It’s the oldest form of naturally leavened bread, dating back to 3500 BCE. Sourdough is one of the most unprocessed breads we can eat.

It’s good for gut health and easier to digest than other breads. The fermentation process helps us absorb more nutrients, and won’t leave you in a food coma. Research suggests sourdough is lower in gluten than commercially made bread.

Sourdough is bread made through the process of natural leavening –so no commercial yeast, artificial additives, or processing aids. True sourdough bread is only FLOUR, WATER, and SALT. Not to mention lots of time and love.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND SOURDOUGH

Once flour, water, and salt mix, starch molecules break down into natural occurring sugars. The wild yeast from the starter, along with friendly bacteria in the air called lactobacilli start to feed off the sugars. The wild yeast creates lactic acid which creates the mildly sour taste in sourdough.

During fermentation, the yeast turns into carbon dioxide, creating bubbles which helps raise the dough, create a spongey texture, and create air pockets in the crumb.

Well, it’s actually two starters combined! My original starter was given to me at a workshop that a friend of mine did, much like the workshops that I currently host. It was passed down for 50 years before she got it in the College Station area. The second starter I combined with that one was from AMAZON, lol!

It was from livingdough.com and here’s that story told by the owner of Living Dough - Not only does this starter produce the most delicious and gorgeous bread, but it has a story that goes back to the 1800s! First, you should know that my 92-year-old mom has lovingly cared for this starter ever since I can remember – it’s become like one of her children. You might even say it’s her first child, as it predates both my sister and me. Mom’s a retired school teacher, dad is retired U.S. Navy (RDML), and they have been married just shy of 70 years. Mom bought the sourdough starter from a very famous bakery in San Francisco in 1951 while she and my father were traveling for the Navy. Our starter’s name is Bodie (take a guess where it comes from... Hint: California gold mining country). The baker at the time told mom that the starter had been in use at the bakery since 1850. And not only that, the founder of the bakery had the starter in his family for 40 years before opening the bakery. This means that we can trace Bodie’s history directly back to 1810!! This starter has been treasured and lovingly maintained for 210 years!

This is what I do for my starter that works for me. There are many ways you can choose to keep your starter, this method is less work & my “lazy” method. I keep my “mother starter” in the fridge and feed it every 2 weeks. When I want to use my starter to bake, I pull from my refrigerated “mother starter” and feed that to grow for what I need in the recipe. Here’s that detailed process, step by step.

Mother Starter Refrigerator Process: I have 2 quart jars for this process. One of the jars is always in the fridge holding my “mother starter”. The other jar is clean and ready to use on feeding day.

Once every 2 weeks, I take the jar that my “mother starter” lives in out the fridge. I place the clean quart jar on my kitchen scale and clear (also called TARE) the scale. It should read 0 grams. I then spoon 75 grams of the refrigerated starter into the clean jar & clear the scale. Then I add 75 grams of warm distilled or spring water & clear the scale. Mix the water and starter well. Place back on the scale and add 75 grams of organic all purpose flour. Stir well. Cover loosely with lid and let sit on counter for an hour or two, then tighten the lid and put it back in the fridge.

The remaining starter from the original jar is now called discard & you can keep it in the fridge to use in recipes that use discard (Unfed starter). I have a designated jar in my fridge that I keep discard in for those recipes.

Starter Needed for a Recipe Process: When I want to use starter in a recipe, this is how I create that active, bubbly starter or also called leaven. I do it this way so I have less discard, less burden to keep a starter fed, & it saves money because I’m not discarding and feeding daily!

When I find the recipe that I want to use, I look at how many grams of starter I will need & the following process is done the morning that I want to make my dough. (Most of the times it’s between 60 - 100 grams.) For this example, 100 grams is what the recipe will need. Take a clean jar, place it on the scale and clear the scale. Scoop in around 35 grams or your refrigerated “mother starter”. Clear the scale & add 35 grams of warm distilled or spring water and clear the scale. Mix the water and starter well. Place back on the scale and add 35 grams of flour and stir well. Loosely cover the jar and leave on the counter to use in your recipe after 6-8 hours. You can add any leftover starter to your discard jar.

Beginner Sourdough Loaf

Ingredients:

60 -100 grams fed starter

350 grams filtered or spring water

2 teaspoons salt

500 grams organic all purpose flour

SOURDOUGH STARTER - Step 1

To create sourdough, you need a “starter” that is fed. The starter is fed by flour and water. The water should be filtered and if you use tap water, let it sit out a couple hours so the chlorine can dissipate. To feed your starter, you will mix a portion of your original starter with equal parts of water and flour.

(For this recipe, I usually do 30 grams of starter, 30 grams of water & 30 grams of flour. It’ll give you a bit more than 60 grams but more is better than less!)

Mixing your Dough - Step 2

Mix the water and starter that the recipe states. Mix this until it looks like milk. Add in the salt and flour. Mix until dough is incorporated but don’t over mix. Let sit 20 minutes or so.

Stretching the Dough - Step 3

Stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes 3 times. Stretch one side of the dough up and fold it back to the middle of the bowl, turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until all sides are stretched and folded twice.

Bulk Ferment - Step 4

Cover dough with damp tea towel, plate, or cling wrap and allow it to sit overnight (or about 8-10 hours) at room temperature (On the counter). This allows the dough to rise. It should double during this rise.

Form Loaf Shape & Second Ferment - Step 5

Dust surface with flour. Remove dough from bowl & gently stretch into a rectangle careful not to break dough. Fold the dough into thirds and roll it into a ball. Gently pull and tuck the dough forming a round shape. Place dough in a bowl that is lined with a floured tea towel, cover with another tea towel or cling wrap and let rise in the fridge between 6- 72 hours. The longer it ferments this rise, the more sourdough tangy taste it will have.

Scoring & Baking the Bread - Step 6

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Flip dough onto a piece of parchment paper. Score an “ear” (A BIG HALF CIRCLE) into the dough and any design you like. Place the dough on the parchment inside your dutch oven. Place 5-6 pieces of ice between the parchment paper and the dutch oven. Place the lid on your dutch oven and place in the oven on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove lid and cook another 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Then the hardest part - Remove from dutch oven to cookie rack and WAIT at least an 45 minutes to cut! It’s still cooking and its so hard to wait!

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