Quote:
KimN_C Tell me more about "feeding" the sourdough. Last weekend I stirred in the liquid and took 1/2 cup out, dumped it and replaced with a 1/2 cup each of flour and water. I then let it sit on the counter for the rest of the afternoon. Is that what I'm suppose to do? I hate to waste it by dumping it but I had no recipe or time to make bread.
Sandee
I feed my sourdough - 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup milk - mix them together and add to the sourdough. I never throw any away. If I am not using it I feed it every week or 10 days and then do extra baking. I keep mine in an ice cream pail so there is room for alot of it. I often double my recipes so I have something to freeze as baking seems to disappear into thin air. We have a sourdough thread on here for more recipes if you are interested. Feel free to add you own recipes to it so we can have all the sourdough recipes in one place.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=272398
Sandee, I feed mine 1 cup water or milk and 1 cup flour at a time and do not throw any away either. Throwing some away is a fairly common practice among those who want to keep a starter going but can't use it frequently. You discard an equal amount of starter for the amount of flour you're feeding. You can also feed a smaller amount like 1/2 c at a time if you don't want to build up as much. Occassionally I will feed mine a little sugar (1/2 c) with the flour if it's bubbling slows down a lot. The sugar does give it more to eat and increase it's activity.
My current schedule is remove from refrig on Thu AM, stir & feed. Then stir & feed again Thu evening. Let stand overnight, bake Fri AM. I use all but 1 cup of the starter when I bake. Then feed one more time and return to the refrig until the following Thu. I store mine in a plastic container - it's tall, square, about quart size.
Lot's of good recipes in the thread JoJo mentioned. I'd love to have more recipes added there if anyone has some to share.
eastbaychicks, I have instructions for making a starter from scratch posted here:
[URL]http://millriverfarm.com/recipe.cfm?id=416&catname=Bread, Rolls, and Muffins[/URL]
Here are instructions I found for drying starter. I haven't tried this, but plan to. Might be a good option rather than having to toss the extra,
Sandee. I'd like to do it so I have a back-up of my starter. The original article is here:
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/sourdo.htm - lots of other sourdough info there too.
If you want to keep starter unused for a longer period of time than a few weeks, or if you want to send some through the mail to a friend, you can easily dehydrate it into flakes. Using starter that has been fed the day before, spread a paper-thin layer onto a sheet of plastic wrap and let it sit a day or two until it dries. It can then be broken into flakes and stored indefinitely in a dry place.
To reconstitute the flakes, put about a tablespoon of flakes into a glass or plastic bowl (not metal) that will hold about four cups. Mix the flakes with about a tablespoon of lukewarm water to form a paste. Gradually mix into the paste another cup of lukewarm water, then stir in one and a quarter cups of flour. Mix well, although the mixture does not have to be free of lumps. You should have approximately one cup of a batter the consistency of pancake batter. Cover the bowl lightly (not air-tight) and put in a warm spot where the temperature is 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (not warmer). Allow it to sit overnight.
After standing, there should be bubbles covering the surface and the volume should have increased a little. If so, you now have a starter. If only a few bubbles have formed, let it sit another day. If it appears not to have changed, then the reconstitution was not successful.
