Sourdough Starter

[Simbebe60]

I'm slightly confused since I'm really bad at baking bread and do mostly cakes but some recipes tell you to refridgerate your sourdough starter others say no while other tell u to throw some away and use a different feed from other recipes. I know it hsould all be about the same thing but does anyone have a recipe they've used before or has experience baking sourdough bread?

[cakerookie]

Go here www.allrecipes.com type in sourdough in the search block you will get more than you need. Its common in sourdough recipes to remove half the starter , replace and re-feed it. Sourdough starters are actually thriving little communities and have to be fed a regular diet. Thas about all I know you will have to hope KyleW sees this post or visit his website. Another great way is to get several books on the subject if you are interested. Peter Reinhart has two great books "Crust and Crumb" and "Bread Bakers Apprentice" the later is a little on the pricey side but well worth the investment. You can find lots of info on the web if you type in sourdough in your search block on your browser.

Rgds Rook

Heres the link to Kyles site http://www.kyleskitchen.net

[Simbebe60]

Thx for your help really helped me But I am a bit confused there is suppose to be a symbiotic relationship so that mold doesn't grow on the starter? Why is it that sometimes you still get a discoulouration from other bacteria or etc.

[cakerookie]

Originally Posted by Simbebe60

Thx for your help really helped me But I am a bit confused there is suppose to be a symbiotic relationship so that mold doesn't grow on the starter? Why is it that sometimes you still get a discoulouration from other bacteria or etc.

I think this is what you are looking for:

Sourdough starter also contains symbiotic bacteria, and it is the bacteria that gives sourdough bread its sour flavour. The specific strain of both the yeast and the bacteria will vary according to where you live, giving different sourdoughs very different qualities. If you make your sourdough starter from a dried sample or inherit it from someone else, your yeast will likely be the same as in the original starter, but the bacteria will still change, giving your breads a unique flavour.

Comes from this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3502531

[qahtan]

If you look in here it gives a video also the text on sourdough starters also bread recipes.
I think it always help more if you can actually see what is happening.
If you can't open it I might have the recipes written down ......
qahtan


http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/eaters/artisan.html#

[KyleW]

Hi Simbebe60 - Welcome to the perplexing world of wild yeast You will find as many varieties of starters and methods as there are stars in the sky. Here's my 2 cents.

Try not to get overwhelmed by the science. Instead, used your eyes and your nose to guide you. A healthy starter should double in volume within 6-8 hours after being fed. It should smell tart, but not "off". The refreigerating can do 2 things; slow things down to make the schedule a little more managable and slow things down to maximize flavor development.

The bacterial issue came to light, again, in a flurry of activity on King Arthur forum a couple of years ago. It seems tah intial success of starters was followed by no activity at all. This quick death was determned to be the result of bad bacteria dominance. It was discovered that using pineapple juice, instead of water, for the first few days killed the bad backteria.

I guess my initial advise is find a formula for a starter that works for you, or get your hands on an existing starter. The 2 books cakerookie mentioned have been invaluable to me. Read lots but take nothing as gospel. Dive in and ask lots of questions

Kyle

[panini]

I enjoy reading Kyles posts.

[Simbebe60]

I see well today is day 2 and my sourdough is starting to smell like old cheese there's no discolouration but it smells more like bad cheese than tart and sour is something wrong?

[kokopuffs]

I've made sourdough starter only once and it smelled like white (clear) vinegar.

[cakerookie]

Originally Posted by panini

I enjoy reading Kyles posts.

I do to Pan. KyleW glad to see you posting agian.

Rgds Rook

[KyleW]

Aw shucks guys

Simbebe60 - smell is a highly individualized sense. What smells like cheese to you smells like vinegar to kokopuffs. As long as there is no discoloration, and there is relative volume expansion, press on! As to colors, grays and browns are fine, pinks and oranges are not. If you see pink and or orange you need to toss it. Absent that keep going. If you keep starting over you'll never have bread

[kokopuffs]

It's certain strains of acetic acid yeasties that are responsible for the odors of sourdough starter. Vinegar itself is made with acetic acid yeast.

[qahtan]

This is one of my sourdough loaves, now I am trying to make starter from grapes, any one had any joy from that...... qahtan


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58.../sourdough.jpg

[cakerookie]

Nice looking loaf there gahtan.

Rgds Rook

[qahtan]

Thanks cakerookie, ;-))) qahtan