Easy Homemade Sourdough Starter

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Easy Homemade Sourdough Starter

I’ve used Carl’s Friends Oregon Trail Sourdough starter for about 5 years. It’s really good, very vigorous. But I wanted to try something else.

I tried several times to create a starter from wild yeasts, even using the pineapple juice method.
Either it wouldn’t work, or I would get a really weak starter. Frustrating.

In desperation, I decided to try something else. I read years ago in Sunset magazine about a pure yogurt starter. That sounded interesting, but I didn’t want to use a pure yogurt starter that required feeding with yogurt.

Here’s what I came up with. I have started this sourdough starter twice, as an experiment, and each time, within 5-days, I was baking sourdough bread.

I use buttermilk, yogurt, a little rye flour, a pinch of yeast and all-purpose flour to get the sourdough starter going, but I only feed the starter all-purpose flour and water to sustain it. I give it all of these cultures to start with and let them fight it out. :wink: In the end, it makes a starter as good as Carls Oregon Trail starter.

[i]Buttermilk Yogurt Sourdough Starter

1 cup Buttermilk, make sure it contains live cultures
3 Tbsp Plain Yogurt, make sure it contains live cultures
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Rye Flour
pinch of Instant Yeast

Mix well. Allow to sit on counter in loosely covered container for about a week.

Feed daily 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour and 1/4 cup Water. Mix well. Discard excess, if needed. It will bubble up and overflow sometimes, so I keep the container sitting in a pie tin to catch any overflow.

After about 4 or 5 days of feeding, the starter will smell sour and be very vigorous. Like any new sourdough starter, it won’t be real sour at first, but with continued use the starter will become more sour.

I use 1/2 a cup of the starter to make a sourdough bread.

When active, bubbly and sour smelling, store covered in the fridge if you are not going to make some bread.

Revive Sourdough Starter and make a loaf of bread at least once a week. To develop a more sour starter, keep the starter drier, more like a dough and less like a batter. Including a tablespoon of rye flour in feedings will also encourage a more sour starter.

Remove starter from the fridge, stir in 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 cup water. Bring to room temperature and allow starter to get bubbly. Use 1/2 cup to make bread.[/i]

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Buttermilk Sourdough Bread

This bread machine recipe makes a nice loaf of buttermilk sourdough bread,
totally in the bread machine. The sourdough starter and buttermilk combine to
make really good tasting loaf of sourdough bread.

1 cup (240g) Buttermilk
1/2 cup (125g) Active Sourdough Starter (from above recipe)
1 2/3 cups (200g) All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (200g) Bread Flour
1/3 cup (40g) Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tbsp (15g) Rye Flour
4 Tbsp (30g) Dry Coffee Creamer
1 Tablespoon (15g) White Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons (10g) Table Salt
2 Tablespoons (30g) Olive Oil

Add Buttermilk and Active Sourdough Starter to bread machine, mix well. Add
the All-Purpose Flour, Bread Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, Dry Coffee
Creamer, White Granulated Sugar and Table Salt to the bread machine.

Sprinkle Olive Oil on top of flour.

Set Bread Machine to MANUAL DOUGH CYCLE. (For a Zojirushi Bread Machine
use the MANUAL CYCLE set to Rest 30 minutes and Knead 20 minutes.)

Press START.

During first few minutes of kneading, adjust dough, as needed, with flour or

water to form a smooth, firm, non-sticky, non-crumbly dough.

When the kneading has stopped, unplug the bread machine. Remove the mixing
paddles and form dough into loaf by tucking it in on itself from the bottom and
press the dough evenly into the bottom of the bread pan.

Spray the dough to coat with a non-stick cooking spray (this will help to keep
it from drying out on top.) Close the lid of the bread machine and let dough
rise for 8 to 12 hours.

After 8 to 12 hours, when the dough has risen to within about 1-inch from the
top of the bread pan, start the MANUAL BAKE cycle.

For a Zojirushi Bread Machine, run a MANUAL CYCLE to bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Press START.

When bread is done, remove from bread baking pan and allow to cool before slicing.

Makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf.

** To make sourdough loaf by hand **

-Combine ingredients, knead for 10 minutes.

-Form dough into loaf and place in a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Coat top of dough with cooking oil. This prevents the dough drying out during the long rise.

-Allow to rise in a warm place for about 12 hours, until dough is about 1/2 inch above the edge of the loaf pan.

-Pre-heat oven to 400-F. Bake about 60-minutes, or until exterior of loaf is slightly browned and the interior reads 200-F on an instant read thermometer.

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I was wondering IF anyone would have a recipe for the sourdough chocolate cake ? I had it years ago BUT several moves have happened in the last 30+ years and that recipe didn’t come along on one of those moves!..lolol. There are also recipes out there for tea biscuits, pancakes and coffee cakes too.

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Sourdough Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup thick sponge (active starter)
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder

Mix and ferment two to three hours in a warm
place until bubbly and there is a clean sour milk
odor.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 squares melted chocolate, semi-sweet or
unsweetened

Combine sugar, oil, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and
baking soda. Add eggs one at a time, beating
well after each addition. Combine wet mixture
and melted chocolate with sourdough mixture.

Stir 300 strokes or mix with an electric mixer
at low speed until blended. Pour into two well greased 8-inch round pans or one 9×12-inch rectangular pan. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and frost with Butterscotch-Chocolate frosting or other icing of your choice.

The Dispatch newspaper - Oct 3, 1979 & University of Alaska - Fairbanks - PDF Sourdough brochure

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Sourdough Hotcakes

Sourdough hotcakes differ from other hot cakes
in that a sponge is leavened with the yeast from
the sourdough starter and baking soda. The
sponge must be set the night before it is to be
used.
2 cups sponge (active sourdough)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
(optional)

Dissolve baking soda in water. Beat sponge. Add
egg, oil, salt and sugar to sponge and beat with
a fork to blend in all ingredients. If you like, add
nonfat dry milk powder (optional). Add baking
soda-water mixture just before baking. Bake on
a hot griddle. Turn once. Serve with hot brown
sugar syrup or honey and melted butter. Molasses, jelly or rose hip syrup are other tasty toppings.
For interesting variations add 1/2 cup whole
wheat flour, cornmeal, wheat germ or bran
flakes to the batter. Add another egg to provide
the liquid for this addition.
If you prefer a thin pancake, add another egg or
a bit more water; for a thicker cake, the sponge
should have more flour. At the time of baking,
the batter for sourdough should be the same
consistency as the batter for other hot cakes that
are family favorites.

Source: University of Alaska - Fairbanks - PDF Sourdough brochure

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Sourdough Biscuits

1 1/2 cups sponge (active sourdough)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

In the evening, or six to eight hours before using, set the sponge. When the sponge is bubbly
and active, save 1/2 cup for the next starter.
Stir oil, salt, sugar and baking soda dissolved
in water into sourdough until combined. Add
flour and baking powder, stirring to form a soft
dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead
lightly eight to ten times. Roll or pat out 1/2 inch
thick. Cut into rounds and place on a greased
baking sheet. Bake at 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Source: University of Alaska - Fairbanks - PDF Sourdough brochure