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| Momo - My sourdough starter. Full o' bubbles! |
If you ever want to fall down a rabbit-hole of pretentious twaddle, google "Sourdough Starter Recipe" and prepare to read a ton of internet articles, recipes and blog posts that might lead you to believe that making one is some kind of divine arcade art.
After a few weeks of experimenting with a very simple one, meet "Momo" - now in her 2nd generation, but adding all sorts of awesome flavour to all my bread and dough recipes.
Momo took a week to set up, and that's something that most articles do actually agree on. Any fermentation process worth its salt (or yeast!) relies on a bit of time, but aside from a couple of extremely simple ingredients (Flour and water) you really don't need to go crackers sourcing anything else.
So how was Momo made? It's as easy as the following:
Day 1 - Get yourself a jar like the one in the photo, or simply use a large jam or mayo jar (well cleaned, obviously) as long as it's got a sealable lid. Once you've got your container, measure 60g plain flour, 60g wholemeal flour (you will only need wholemeal flour at the start) and 120ml of water (tap water, you know, the stuff that comes out of your tap. Don't bother with Perrier or filtered water, or the tears of angels, you really don't need to go crackers with the water!)
If you really want a quickstart starter, add a tiny, tiny pinch of yeast (not more than .2g if you're capable of measuring out such a small amount. Some breadmakers come with a dosing spoon that size but this is optional, don't forget)
Mix that lot into your jar and mix well until you get a sort of stodgy porridge-like paste. Seal your jar up and put it somewhere warm, or (like me) just leave it somewhere in your kitchen ready to feed
Day 2 - This is my favourite day. You literally do nothing! Not a thing. Not even mixing your starter but if you want to get some air into the thing, you can give it a few brisk stirs
Day 3 - The first proper feeding day. We're going to take away half our starter (you really don't have to be super-accurate about this) then feed with fresh flour and water. You can use your starter discard for something like pizza bases, dough balls or even a quick loaf of bread (in fact you should always plan to do this for all your discard, waste is a terrible thing!)
Once you've got rid of half from your jar, add 60g plain flour, 60ml water (again from your tap!) and mix well. By now your starter might have a few bubbles, and might even start to smell a bit like cider but this is perfectly normal (just don't breathe that smell for too long, you might get drunk on it!)
Day 4, 5, 6 and 7 (and for as long as you want to keep your starter).
From now on you're going to do the same thing. Remove half your starter (again, use it in your baking, give it away to friends, use it in your compost heap if you do have to chuck it away) then top up your jar with 60ml water and 60g plain flour.
And that's it. After 7 days your starter is properly ready to use, and by that time it's going to smell quite strong, and hopefully have a load of bubbles in it (the photo above is after 2 days of a 'reboot' (ie every four weeks I like to keep some of the starter to one side - about half of it again - then clean down the jar and start over again. BUT this time you'll be able to use your starter pretty much straight away rather than waiting 7 days.
It couldn't be simpler right? Some methods talk about using pineapple juice, plain yoghurt (which isn't actually too bad an idea for a bit of a sharper flavour) or all manner of pretentious poncy expensive flour but honestly, I've used the method above for a couple of months now and it makes a colossal difference to bread flavour, even in loaves I make in my bread machine.
Hope you find this no-nonsense approach useful. Happy baking!
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