Chookie's sourdough

[achookwoman]

What Cookie has found is that Sourdough is very forgiving.  You can fiddle with the process.  With the original recipe,  it is kneaded just once and placed in tin for baking,  or formed into a free form loaf.  Cookie had proved hers twice.  What this shows is that if you are not ready to bake it after one rise ,  you can knock it back and bake at a later, ( more convenient  ) time.  I love this as  it  can fit into a busy life style. 

What puts many off making Sourdough Bread is the thought that you have to feed it every day,  and throw out half the starter.   THIS IS RUBBISH.  I only feed my starter, 7 hours before I want to make a loaf,  to make it active,  and then again after I have removed what I require for the loaf. 
If I am not making a loaf for a couple of weeks,  I remove the starter from the fridge,  and give it a little feed of water and flour.  Just to keep it Happy.
I am still on holiday in WA,  when I get home I will take some photos of what the feeding process looks like.

[cookie1]

I only ever feed my starter before and after use too. I did it the night before.
The bread is delicious and the mob here love it. I am sure it will become our normal use bread. The normal use one before was Chookie's Rustic Agrarian Loaf.
I can't wait to try some different flours. Chookie what ratio flour to water do you feed your starter with please? I used 1:1 as that was what I had learned. I used filtered water too. Actually to be truthful my filter broke a while back and I used cooled, boiled water.
  to dear Chookie. Hello to her dear DH too.

[judydawn]

I'm glad to see Chookie's sour dough starter weaving it's magic in Western Australia.  Have sour dough, will travel Chookie
Great loaf Cookie.

[achookwoman]

I only ever feed my starter before and after use too. I did it the night before.
The bread is delicious and the mob here love it. I am sure it will become our normal use bread. The normal use one before was Chookie's Rustic Agrarian Loaf.
I can't wait to try some different flours. Chookie what ratio flour to water do you feed your starter with please? I used 1:1 as that was what I had learned. I used filtered water too. Actually to be truthful my filter broke a while back and I used cooled, boiled water.
  to dear Chookie. Hello to her dear DH too.

Cookie,  thanks for all that.  Ral says hello.  Ratio roughly 1 : 1 ,  I never measure,  just tip in and stir.  Adjust with more flour or water as needed to make a pancake type batter.   You can use the Sourdough mix,  with a bit more flour and water to make waffles and/ or pancakes.  The waffles are nice and crispy.  sour Dough rolls are nice.  Photo on my Blog.

[cookie1]

A big thank you.

[KarenH]

I would love to venture into sourdough baking - could someone please post the basics of how to look after a starter?  Chookie has talked about how she feeds her starter - but how do you store it in the fridge?  In a sealed container?  Plastic or glass?  Does it need to be able to "breathe" in the fridge?  Thanks in advance!

[deedub]

I'd love to try sourdough too. Is it a very time consuming process? I'm not home that much, which is why I don't make bread that often...

[achookwoman]

I would love to venture into sourdough baking - could someone please post the basics of how to look after a starter?  Chookie has talked about how she feeds her starter - but how do you store it in the fridge?  In a sealed container?  Plastic or glass?  Does it need to be able to "breathe" in the fridge?  Thanks in advance!

Karen,  I store mine in a glass jar,  3/4 full,  top screwed on or clipped on,  when in the fridge.   Mine is happy to be fed once a week,  but will sit dormant for much longer.  It will develop water on the top ,  more water the longer it sits.. Just stir this back in to the starter and feed it,  to activate it .  After removing from the fridge, feed it, wait about 7 hours or over night ,  for it to become very active,  then remove what is needed for your loaf.  Feed the starter again,  let sit on bench for 2/3 hours and then pop into fridge,  with top on.

While starter is sitting on bench the top should be off starter.
How much to feed it?     This depends on how much starter you are feeding.  I have about 1 1/2 lites of starter,  and feed it about 1/2 cup of FILTERED water and 1/2 cup of flour.

[KarenH]

Thank you so much Chookie!  I will give this a go soon.  I am booked in for a sourdough course in Dec, but would like to have a go myself before then, so that I can get more out of the class by knkowing vaguely what she is talking about.  I have also ordered Yoke's sourdough book.

[Halex]

Chookie your starter is looking good, no bad smell

Feeding it everyday until we leave, will be in the fridge until we get home.

Then what do I do.

H

[goldfish]

I have one very basic (and probably ignorant) question . . . would love to do this, but how do you start the "starter' . .??  Can you make it from scratch . . or is it something that you buy?

[cookie1]

Hally and Bonsai have started theirs from scratch. Perhaps Chookie or one of these lovely folks could let us know how to start one from scratch please?

[Halex]

Chookie posted how to make the starter on the forum.

H

[meganjane]

Where? I've searched and searched.

[Cuilidh]

Is it true that a 'mature' starter makes a nicer loaf than a freshly made starter?