My First Yeast Bread Ever

I remember on vacation to San Francisco in my childhood tasting real sourdough bread....oh my, how yummo! The flavor is amazing. How do you get a start for it?

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t18710-sour-dough-starter?highlight=sour+dough      Sour Dough day 1:

I'll get another start going in the next couple of weeks. I miss my sourdough...

I just read that thread! I had NO IDEA that was how you do starter! Dedication is a must! I don't think I am up to it, and I don't have the time to deal with the discarded starter...would make me feel wasteful I think. Very interesting though. I will do it sometime when I have the time and inclination! I love good sourdough....

The way I did my starter was to do about equal amounts of water and rye flour, about a half a cup each to start with, mixed in a quart mason jar.  I put a piece of cloth on top of the jar and tied it with a hair band, then set the whole thing in the garden for about four hours.  Then every day after that, I'd add a tablespoon of rye flour and equal amounts of water.  Pretty soon it gets nice and bubbly!  Rye flour seemed to work the best for me.  Using white flour actually killed my starter once, and whole wheat made it come pretty close.  It could just be the yeast in my area though. 

I never had to discard any.  Once a week, I made the soaked yeasted bread from the link I posted above (usually cut in by 1/3), and it seemed to come out just right for me.  I also got into the habit of feeding my starter every two days with two tablespoons flour and water, so I wouldn't have to do it every day.  My starter lived for a long time that way, about a year and a half.  It died because I tried to stick it in the fridge while I was on vacation.  That's supposed to work, but mine just died when I got it out again   It's a job.  It's like having a weird pet that you have to feed regularly.

Julie, your way sounds easier to me. But it is a job, and it sounds exactly like having a weird pet! LOL! I do want to try it though. But you do not add yeast to the starter, correct? Just the rye flour and water? And yours was usable in a week? Should you just look for bubbliness, and take that for readiness?

AtlantaMarie wrote:SR - do you have a Williams-Sonoma near you?  I absolutely LOVE their bakeware - the goldtouch stuff...  Wonderful quality!

Pricey...  but worth it!

Unfortunately, no. I got the cheapo pan at Krogers.

Scorpio Rising wrote: Julie, your way sounds easier to me.  But it is a job, and it sounds exactly like having a weird pet!  LOL!  I do want to try it though.  But you do not add yeast to the starter, correct?  Just the rye flour and water?  And yours was usable in a week?  Should you just look for bubbliness, and take that for readiness?

You don't have to add any commercial yeast, but you can add a pinch if you're having trouble catching wild yeast.  After a few days, it should start looking bubbly and the smell should be sour.  If it smells rotten or strongly alcoholic, or mold grows on it, dump the whole thing and try again.  I'm pretty sure that my starter was 100% ready after the first week.  There's lots of info on the internet on how to start your own starter, but that method worked really well for me!  It's a fun little science experiment

Edited to say: If you're into culturing veggies (like kraut) or making yogurt or kefir, I've heard that you need to keep them separated by about four feet from your starer.  The little bugs in one thing might transfer over to the other thing, and you don't really want that sort of thing happening.  I did that once with kraut, and I had some funky starter for a while.

great advice! Thanks, LS, I get it....I would not be doing anything else at the same time, but see the potential complications. Thanks again!

OK, here is round 2, with the Taste of Home recipe earlier posted, definitely lighter and fluffier! And I didn't screw up the flour and kneaded it for the right amount of time....addicting! And yum!

Yay   Lovely bread!  I can never resist slicing off a piece when it's piping hot and slathering it with butter.  mmm!

Thanks, and you're right, LS, nothing better!

Yea, SR! They look great!!!

Next might be a cinnamon yeast roll.....I do not have a sweet tooth, I have a grease, nut, and cheese tooth, but my daughter does!  Nothing better than real homemade yeast cinnamon rolls!