Heavenly Homemakers

Here’s what my jar of starter looked like this morning. 

 It is so exciting! When I stirred my flour into it yesterday, it was right at halfway full. 24 hours later..it has risen at least an inch if not more! And there are bubbles all through it. And I have this nice layer of froth on top. Yep…the sourdough starter is starting to become sourdough. 

You’ll notice in my top picture that I instead of the brown gooey liquid sitting on top of my starter like it had been on other days, it was at the bottom. I have no idea why…but it’s not a big deal. I just poured it all into a fresh jar just like that and it mixed back in. 

Jen was wondering why we need to transfer to a clean jar or bowl each day. I don’t know! My resources (Nourishing Traditions book…and my own past experiences with sourdough…and my trusty sourdough making friend, Anne)  just tell me to do it! I think the clean jar just gives your starter a fresh start as you feed it (or something like that?). If you just left it in the same container and just kept feeding it in that…all kinds of crud would build up on the sides and your jar would be all yucky. Then the sourdough would have to do it’s work around the yucky crud and it wouldn’t be as effective. Yes, I think that’s the reason why. :)

Okay, so again for Day 4…put your starter into a clean glass container, add a cup of flour and a cup of water, stir well, cover with cheesecloth and put in a warm place. 

I’m pretty sure tomorrow I’m going to need to transfer mine to my big glass bowl. It’s getting BIG! Oh, and it smells even more like sourdough today…just slightly…but I can tell it’s working.

By the way…yours might not be doing the exact thing mine is. Yours is working in YOUR air and in YOUR climate. Yours might be working faster…or slower than some of ours are working. 

I am curious what yours are looking like though. Did you have a layer of froth today? Do you see bubbles?! 

I kinda want to describe my sourdough smell as “sweetly sour”. Does that make sense? What does yours smell like?

Just getting started? Here are our previous sourdough starter days!

Read Day 1 and Day 2 to catch up!

This morning I didn’t have as much dark liquid on top of my starter as I did yesterday. Here’s what my jar looked like:

Have you been sniffing your jar?  I thought today mine smelled just a little tiny bit sour…just a little tiny bit. 

Today…do just like you did yesterday:  Pour off most of the liquid on top (I only had about a tablespoon today)…put your starter into a clean jar or glass bowl…add a cup of flour and a cup of water…stir it…replace the cheesecloth and put it back in it’s warm nest. Really, making sourdough takes no time at all. (Even including my jar sniffing time this process probably only took 2 minutes this morning.)

My jar is almost half full now…I may have to switch to a big glass bowl by the time these seven days are up!

And speaking of glass bowls…Jayme asked WHY it has to be glass? Can you use plastic bowls?

Sourdough should always be prepared in glass and baked in either glass or stoneware. Sourdough is acidic, therefore it will react with metal and plastic. It is very porous…so it will absorb the metalic or plastic-y tastes and qualities. For that matter…I try to always stir my sourdough with a wooden spoon. 

So…go sniff your jar…feed your sourdough…and come report back to us here about how your sourdough is doing! :)

In case you missed it…here is Sourdough Starter:  Day 1.

Here’s what my sourdough starter looked like after 24 hours. (It actually started separating and looking like this after only a few hours.)

I poured off the dark liquid that had risen to the top. Then I poured my starter in to a fresh, clean jar.

Once you have your starter in a clean jar or bowl, add 1 cup of whole wheat flour and almost 1 cup of cold water. Stir the flour in very well so that it is all moistened.

Replace your cheese cloth and rubber band…then put it back in your warm spot for 24 more hours. (Is this easy or what?!)

We’ll be repeating these same steps over the next several days. You have probably not noticed anything exciting happening to your sourdough starter yet. Still looks and smells like flour and water. Oh, but just wait!

For tomorrow you’ll need a clean jar or glass bowl, 1 cup whole wheat or rye flour and about a cup of cold water.

Here are a couple of FAQ I’ve been hearing from you about sourdough making…

• Sourdough bread is best baked in either glass or stone bread pans. Thought I should tell you that today so that if possible you can round up glass or stone pans for baking your sourdough bread.
• Some of you have expressed concern over having large enough jars for this process. If you can’t find half gallon jars (Try Ace Hardware if you have one close by. I ordered mine from Azure Standard.)…just use large glass bowls. That will work fine for this seven day process. Then…after you make your first batch of sourdough bread, the rest of your starter will fit just fine in a quart sized jar.

Thanks for joining me making sourdough!!

Well, the joke was on me this time. Several of you emailed or left comments asking where you buy cheese cloth for making sourdough starter. I had ordered mine from Frontier a long time ago…so I really didn’t KNOW where to tell you to go buy some. I googled it and found that hardware stores carry it…and usually Walmart. In the paint department (weird). 

Anyway…I was getting my supplies out last night so that I could start my starter in the morning…and guess what I was out of? CHEESE CLOTH. :)

I ran to my hardware store and grabbed some this morning (thanks to all of you who made me google it so that I would know where to get it!!). Oh and I asked the guy why it’s in the paint department and he said it is because some people strain their paint with it. I guess more people strain paint than make their own cheese or sourdough.

Okay…enough cheese cloth trivia. Let’s make sourdough.

For the first day you’ll need:

1 large jar or glass bowl (not metal…glass only)
2 cups whole wheat or rye flour (freshly ground if possible)
2 cups cold water (filtered is best)
Long spoon for stirring
Cheesecloth (of course)
rubberband

First, pour 2 cups of flour into the jar or bowl.

It doesn’t get much more exciting than looking at flour in a jar.

Next, stir in 2 cups of water. It should be mixed well and look soupy.

This is just a view from the top of the jar after I stirred the flour and water together. It’s pretty liquid-y. That’s just the way it’s supposed to be the first day.

Cover the top of your jar or lid with cheesecloth. This will keep dust and bugs from getting in…but it will allow the yeast and bacteria from the air to get in and do it’s thing. Isn’t it COOL that there is natural yeast in the air?! And bacteria. Bacteria has a bad reputation. Not all bacteria is bad. There’s LOTS of GOOD bacteria hanging around. Poor bacteria. So misunderstood…

I usually attach my cheese cloth to the rim of my jar with a rubberband. If you’re using a large glass bowl, you might need to tie a string around it instead. Unless you have a gigantic rubberband hanging around. If you do, I’d like to see it.

Sourdough does best in a warm place. Unfortunately we’re starting this in January. There are no warm places in Nebraska in January. (Maybe there are warm places where you live?)  If you do live in a warm place, you can put yours in a sunny spot or on your patio. I’m putting mine in the most consistently warm spot in my kitchen…the cabinet above my refrigerator. 

See, there it is hanging out with my culturing buttermilk. 

That’s all you do on day one. 

For tomorrow you’ll need:  a clean jar or glass bowl, 1 more cup of whole wheat or rye flour and one cup of water. 

See you then!
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