Friday, October 12, 2012

Jacquie Rogers -- Sourdough Baking: Part 2



The Care and Feeding 
of Sourdough Starter

Last month, I wrote about the origins and uses of sourdough in The Joy of Sourdough Baking. This month, we'll dive into the flour and make things happen.

Making the Starter

The be-all and end-all of sourdough baking is the starter, sometimes called the sponge. Let’s make some!

You need:
* Crock or glass container (I use a Coca-Cola pitcher). Should hold at least 8 cups because the starter will grow
* Cloth
* Spoon or whisk
* 2 cups Flour (white or whole wheat, doesn’t matter--I generally maintain the starter with white flour. More on this later.)
* 2 cups Water

Directions
Mix the flour and water together in the container, cover with cloth, and put aside (room temperature).

Here’s where it gets difficult:
Pop a beer or diet coke and relax. It's time for the little sourdough beasties get busy.

Second Day
At the top of the mixture, you should see a liquid with dinky little bubbles. This is the airborne yeast at work for you.

Stir the starter two or three times (you'll feel the gluten forming), then cover with cloth. Forget about it until tomorrow. Yes, the beasties are at work again.

Third Day
Stir again and cover.

Fourth Day
Your starter should be smelling sour by now. Lots of little bubbles should be on top and through the sponge itself.

Remove half the starter and throw it away.

Mix:
1 cup flour
1 cup water
remaining starter

Cover and forget about it for two days.

A recap:

Day 1: mix up starter
Day 2: stir and send good thoughts to the little airborne yeasties
Day 3: stir again
Day 4: remove half the starter and feed
Day 5: let it work
Day 6: guess what? You can make pancakes!

Are you ready for breakfast?

I love sourdough pancakes. In fact, since we started eating them, I don't even care for the regular baking powder variety anymore. Sourdough pancakes have less sugar, salt (because there's not a tablespoon of baking powder), and oil so they're much better for you. If you're watching your cholesterol, you can eliminate the egg, although I prefer to use 1/4 cup EggBeaters.

Recipe for Sourdough Pancakes

If you have a big family, mix up 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water and stir into starter the night before, then double the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups starter
1 egg
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 or 2 Tbs oil

Mix all ingredients in a 2-quart bowl (the batter grows!). If the batter is too thin, add a little extra flour. Too thick? Add a spoon or two of water.

Feed starter with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water. Don't forget this step!

Fry as usual.

Butter, syrup . . . Yum!

Our family prefers whole wheat so the day before I take a cup of starter and mix with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Then feed the original starter. I use the whole wheat starter to make the pancakes. Actually, that should be in past tense because I don't eat wheat anymore. Spelt should work but I haven't tried it yet.

The longer you leave the starter, the more sour the taste. Nowadays, many people prefer the sourness, but in the Old West, they wanted light, fluffy, sweet pancakes.

Some more tips and tricks
  • The starter needs to be used every four or five days at least. If you're not going to use it for three days, refrigerate it, but be sure to remove the starter from the refrigerator the night before you cook with it.
  • Don't use plastic bowls or utensils. Ever.
  • After you've used the starter a few times, you'll end up with a whole lot more than you need. Share with friends!
  • Freshly-ground flour makes all the difference in the world. Give it a try!
  • For johnnycakes: the night before, mix one cup of starter with one cup of cornmeal and one cup water. Use the same recipe as pancakes. Delicious!

Jacquie Rogers, author of the
Hearts of Owyhee  series
#1 Much Ado About Marshals (RttA Winner)
#2 Much Ado About Madams
#3 Much Ado About Mavericks
A short story: Willow, Wish For Me (Merlin’s Destiny #1)

Visit Jacquie:
Website * Twitter * Facebook * Romancing The West * Blog

10 comments:

HurricaneReads said...

yummmm I miss sourdough :( may have to make some starter up!!!

Jacquie Rogers said...

Do it! Sourdough is my favorite way to bake. :)

Ellen O'Connell said...

Thanks so much Jacquie. This is a post I'm keeping and not for research.

Jacquie Rogers said...

You're welcome, Ellen. You won't be sorry. :)

Unknown said...

We love soudough bread and pancakes. Hubby's Gram used to have a starter going all the time. She didn't like it tasting sour. Hers was sweet. thank you for the great article and recipe.

Jacquie Rogers said...

The longer you let the starter work, the more sour it gets. To keep the starter on the sweet side, every other day, throw out half of it and feed with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water.

Also, if the starter smells more on the sour side than you want, you can add a little fresh flour to the recipe and that will sweeten it up.

Alison E. Bruce said...

Can I just come over to your place for pancakes? I'll bring Canadian Maple syrup with me.

Jacquie Rogers said...

Good idea, Alison!

Meg said...

I'm with Alison -- I'll have to come over and see why there's yeast when there's NO yeast added! That stuff sounds like a recipe for paste. You know, the flour and water that sticks and you let the kids smear it on paper and then toss, wash their hands, give 'em a cookie. LOL

Jacquie Rogers said...

LOL. All bread is glue, Meg. The yeast comes form airborne bacteria. It's magic. :)