Another Sourdough Newbie, and I Need Help!

[JustJoel]

I want to make sourdough. I want to make it from scratch. There is so much conflicting information out there for growing a starter that I need to medicate myself!

I finally chose a recipe that was 50g of flour and 50g of water, the flour divided 35g rye or whole wheat, 15g AP. And adding the same amount every day for five days. From then remove and replace half every day, or store in the fridge and feed once a week. Sounds easy enough, but it’s dry. Very dry. Like the surface of Mars dry. And on day three, there’s no sign of life whatsoever.

Other starter recipes are confusing. I really need a simple, step-by-step instruction, with precise directions and a feeding schedule that is reasonable, both in time and in amounts of flour (discarding half and adding more is stressing me out; I see dollars going down the garbage disposal! But I can deal with it if the amounts are a bit smaller).

Can some sourdough maven be kind enough to mentor me a bit? I can’t pay you, and I’ll probably have lots of questions. I need instruction from someone I can connect with - you can’t ask a website questions! (Well, you can here. That’s why I love this forum!) Even a link to site with beginner’s instructions for making a starter would be helpful.

The more often I fail, the more determined I become to succeed. (That’s probably a famous quote, or a paraphrase of one. But I don’t know who.)

[PrincessFiona60]

You are remembering to add the 50g of water, too?

[JustJoel]

Originally Posted by PrincessFiona60

You are remembering to add the 50g of water, too?

Yes! Can I increase the hydration without killing the starter?

[PrincessFiona60]

yes, just make sure it is lukewarm. My starter is more like pancake batter, I started out with plenty of liquid.

[milford]

Do you know about this?...

Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Page

[PrincessFiona60]

I don't know the exact science behind making a starter, I just do and have done it for about 50 years. It comes automatically to me at this point. Read the method and tips at this King Arthur Flour link: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/reci...starter-recipe. Best online primer I have read and tips on what to do with the discarded starter are included.

[CharlieD]

you start with equal amounts of flour and water, starting next day you take half of the mixture out. Say you started 50-50. Take 50 out and then add 50 flour and 50 water. Then every day you keep doing the fallowing: 50 gr starter, 50 gram flour, 50 gr water. Discard what's left of the starter and put the new mixture in. Or discard first leaving 50 gr in the jar/container and then add fresh water and flour. I found this a bit harder to do, because you can't get exact amount of what is left in the jar. So what I do is bit longer, but more exact.

[blissful]

Well, just based on whey, or cheese making which is fermenting milk, you'd want to avoid chlorine in water, so use spring water or distilled water. You'd want to avoid salt with iodine because iodine is a disinfectant and you are trying to grow bacteria. I would hazard a guess that you'd need to avoid bleached flour, because bleached flour might have residue of bleach in it.

[GotGarlic]

This, plus the King Arthur Flour link above, might be helpful.

http://www.sourdoughlibrary.org/sour...eptions-myths/

In particular:

4. Starters cannot be created with bleached flour or chlorinated water

Incorrect. It’s possible to establish a starter with bleached flour and/or chlorinated water.

In general, if the water is acceptable for human consumption, it’s acceptable for starters as well. If the presence of chlorine is still a concern, boiling or leaving the water to stand for several hours will eliminate the chlorine. However, water containing other obstinate forms of chlorine, such as chloramine, may cause problems for sourdough. In this case, bottled spring water or natural mineral water may be a practical solution.

[blissful]

Originally Posted by GotGarlic

This, plus the King Arthur Flour link above, might be helpful.

9 Sourdough Misconceptions & Myths - Sourdough Library

In particular:

GotGarlic, are you selling King Arthur Flour or are you just oppositional?

[Cooking Goddess]

King Arthur Flour has a lot of good, usable information on their website, whether you use their product or not, bliss. When we moved to MA, I couldn't find my usual brand of flour anymore. I bought KA and used it happily ever since. I don't always use it anymore; it depends on what my stock of bulk flour is like from what I bring back from OH when we visit our kids on trips back home. There are a few Amish bulk food stores I make pilgrimages to when we stay at our daughter's; it's where I can buy heritage wheat flour (the high-end stuff if you buy online) for better-than-KA prices. Doesn't mean I don't still use their website for information and recipes. After all, the Amish aren't very active on the internet.

I'm glad PF shared that link. I've always figured I was too lazy to baby a sourdough starter. After reading that article, I'm now convinced.

[FrankZ]

I found this site to be very useful:

https://www.sourdoughhome.com/