Sourdough bread chain

Want to learn how to make your own sourdough bread?

In Amish culture, sourdough starters are traditionally split into four, with three portions given away to friends to grow their own. The longer you leave it, the better the bread. If you start now, your dough will be ready to bake in time for the Food Connections festival culture swap.

Easton’s award-winning bakery, East Bristol Bakery, is offering simple, daily instructions on how to make your own sourdough starter. If you begin now, the starter will be ready in time for Food Connections festival, May 1-9.

The recipe is simple. The hard part is being patient, as sourdough needs time to bubble and grow between adding more flour and water.

Day 1 – Mix 40g lukewarm water, 40g Wholemeal flour (preferably organic)

If you do this in the evening by the morning you might have a few signs of life forming already, one or two small bubbles may appear on the surface of the starter.

Day 2 – Add another 40g lukewarm water and 40g wholemeal flour

If the starter has been kept in a warm place the yeasts in the flour should start to feed on the flour and will begin to reproduce. Bubbles will start to appear over the next 24 hours, and you may see a remarkable change as the yeasts begin to bubble and the starter begins to expand in your container.

 

A day in the life of a #sourdough starter. This is actually day two of a new culture. How quickly flour and water can come to life! I’ve made a few sourdough starters over the years but I always find it exciting. This culture will be completely unique and the bread I bake with it will be unique to me #realbread #baking #sourdoughstarter #bristolbread #homebaking #homemade

A video posted by @eastbristolbakery on Mar 16, 2015 at 5:24pm PDT

Day 3 – We want to lighten the starter a little today, feed the starter 60g lukewarm water, 30g white flour, 30g wholemeal

After feeding on day 3 the starter will be a little lighter in colour and thiner in consistency. The yeast should begin to bubble within a few hours, and the culture will smell quite ‘fruity’. About 6-8 hours after feeding the culture should smell a little like cider, maybe quite sweet. As the yeast break down the sugars in the flour it will begin to smell vinegary and acidic.

Day 4 – By day 4 your culture should be bubbling and alive

At this point you want to strengthen your culture by feeding it once more. Before feeding you need to remove about half of the sourdough starter. You can give this to a friend, but it also composts very well. Feed your culture once more 60g lukewarm water, 30g white flour and 30g wholemeal.

Alex Poulter, from East Bristol Bakery, has some top-tips to make the perfect loaf starter:

“Choose carefully when you plan to start your sourdough starter, once you start your culture you will need to feed your starter at the same time every day for 4/5 days. Start in the evening or in the morning, when ever is convenient for you. The culture needs to be kept in a warm place, such as next to a radiator (not on top of it!) or in a airing cupboard.”

“You can start your culture in any clean pot or jar, but it should be covered but not air tight. This is really important because yeast produces gas which will need to escape, and we want fresh air to get to the starter.”

Use the hashtag #startyourstarter on Twitter and Instagram to record your bread production and to see how everyone else is doing.

Read more about Food Connections festival