I’ve read a lot about creating a sourdough culture from just flour and water, most methods are needlessly complicated, and one was plain wrong. In that one, you’re told to mix 70g flour and 100ml water together, cover with a centimetre of flour (to stop it going mouldy**), and wait until it started to bubble.
That’s actually far more flour than is in the mix it’s covering, and it will just suck the moisture out of it. In addition, as the stuff is buried under a thick layer of flour, you can’t see the sodding bubbles, so how can you tell if it’s working or not?
**If it’s going to work, it should do so long before it’ll go mouldy.
So I thought, sod it, I’ll try it my way (adapted from a method by baking guru Dan Lepard, who came up with the centimetre of flour idea – god knows what he was thinking).
I’ve tried making a sourdough culture before, with Doves Farm Organic Wholemeal Rye flour**, and it just lay there like the deadest of very dead things. I also bought a San Francisco sourdough culture which took ages to stagger into life and died a few days later. This time I’m using Shipton Mill Dark Rye, bought straight from the mill.
**Sainsbury’s no longer have Doves Farm Wholemeal Rye flour, either on their website or in my local store, for reasons which elude me (like much else they do!).
I mixed 75g of the flour, with 150ml of warm water, in a clean basin, stirred it until smooth, covered it tightly with cling film and left it in the kitchen.
There’s no need to put it in the airing cupboard, or close to a radiator – just leave it where there’s a normal temperature and no draughts. Mine’s on the worktop, with a tea-towel, kept just for bread, tossed over it at night.
Within a few hours, it had started to bubble a little, and by the time I went to bed, it was frothing away nicely.
Next morning, I mixed the same amount of flour and water, stirred the first batch well, and added 50g of it to the new mix, again, stirring it well. Covered and left as before. That, too, took off quite quickly but, by morning, it had totally subsided, which was a bit worrying. However, when I uncovered it, it smelled satisfactorily alcoholic, and there was clearly yeast at work, so I carried on as before.
After a short while, it all came back to life, and all was well.
On the third day, I just repeated the above process, but the fact that it expires – or at least goes dormant – overnight is a little worrying, so I added a tiny amount – just a blob on the tip of a teaspoon – of malt extract, dissolved in a couple of teaspoons of hot water (I keep the malt in the fridge, so the hot water cools rapidly), to give it a bit of a boost.It went away with great enthusiasm, but was still quiescent this morning.
This process is supposed to be repeated for 10 days, and allegedly develops the sourdough flavour. I’m not convinced – there’s so little carried over to each new batch, I just don’t see it.
So, this morning, using my mixer, which is fine for a soft dough like this, I mixed the entire culture with 200g of flour, and 120ml of water and ¼ teaspoon of malt extract, to get a thicker dough, and carry all the flavour over (dunno how it tastes, but it smells amazing).
It also carries over dead yeast cells but, as any winemaker will tell you, they pack lots of flavour and enzymes (try a “Sur lié” wine sometime, one which has been matured on the lees, the dead yeast – a top-end Champagne, for example – to see what a difference this makes). The autolysis which happens in wine won’t happen in bread to anything like the same degree – there isn’t the time – but in my view it will still derive considerable benefits. Time will tell if I’m right.
Later, when that’s going well, and has more or less doubled in size (as I’m typing this, it already has, and it’s a mass of bubbles, like a sponge – it’s amazingly vigorous, which augurs well for baking), So. I’ve oiled a small baking sheet with parchment, dropped table-spoon sized lumps onto it, and bunged it in the freezer Once it’s frozen, I’ll dust the lumps with flour to stop them sticking together (they might still stick, but not as hard), bag them and return them to the freezer.
To make a loaf using the frozen culture, early the day before, take 2 lumps for 500g of flour** – more for a bigger loaf, or several smaller ones), and defrost in a warm place in a covered basin. I might modify that quantity, based on experience, so do check back in a couple of days.
**I’d suggest 400g strong white flour and 100g dark (wholemeal) rye – too much rye and the rising ability will be impaired), 4 tablespoons olive oil, less if you like a chewy bread, and 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt, with enough tepid water to give a dough that isn’t sticky.
Once soft, mix with 100ml of warm water and 50g rye flour plus 50g strong white flour (again, Lepard’s idea), and leave to ferment until the following day when you’re ready to bake. Treat as you would a normal starter, and remember you’ll have to decrease your hydration a little to compensate.
Update: This has happened almost faster than I could keep up with it. I now have 9 portions in the freezer, and one portion, mixed with the flours, and water, as above, for use tomorrow. Before you get to the past frozen portion, use one to make a fresh batch by defrosting it, mixing it with 150ml warm water, then add 70g of flour and start the process all over again.
