Dear Sourdough Community,
The internet sure is an amazing place.
I grew up in Northern California, deep in the Redwood forest. My mother used to bake bread every weekend especially during football season when my friends and I would all gather for a day of football and one of my mom's amazing feasts. Though she past a way not so long ago, the memory of her weekend ritual lives within me.
I moved to San Francisco and attended art school and while there my roommates and I ate tons of sourdough bread. I really didn't appreciate it then but I took a trip to visit my father a while back and I could not get enough of sourdough bread often eating more bread than anything else.
I now live in Amsterdam and have for many years. My mother's weekly bread baking ritual and my sourdough bread love affair have come together. I am not an experienced baker but I do love to cook. I am looking for a sourdough starter to help me get started on what I think will be a long and loving reunion. Are there any community members in the Amsterdam area who would be willing to share their starter with me? I am trying to start my own wild starter but after doing quite a bit of reading, it may be better if I gave myself a little bit of a break by just nuturing one that is already out there.
Any help you could extend me would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you sourdough community,
Jim Bowes
+31 (0) 611000964
Replies
Hi Jim,
This is a just about full proof method of making your own starter:
http://www.breadtopia.com/make-your-own-sourdough-starter/
I have made a few (one with rice flour) with this technique. It has always worked for me.
I'm in Northern California (Shasta County) and made the drive down to SF this last summer to try some local bakeries in the Bay area. I stuck to a couple small shops with mixed results. Can't wait to make another trip down there to try more.
Good luck with your baking!
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the tip! I grew up in Humboldt County sonot far from you. I will certainly check it out. I have also found a reasonably priced solution if I can't get a wild starter to work. The Netherlands air quality is very bad so I wonder just what would be in the air here.
Really appreciate your help!
Warm regards from chilly Amsterdam!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Practically neighbors we may have been! I moved to N.Cal in 1983. Before that, I grew up in the Los Angeles area.
I would think you should be able to get a starter going, there just may be less of the wild spores floating about in the air there. You will get a good amount from the flour you use in any case that should be enough. It's well worth the effort for the bread you can produce. Again, best of luck and let us all know how it goes.
Tom
Mix
50g organic flour
50g organic rye flour
5g wild organic honey
90-110g water
mix it and keep in room temp.
wait 2 days and mix same recipe but no honey, use 40 g of the old starter insted of the honey
after 4 to 6 days you have your starter, with the wild honey yeast.
Have fun baking
Chef Anders
Exe Master Baker & Pastry Chef
Thailand