Sourdough starter makes use of naturally occurring yeasts and removes the necessity of using shop bought yeast. Sourdough also has the benefit of reducing the phytic acid content. (Phytic acid can inhibit absorption of various nutrients.) Sourdough bread does not go stale as quickly as yeasted bread.
How To Make Sourdough Starter
You will need- a large bowl or jug
- a tea towel or other cloth to cover bowl/jug
- water
- wholemeal flour (rye is reputed to be easier to start from scratch than wheat)
- Place a cup each of flour and water in bowl/jug, stir, cover and leave to stand overnight.
- Each day for around a week, add equal amounts of flour and water, stir, cover and leave overnight again. (I recommend half cups to avoid being overrun with starter.)
- After a while it will start to get frothy and smell a little "beery". It will hopefully look something like this:
After a week to ten days, if your starter has become frothy then it is ready to use.
Once you have used your sourdough starter, you no longer need to keep it at room temperature. (You can if you want but you may need to stir it every day to prevent it going mouldy.) I put mine in a small plastic tub in the fridge until the day before I will next need it. The night before I want to use it I mix up equal volumes of flour and water according to how much sourdough starter I will need in my recipe and stir in the starter from the fridge. The next day once I have used the starter, I put the remainder in a clean tub and back in the fridge.
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