Care & Feeding of Sourdough Culture

Winter is a great time to add a new pet to the family. No, this isn't another post about Annabel. And I'm not referring to the bee checking out this jar either. I'm talking a pet of the culinary variety - sourdough.

Sourdough is a grain-based, aerobic, yeast and bacteria culture. The most vibrant sourdoughs are made over years of using and feeding, but there's nothing particularly complicated about keeping sourdough. The easiest method is to start with a strong starter shared by a friend.

If you need to start one yourself, here's what to do: 1) Set aside equal parts flour (your choice of flour type - we use all-purpose, unbleached organic wheat) and unchlorinated water at room temperature in a clean glass jar. Cover loosely with a few layers of cheesecloth or gently closed mason lid. 2) In two days, discard half of this mixture, stir, and feed with equal parts flour and water again. 3) Repeat discarding and feeding every two days. 4) After a few feedings, a sourdough smell and visible bubbles appear. 5) Continue feeding regularly and use after a few weeks when the sourdough reliably bubbles within four hours of feeding.

Keeping Sourdough Going

You can ‘train’ your culture to tolerate your baking preferences. If you bake frequently, you can feed daily and the culture will begin to multiply more rapidly. If you don’t bake frequently, you may be able stretch feedings to three or four days by feeding thickly (reduce water by half) or keeping the culture in a cooler place. To transfer to a new flour (rye, whole wheat, etc.) use some of the old culture to start a new culture by feeding with half old/half new flour for a few feedings and then transition to using all new flour.

Use refrigeration if you need to be away from your culture for a few weeks. Feed twice the flour amount you might regularly feed just before you leave and put the culture in the fridge. This method has allowed us to travel for up to ten days without finding a sourdough sitter.

Using Sourdough Starter

The wild yeasts in sourdough can be used to flavor doughs, enhance yeast-risen doughs, and even replace added yeast all together.

For flavoring baked goods (pancakes biscuits, etc.), substitute sourdough culture for up to one quarter of the liquid.

To enhance yeast-risen recipes, substitute sourdough starter for one quarter of the water and reduce commercial yeast by a quarter. Allow the dough to rise for an extended period of time - the longer you let dough rise (punching down each time it doubles), the stronger the sourdough flavor and probiotic nutritional benefit. Then form loaves and bake as usual.

Depending on the thickness of your sourdough starter, the substitutions may not be exactly one-for-one. Experimentation is the best way to determine how recipes will work when using sourdough.

Sourdough can provide all the rising power a loaf of bread needs, but on its own timeline. Typically wild yeasted sourdough breads require twelve to forty eight hours to fully culture the recipe and create the air pockets we know as risen bread. Wild yeasted breads often use 1 part sourdough culture, 4-5 parts flour, 1-2 parts water, salt and sugar.

While there are ‘recipes’ for wild yeasted breads, like our sourdough challah, making a bread that uses your particular culture that works in your particular environment calls for more art than science. Keeping careful notes and a trial/error approach to baking is the best way to take advantage of sourdough cultures.

Do you keep a sourdough starter? In the future, I'll write about troubleshooting sourdough issues, so send me your questions and concerns!

Care & Feeding of Sourdough Culture

Winter is a great time to add a new pet to the family. No, this isn't another post about Annabel. And I'm not referring to the bee checking out this jar either. I'm talking a pet of the culinary variety - sourdough.

Sourdough is a grain-based, aerobic, yeast and bacteria culture. The most vibrant sourdoughs are made over years of using and feeding, but there's nothing particularly complicated about keeping sourdough. The easiest method is to start with a strong starter shared by a friend.

If you need to start one yourself, here's what to do: 1) Set aside equal parts flour (your choice of flour type - we use all-purpose, unbleached organic wheat) and unchlorinated water at room temperature in a clean glass jar. Cover loosely with a few layers of cheesecloth or gently closed mason lid. 2) In two days, discard half of this mixture, stir, and feed with equal parts flour and water again. 3) Repeat discarding and feeding every two days. 4) After a few feedings, a sourdough smell and visible bubbles appear. 5) Continue feeding regularly and use after a few weeks when the sourdough reliably bubbles within four hours of feeding.

Keeping Sourdough Going

You can ‘train’ your culture to tolerate your baking preferences. If you bake frequently, you can feed daily and the culture will begin to multiply more rapidly. If you don’t bake frequently, you may be able stretch feedings to three or four days by feeding thickly (reduce water by half) or keeping the culture in a cooler place. To transfer to a new flour (rye, whole wheat, etc.) use some of the old culture to start a new culture by feeding with half old/half new flour for a few feedings and then transition to using all new flour.

Use refrigeration if you need to be away from your culture for a few weeks. Feed twice the flour amount you might regularly feed just before you leave and put the culture in the fridge. This method has allowed us to travel for up to ten days without finding a sourdough sitter.

Using Sourdough Starter

The wild yeasts in sourdough can be used to flavor doughs, enhance yeast-risen doughs, and even replace added yeast all together.

For flavoring baked goods (pancakes biscuits, etc.), substitute sourdough culture for up to one quarter of the liquid.

To enhance yeast-risen recipes, substitute sourdough starter for one quarter of the water and reduce commercial yeast by a quarter. Allow the dough to rise for an extended period of time - the longer you let dough rise (punching down each time it doubles), the stronger the sourdough flavor and probiotic nutritional benefit. Then form loaves and bake as usual.

Depending on the thickness of your sourdough starter, the substitutions may not be exactly one-for-one. Experimentation is the best way to determine how recipes will work when using sourdough.

Sourdough can provide all the rising power a loaf of bread needs, but on its own timeline. Typically wild yeasted sourdough breads require twelve to forty eight hours to fully culture the recipe and create the air pockets we know as risen bread. Wild yeasted breads often use 1 part sourdough culture, 4-5 parts flour, 1-2 parts water, salt and sugar.

While there are ‘recipes’ for wild yeasted breads, like our sourdough challah, making a bread that uses your particular culture that works in your particular environment calls for more art than science. Keeping careful notes and a trial/error approach to baking is the best way to take advantage of sourdough cultures.

Do you keep a sourdough starter? In the future, I'll write about troubleshooting sourdough issues, so send me your questions and concerns!

Fermenting Wisdom from Sandor Katz

Wild Fermentation and Art of Fermentation author Sandor Katz visited Columbus briefly last week. He taught two classes to the ever-growing population of people who keep jars of ferments brewing in their homes.

Our family ferments sauerkraut, sour cream, kefir, beer, charcuterie and more on a regular basis. I don't write about it here often because we never make the same thing twice, preferring to ferment what we have in abundance at any given time. Fermentation is a fun and useful pursuit that I want to encourage. Below are ideas from Sandor Katz to start your sour juices flowing:

"There's No Food You Can't Ferment"

People ferment for:

• preservation - krauts, kimchis, and cheeses historically allowed populations to survive between growing seasons
• production of alcohol - to sanitize water, provide entertainment and elightenment, and preserve grains in a useable form
• digestion - see below
• flavor - almost all gourmet foods like cheeses, cured meats, olives, chocolate, coffee, and vinegars are fermented

Vegetables are a good place to start because they are intrinsically safe, require no special equipment, ferment quickly and are delicious. The process can be as simple as cutting up vegetables, pressing them until juices run, adding a little salt, and submerging under juices or water for a few days until they sour.

Salt is good for the process because it discourages unwanted molds, enhances taste, and maintains texture but you can use very little. Through osmosis, salt pulls out water and creates a desirable selective environment for the fermenting bacteria that can tolerate salt.

Fermentation changes foods by:

• pre-digesting nutrients that humans cannot digest normally, as is the case in dried soybeans fermented into tofu
• enhancing nutritients - fermented foods have more B vitamins than fresh versions and some nutrients like natokinase are only available after fermentation
• de-toxification - cassava, the African staple crop, for example, is a root vegetable that contains cyanide and is inedible until fermented.
• live bacterial cultures - pro-biotics aid digestion by supplementing the biota in our guts. Eating naturally fermented foods with diverse macrobiotics offer more benefits than monoculture probiotic additives or pills.

"Where Is The Line Between Fermented And Rotten?"

No form of life has lived without bacteria, yet Americans for the past 100 years have been indoctrinated in the idea that bacteria is dangerous. Humans need bacteria to digest and absorb nutrients, reproduce, and support immune function.

The origins of fermented foods predate recorded history because as soon as humans chose an agrarian lifestyle, they had to use fermentation to preserve crops. Agriculture would not make sense if fermentation did not exist.

Food exists on a spectrum from fresh to rotten. Cultural standards often define what is too rotten to eat. Scandinavians notoriously eat fermented fish that both smells and looks rotten to most Americans. Runny, molded cheeses are not common here either but are considered delicacies in parts of Europe. Expanding your palate by eating more fermented foods may open your mind to new flavors.

"Be Bold In Your Experimentation But Not In Your Quantities"

Once in awhile, everyone who attempts fermented foods will create something that isn't tasty at the best or afflicted by black mold at the worst. It's ok - we all make mistakes. To minimize waste, make many small batches until you learn what works in your environment and with your particular tastes.

For health, preservation and flavor, ferment!

Special thanks to City Folk's Farm Shop, Swainway Urban Farm, and Clintonville Community Market for sponsoring this event and Janine Harris Degitz for organizing.