Cooking Cheap

I got this from “The Bread Bible”, Beth Henspergers, , 1999. I don’t know how good it is yet so see my comments. First the recipe for “Classic Sourdough Starter”:

• 2 Cup lukewarm water (90F to 100F)
• 1 tsp active dry yeast or 1/2 tsp instant yeast or 1/3 of a .06 oz cake of fresh yeast.
• 1 Tbl of sugar or honey
• 1/4 Cup of non fat dry milk, dry goat milk, of buttermilk powder
• 1/3 Cup plain (active) yogurt
• 2 Cups bread flour

1. Pour the warm water into a medium bowl. Sprinkle the yeast, sugar, and milk powder over the surface of the warm water. Stir with a large whisk to dissolve. Stir in the yogurt, then add the flour and and beat until will blended. Transfer to a glass jar, ceramic crock, or plastic container; cover loosely with plastic wrap or a double thickness of cheesecloth and let stand at warm room temperature for at least 48 hours, whisking the mixture 2 times a day, or up to 4 days depending on how sour you wish the starter. It will be bubbly and begin to ferment. A clear liquid will form on the top; stir it back in. On the fourth day, feed with 1/4 Cup water and 1/3 cup flour, let stand overnight. then store in the refigerator, loosely covered. Feed the starter every two weeks.
2. Bring to room temperature before using. Remove the amount of starter needed for the sourdough bread. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup non fat milk to the remaining starter, stirring to incorporate. Let stand at room temperature for a day to begin fermentation again then refrigerate. The starter improves with age. If a pinkish color or strong aroma develops, indicating undesirable airborne pathogens, discard immediately and start anew

I like that it starts with both yogurt and yeast. With that amount of yeast and sugar, It was frothy in hours. Not so much a few days later.

[Day 2] - A lot of liguid on the top. I stirred it in. It has a bit of a sour smell.

[Day 3] - Repeat day 2. After reading various websites, I really want to refresh this one but I’ll wait for the full 4 days]

[Day 4] - I followed the instructions. Added the 1/3 cup flour but I left out the water since it’s really soupy in there.

[Day 5] - nothing happened to the flour that I added yesterday. I replaced a cup with a cup and half cup of milk. Per intructions. 30 Minutes later - it’s going like a rocket ship. That suggests maybe it needs the liquid (milk) to keep the culture going..

It fell back an hour later and recovered two hours later. That suggests two yeasts are in the culture, the fast one and the long one. It’s not as sour as I thinl it should be and I wonder about the need foi non fat milk. I may wean this one away to using water.

[Day 6] - No hootch separation. Decent smell. I fed it the milk and flour but I removed a bit more than I put back in. Assuming both this and #2 accept their feedings I’ll starting weaning this one water instead of milk.

[Day 7] - Removed a cup (or more) and replace with a cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water, roughly. I add liquid until it’s the consistency I think it should be. It’s definitely eating the feed.

[Day 8] - Replace a cup with flour and water.