How to start a sour dough starter

[Dace]

Hey all ......I went back thru old posts reading up on SD. Now I am torn three ways and could use your expert advice

Should I start with:

1. flour & water only.

2. flour, water and grapes.

3. flour, water and a little commercial yeast.

I did try the grape route before and I killed it, but am game to try it again. I doubt that we have enough natural yeast around here to go just flour & water as we are so dry, but who knows. Commercial yeast is cheating but if it works.....?

My son loves his SD and I am tried of spending money on it. How long would it take before I had a useable starter?

 

[keljonma]

I didn't have any luck with the grapes, so I would suggest a tad of commercial yeast. Of course, you might have better luck if you already were able to use grapes in the past!

I think it took about a week (at approx 70) for the starter to have that great sourdough aroma.

edited for content...

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I vote for flour & water. It works. Did I write down the recipe that I ended up using from the sourdough forum I found at the end of last summer? That seemed to work for me better than straight unbleached flour & water. I think the addition of rye flour is what worked fastest and best for me.

It depends upon how warm your house is, but I would suspect you might get usable sourdough starter in about a month or so . . . maybe less, but I think you want it to stabilize some before you try to bake with it regularly.

After getting mine through the cool months of winter, it has really become strong and dependable. I prefer using it over baking with commercial yeast.

I don't have much time at the moment, but I will try to check back on this later today and get that rye + unbleached white flour + water stater recipe to you.

Oh . . . really quick . . . I think using commercial yeast to get it started is cheating, but you end up cheating yourself. Using grapes is cool, but I think not necessary. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the recipe that worked for me. Don't doubt that you have natural yeast and the other good bugs floating around in your air! My area is supposed to have some of the most "sterile air" around, plus we have cooler temps, but it still worked for me!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Oh . . . again real fast . . . details later . . . the rye flour is supposed to contribute to the bio-fauna that ends up in the sourdough . . . so the bugs in the air are not really that important, or so I have read.

 

[Dace]

ok DM.....I will pick up some rye four today and hang tight waiting for you to come back with the recipe

Anyone know about trying other flours? It would be great to do a GF SD! Is that asking too much?

 

[big brown horse]

I'm having a get together this weekend for my good friend. Anyway, I made, dark rye sd, wheat sd and white sd all from the same starter.

I've actually got a mix of white and wheat going right now b/c I'm low on both flours.

edit: sorry didn't see the gf thing. sorry Dace I can't help on that one.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Read this sight--very insightful!

Seriously, I have tried the grapes too, and he says they provide the wrong kinds of yeast and are of no benefit to sourdough. He recommends using whole wheat or rye for a starting flour, as there are more organisms on whole wheat, for the yeast to grow on. Also, you measure the flour and water by equal parts in weight, not by the measuring cup.

I am in the process of making a sourdough starter again. this webiste has been invaluable to me.

http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.html

 

[Dace]

Thanks MTN, I will
go check it out

 

[ORChick]

Dace, I have a really nice starter given me by a friend (supposedly kept going from 1890's Alaska). I'd be happy to dehydrate some of it and send you some if you would like.
My first sourdough starter was just flour and water, from one of the Sunset books. It worked well enough, but I never did trust it enough to try bread with starter only - but that sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? I've read that using commercial yeast will get the bubbles going, but the wild yeasts tend to get crowded out, or never get the chance to colonize the starter. So, more than cheating, it also sounds self defeating.

 

[Dace]

ORchick I would live to have some of your starter! I will PM you my mailing addy

in the link that MTN posted ( great site by the way!) he suggests switching from whole grain flour to white after the first few days. I wonder if I could use rice flour, so that I end up with a GF starter. Guess I have more research to do!