Sourdough bread making
People who know me, knows that I lack patience. Therefore, it might come as a surprise that I love making sourdough bread. And I love that it s a slow process, that you need to look and feel the dough to know that you’re on the right track. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and that’s ok. I failed with a loaf last Saturday (it didn’t rise properly) but made croutons and pangrattato with it so it wouldn’t go to waste.
Sourdough bread making isn’t difficult it however requires a bit of time and patience. So don’t give up!
When I speak about sourdough I mean the finished product, that is the bread or bun you eat. When I speak about the sourdough starter I mean the somewhat smelly liquid you have in a jar that you use in the start of your baking and what will help the bread rise.
Make the sourdough starter
What I’ve heard is that the rye sourdough starter is easier to succeed with so I thought I would share the recipe that I used when I started my sourdough. I always recommend to use organic rye flour since it contains more natural yeast spores which will help your starter to thrive.
Day 1, morning
1 dl lukewarm water
½ dl organic rye flour
Find a jar that holds at least ½ liters and mix flour and water in it. Put the lid on but do not screw it shut and place the jar in a warm corner (20-25 degrees C). Sometimes I also wrap the jar in a kitchen towel.
Let the mixture stand for three days and gently shake the jar morning and evening.
Day 4, morning
1 dl lukewarm water
1 ½ dl organic rye flour
Add water and flour to the mixture
Day 4, evening
1 dl lukewarm water
1 dl organic rye flour
Add water and flour to the mixture.
Now the fermentation process should have started and the sourdough has hopefully grown a lot. It should have about the same consistency as chocolate mousse. If the fermentation process has not started, let it stand for another 10-12 hours and then pour out everything except ½ dl and then add more water and flour and stir.
Feed your sourdough starter
I recommend feeding your sourdough starter once a week when it is still very young. You feed it with by pouring out about 3/4 of the starter and then add 1 dl lukewarm water and 1 dl organic rye flour, give it a stir and then store it in the fridge. Now I’ve had it for some years so I tend to feed it every second week if I’m not planning to use it very soon. In my experience it’s always possible to save your sourdough even when you forgotten to feed it for several weeks (as long as it hasn’t become moldy) so hang in there and if you don’t succeed it’s ok to start over. Good luck!