Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Refreshing Your Sourdough Starter

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Leftover starter can be stored in your refrigerator for a few weeks, or longer in your freezer. When you’re ready for more sourdough bread, you’ll need to refresh the starter. It’s easy.

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You should have reserved 1 quart of starter from your last batch. Remove the lid from your jar of leftover starter, place your starter in a large bowl, and allow the starter to come to room temperature.  Add one cup of rye flour plus enough water to make the mixture soupy each day, changing to a clean bowl, until 3 quarts are obtained. This takes about 3 days. Be sure that your starter goes through the bubbly, frothy stage again, and then it’s ready to use.

It’s important to remember to feed your starter at approximately the same time each day, and to store it in a warm, open area. That’s a little difficult to do if the weather isn’t warm, but on top of your refrigerator or beside a sunny window work well. I have a smooth, glass top stove which I allow my bowl to rest on after I’m done cooking and the glass is still warm. You don’t want to allow your starter to get too hot though. So, be careful if you do this.

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There’s nothing quite like fresh sourdough bread. We enjoyed it last night sliced and topped with pizza sauce, cheese, hard salami, and mushrooms. Toasted in the oven for 10 minutes, it was an easy and delicious meal in minutes. We’ve also enjoyed it with apple butter or strawberry jam in the mornings. Divine! And it’s equally good with just a little butter alongside a bowl of chili or soup. Here are the links:

Sourdough Bread Starter

Easy Sourdough Bread

This is a very versatile bread, and it’s delightfully simple to make. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

3 comments:

Ann said...

My loaf turned out a bit stodgy and dense, I think I had it too wet. Was yours fluffier than this?

Melissa Price said...

This sourdough bread isn't light like sandwich bread or dinner rolls would be. It is a bit heavy and crusty, and somewhat moist on the inside. I used spelt, which makes a better loaf than whole wheat. I imagine it would be very dense with whole wheat, but I've never tried it. I found a great site for troubleshooting and trying new recipes:

www.sourdough.com

I see about 10 recipes I want to try ASAP!!! I hope your next loaf works out better. Don't give up! Sourdough bread is my favorite.

:) Melissa

Melissa Price said...

One more thing... scoring (cutting slits in) the loaf helps with rising. :) Melissa