happens and see if I can find a spot in our place that is less chilly than everywhere else.

So... here's the "recipe" for today's part:

4 oz AP flour (yes, ounces.  Get a kitchen scale.  Baking is better and more consistent if you do it by weight, not volume.)
4 oz water (not tap)

Mix.
Put into a storage container and cover with plastic wrap or cheese cloth or a very light lid.  Do NOT seal it closed - the gasses created by fermentation will need somewhere to go!

Watch and get to know your starter.  We'll be feeding it at least once a day every day this week!

Weigh your ingredients.

Mix-y Mix-y!

This container has measurements marked on it.  Helps with keeping track of how much it has grown.

This lid is basically just balanced on top.  I forgot to get cheesecloth...ooops.