Sourdough Diaries | Pt. I
Every morning, I wake up, pull on my slippers, push fly-away hairs behind my ears, and walk downstairs to my fortress, my kitchen. Just before stepping over the threshold, the smell greets me first: bread. That floury, warm, cozy smell that I could always find in my favorite bakeries, is now a scent that lives in my home. The constant rotation of loaves through my oven the last couple weeks has created a permanent fragrance between my four kitchen walls, and I’m addicted to it. I breathe it in as deep as my lungs allow, turn on the espresso machine, and while it groans to life, I step over to the far corner of the room, and pull on a cotton apron dusted in flour clouds all across it’s surface.
Then I start my day. I arm myself with an americano or oat milk latte and get to work. Feeding starters, scoring pre-shaped loaves, baking bread, and folding dough. It’s a rhythm I can depend on, and that’s something I really need these days.
Let me preface this post with a disclaimer: I am NOT a sourdough expert. I am still very green in the world of sourdough - literally birthed my first starter 25 days ago. Sourdough and baking bread isn’t just an art form, it’s a science. I do not want to insult any professionals - or bakers with years under their belt - by coming on here and pretending to know all about sourdough just because I jumped on the bandwagon with the rest of the world during the first couple weeks of quarantine.
I wanted a diary to track my progress and beginnings with bread baking, starters, pizza dough, etc - and so here it is.
Cordelia
Lil’ Sebastian
About a month ago, I saw Carla Lalli Music sharing her new adventures with making a starter. She was following the seasoned instruction of Tara Jensen (@bakerhands) and somewhere inside me the spark caught. I’ve been wanting to dive into sourdough for the past couple years, but kept putting it off or getting swept up in other projects. But things change, the world is suddenly on lock down, and everyone seems to be finding solace inside a jar of bubbly fermenting starter.
Lil Sebastian (in front), Cordelia (behind), and Dakota watching over them.
Having a starter is like having a cat. It’s a low-maintenance pet that's happy to be left alone, but wants to be fed from time to time and is occasionally high-maintenance for no reason.
I followed Tara’s starter instructions she documented on Instagram: start with 50/50 rye and bread flour and mix with equal parts warm water. Then feed with only bread flour and water after that. And thus, Cordelia was born. She rose a bit the first couple days, got some bubbles here and there, but was looking dull and didn’t have much of a sour smell days 4 through 7. I decided it was time to give her what she wanted, a diet of 50/50 rye flour and bread flour every day.
Rye is a whole grain flour that’s higher in enzymes that attract yeast and has more nutrients to keep the starter happy and helps keep the fermentation active. Cordelia is still fed 50/50 rye and bread flour, and she’s as happy as a clam!
A few days ago, I decided it was time Cordelia had a son. I wanted to keep a second starter, and feed him 50/50 red fife (a hard red wheat) and bread flour to see how it performed in comparison to Cordelia. After a brief - albeit messy - home birth, Lil’ Sebastian joined his mother, Cordelia, in this wild wild world.
Lil’ Sebastian has proven to be more lively than his mother, and while it’s easy to say “he’s young and spry!” we all know it’s because his diet is different. His bubbles are bigger, his smell is more sour (and no, not from puberty), and he passes the float test more often than Cordelia. So if you’re wanting to create a starter, or have a starter that isn’t cooperating with you, I highly recommend trying a diet of 50% red fife flour and 50% bread flour.
In following Tara, I’ve learned that the bread I make with just starter alone, isn’t technically sourdough bread, but what she calls a “discard loaf” - for actual sourdough bread, you have to make a leaven from the starter. I haven’t made a leaven for my bread yet, BUT I did just attempt a leaven for pizza dough over the weekend, and OH MAMA. It’s going to be a new Sunday tradition: pizza night. It was delicious, the crust was perfectly bubbly, and the flavor had a depth that no store-bought dough has ever given me.
I am still learning all the intricacies of this process. The different terms, what they mean, how some are similar but aren’t the same (ie: starter vs. leaven), and really digging deeper into how far this delicious new realm goes. Hopefully, in my next diary entry, I can more eloquently define some of these terms. Either way, I hope I’ve inspired you to give sourdough a try - if for no other reason than just to have a kitchen that smells like heaven on earth.
Here’s how I made my starter - adapted from Tara Jensen’s method you can find highlighted on her Instagram page:
Day 1:
50g rye flour
50g bread flour
100g warm water
Jar or other container with loosely fitted lid, and room for starter to grow
Be sure to note the weight of your jar if you’re going to continue using the same one day after day, so you know what to subtract when you feed.
Stir both flours and water in jar, make sure all flour is saturated - it’ll probably be pretty thick. Clean the sides of the jar, and place lid on top, and mark the top of the flour + water mixture on outside of jar so you can see how much it grows. I use masking tape, but feel free to use a rubber band or whatever you have on hand.
Keep in warm environment BUT not too warm… my hangs out in a spot that’s usually 68-70 degrees (fahrenheit).
Day 2 through eternity:
50g red fife flour OR rye flour (as I mentioned earlier in the post, red fife is more reliable from my limited experience)
50g bread flour
100g warm water
Discard all but 50g of starter (it’s a very small amount, don’t be alarmed).
Add in flours and water, and combine - just like you did on day 1.
Clean the sides of the jar, put on lid, mark the starter so you can see growth, and that’s it!
Everything I’ve read says a starter can take anywhere from 5 to 14 days to get active enough to start baking with. Mine didn’t pass float test until the 8th or 9th day. It’s a waiting game, don’t be discouraged.
Signs your starter is active: bubbles, growth, sour smell.
You can use your starter to make bread (or pizza dough) as soon as it passes the float test - just pinch off some starter and see if it floats in a container of water. If it sinks, not enough CO2, if it floats - you’re golden!
Andddd there you have it! To get recipes for discard loaf (and lots of other discard recipes that don’t require floating starter) head to Tara Jensen’s Instagram and you’ll find everything you need in her highlights!
Best books for learning more about bread and sourdough from true experts:
