Sourdough Bread

I have a wild hair and hope to capture some wild yeast in a quest to learn the process of sourdough bread making.  As with most things, you will realize immediately upon reading that there is not one right way.  However, there are a few things that can go wrong (e.g. having a stinky mess on your hands if the chemistry gets wrong).

I used King Arthur's Sourdough starter recipe which you can find here. You can also see a nice video primer form Ian Knauer here. I missed a feeding on the outset, on my first batch, and I elected to throw it out.  However upon further reading, I appears that I could have revived it.   I read that some antiseptic environments (think antibacterial this that or the other and cleaning everything down every day) may cause the starter to take a little longer. My starter started (1st and 2nd try), immediately started out bubbling. So, no antiseptic environment here.

Today is Day 4 for me, and my starter started out vigorous and continues to thrive.  I'm on 2x daily feedings now.  The starter is a leaving breathing thing.  So, while it does not require diapering, play or a bath, it does require a "homey" environment of suitable warmth, protection from untoward things (a breathable cover), and of course feeding. Feeding is accomplished by adding equal parts by weight of flour and cool water (from the recipe that I'm using). However, when you feed it, you take 4 oz of starter out of the bubbling batch, and throw the rest away.

After throwing a bit away, I let my fingers do the internet walking and I found quite a few recipes--biscuits, pancakes, waffles, etc--that could be used with the starter.  This a.m. I elected to conscript some of my destined-for-the-trash starter into something that would feed us!  Loaves and Stitches had this great recipe for 30 minute Sourdough Waffles.

I was wee bit short on starter, only having 7.05 v 8.25 oz required by the recipe.  As the dough is a 1:1 hydration, I simply added more milk and flour in equal portion to make of the difference.  The waffles were delicious.  I typically substitute some of the all purpose flour for some whole wheat (if I have it, and just a bit as I'm not a whole wheat fan) and for about 1 T of cornmeal to add some crunch.

I'll try my hand at making some biscuits this way too... (P. S.  did that and....---amazing | P. S.  Made some hamburger buns using Red Star Yeast's recipe here.  Amazing.  I'm really blown away by the quality of this sponge and the ease in which it can be incorporated into recipes.  Now, my sponge is not fully developed, so I'm not getting full tang of sourdough.  But I'm still leveraging the mild flavor that is developing.)

I also made 4 lbs of coconut milk soap as I'm down to my last bar.  Showering with this bar is nothing short of luxurious.  It makes the most wonderful, sensual lather.  I don't add any essential or fragrance oils, and I don't think that the soap suffers at all from that lack.