Hello everyone. my name is doreen frost and I live in Vermont. I just started my very first sourdough starter..the recipe is;
Recipe for sourdough starter (from The History Of Sourdough.com)
1. Boil potatoes with the jackets on until they fall apart.
2.lift out the skins and mash potatoes in the water making a puree. cool and save 2 cups of the puree adding it to 2 cups of flour and 2 Tbs. of sugar.
Beat it smooth, then leave loosely covered in a warm place to start fermentation. Usually there is a good effervescent action within a week. To replenish your starter, add flour, water and a pinch of sugar. Leave it to work
I started this on friday at noon...on saturday afternoon it doubled in size and looked bubbly and light. Sunday afternoon it had settled back down to it's original size and was still bubbly. This morning (Monday) it looks somewhat elastic, had a few bubbles and had a small amount of liquid on the top... MY QUESTION IS...due to the fact that the instructions seem a bit vague (at least to me anyway).....I am not sure if I should be doing anything with it at this point. Is what I saw over the weekend the "effervescent action" they speak of..should I be adding anything right now? It says; "to replenish the starter add flour, water and a pinch of sugar...but when do I replenish....now or when I take some from it to bake with??? I'm so confused... :)
Would appreciate any help and advice.
thanks so much ~ Doreen
Replies
I've not made a starter like yours before, but what I know is that the starter needs to be fed everyday, at least twice a day morning and night in the beginning. After about 7th day mark, it should be strong enough to bake with.
You can probably use some now to make pancakes and such, I would anyway.
Everytime you use your starter you replenish it [feed it]. Let's say [you use cups] you used 1 cup of starter for your bread recipe. You replenish 1 cup flour and 1 cup water since you use sugar, you can put a pinch of sugar in it, mix it and let it stand until it doubles and reduces, then put it in the fridge until you want to use it again.
People maintain their starter differently, you will have to experiment and see what works for you. I don't use sugar in the starter or in baking, as it doesn't need it. The flour has enough sugar that feeds the yeast.
Hope that helps...
Hope
Hey Doreen,
Glad to see another Yank on here. I'd seriously recommend that you check out Sourdom's posts for beginners. I realize that you made your starter in a different manner than described there, but the maintenance of the starter is the same.
You should definitely be feeding that thing, to build up the good stuff and eliminate the potential spoilers.
Best of luck, and I look forward to seeing your results from the oven.
-zz