How to make and maintain a sourdough starter
How to make a sourdough pizza or sourdough bread. It all starts with having your own sourdough culture - you can usually ask your local bakery to have some of theirs, or you can start from scratch. Either way, if you're keen to get started with a variety of sourdough recipes, follow Fiamo's sourdough Making guide
What is sourdough?
Sourdough is a traditional dough making method that uses a natural starter or leavening agent to ferment any type of dough, rather than using commercially available packaged sourdough. This means the dough takes longer to prove and develop, and you'll get a rich flavor in the dough. You can use the sourdough process to make everything from bread to pizza to English muffins!
Ingredients
- 700g filtered water
- 700g all-purpose flour (or 50/50 blend of all-purpose and whole wheat)
Instructions - A Starter is Born (usually matures after 7-14 days give or take)
Try to feed the starter at roughly the same time each day. Stir the mixture occasionally if your schedule allows.
- Day 1 - Thoroughly mix 100g filtered room temperature water with 100g flour in a bowl at least twice the size of the mixture. Loosely cover with a dishtowel or similar and set in a warm (but not hot) spot.
- Day 2 - On day 1, you combined 100g of flour with 100g of water resulting in a mixture weighing 200g. For the day 2 feeding, scoop out and discard all but 100g of that initial 200g mixture. This means you will be starting with 100g of mixture in the bowl. Now add 100g of filtered room temperature water and 100g of flour to the bowl, stir, and loosely cover. The mixture in the bowl will have a total weight of approximately 300g.
- Day 3 - Repeat day 2 steps. Note: A redundant note to avoid confusion - your mixture should not weigh more than approximately 300 grams after each feeding.
- Day 4 - Repeat day 2 steps.
- Day 5 - Repeat day 2 steps.
- Day 6 - Repeat day 2 steps.
By day 5 to 7, you should begin to see signs that the mixture is becoming more active, with bubbles forming on the surface and a slightly sour smell. This means your sourdough starter is ready to use.
You can use Sourdough starter to make delicious pizza
You can use Fiamo's Mobile Version 800mm Diameters Gas Clay Pizza Ovento make pizza and all kinds of delicious food
How to store sourdough starter
Once a starter is established, I feed it twice a day at a lower inoculation than is called for while building a new sourdough starter. When building a new starter, the ratio of fresh flour and starter is 1:1 (100 grams fresh flour and 100 grams of starter) which puts the inoculation at 100%. Here is the maintenance feeding schedule that I generally use:
- 12:00 P.M. - Combine 15 grams of ripe starter with 50 grams of fresh flour (Sonora and all-purpose blend) and about 42 grams of filtered room-temperature (73-75 degrees) water. This is a 30% inoculation or 1:3.3 ratio of ripe starter and fresh flour.
- 11:00 P.M. - Combine 15 grams of ripe starter with 70 grams of fresh flour (Sonora and all-purpose blend) and about 60 grams of filtered room-temperature (73-75 degrees) water. This is roughly a 20% inoculation or 1:4.6 ratio of ripe starter and fresh flour.
Storage temperature of sourdough
The optimal storage temperature for most types of yeast is between 0°C and 4°C. This is commonly known as refrigeration temperature, and it can help to extend the shelf life of the yeast. It's important to keep the sourdough sealed in an airtight container or package to prevent contamination and maintain its quality. Some types of sourdough may have specific storage recommendations, so it's best to check the manufacturer's instructions for specific guidelines.
