First things first, or let’s start with the starter

I’ve been meaning to translate and share the recipe I used for growing my starter.  I lifted it (with his gracious permission) from the author of the Polish Moja Piekarnia blog.  I asked him whether it would be OK if I translated and shared his recipes through my blog, and he said that he was all for it. 

So here it is, the “how to grow your own starter” recipe.  A word of warning, it’s not for the impatient or easily discouraged.  It takes trial and error (although I succeeded on my first attempt, and most people do), and time and time and time and did I mention time?  The key is not to give up and to let nature take its course, it will (most likely) be alright.  I personally used whole rye flour, but that’s because I did not have any medium rye flour on hand.  It is available in the United States, but as far as I have found, only if you order it online.  I haven’t seen it in stores.  Rye flour is way more popular in Eastern Europe than in the Unites States, where most bread is made out of wheat.  The reason why rye is a good flour for starter (and especially someone’s first ever starter) is that it is less refined and there’s more for the happy bacteria and yeast to digest.

For starters (ha!), if you don’t already own one, buy a kitchen scale.  The recipe is in milligrams, not cups and volume measures.  I did my first starter without one, and it was way more challenging than necessary.  You’ll want a flat one with a surface on which you can set a bowl and tare it to subtract its weight as you go.  I bought mine at Target, since they happened to have a sale, but even IKEA sells them.  A scale will run you $20-25 ($30-35 if you pick something fancy).

What is starter?  Well, if you want to be blunt about it, it’s really “spoiled” flour, or flour that has been mixed with water and left to ferment, meaning to be subjected to digestion by friendly bacteria and yeast from the environment.  Yes, that’s what is “sour” in sour dough.

You’ll need 3 ingredients:  flour, water, time… 5 days, to be specific.

You start by mixing 50-100 milligrams of rye flour with an equal amount (by weight) of water in a bowl and set it aside, covered, in a warm spot (77-86 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal to make bacteria and yeast happy).  If you have a server, put it near he server.  (Our computer room now smells like yeast, but we don’t mind.)  The other option is to set it near a vent (if you’re heating your house) or near your stove in the kitchen.   You repeat this process for 5 days, every 24 hours adding another 50-100 milligrams of flour and water.  It’s OK to stir the mixture once in a while to help the bacteria.  Your mixture may smell “funny” (as in, not pleasant), but that’s normal, and trust me, the bread will smell awesome.  As long as you don’t have mold, the starter will have its unique smell, depending on the balance of your homegrown beasties and yeasties.  The mixture should bubble and look something like this (since we’re using whole grain rye flour, it will be darker).

 

Young starter is likely to bubble much less, but don’t feel discouraged, over time it will get stronger.  Mine was seriously kicking behind by the third “generation” (3 loaves of bread later).   At the end you’ll end up with sufficient starter for more than one mixed flour bread. 

This is the basic recipe.  The rest is up to nature.  So don’t get discouraged if it takes longer or doesn’t go that well the first time.  If I succeeded despite the million kid related interruptions, delays, “oops” situations and such, then anyone can do this.