Anyway, thanks to an amazing refresher course from Northwest Sourdough (which I highly recommend you check out, and subscribe to), I decided
to take those videos down, and do an updated, 2-part recipe. There’s really nothing
like homemade sourdough, and notwithstanding the time it takes for your starter
to mature, it’s a very simple, and easy process.
I never like to get too deep in the weeds when showing a
technique, so if you do want all the Latin terms, and detailed explanations for
what exactly is happening here, there are endless resources online. All I care
about is that this works. After the second day, toss away half your mixture,
feed with equal parts flour and water, wait for the microorganisms to do their
thing. Stay tuned for part two, or as I call it the good part, where we’re
going to make a loaf of incredibly beautiful, tasty bread, and as always,
enjoy!
Day 1: combined 70 g *water and 70 g flour
Day 2: add 70 g water and 70 g flour
Day 3: discard 140 g of your starter, and feed with 70 g
water and 70 g flour
Day 4 until maybe Day 10: repeat the step above, every day,
until your starter smells fruity, yeasty, and beautifully fermented.
- Test by seeing if the mixture doubles within 2 to 3 hours
after feeding.
-- All this is based on you keeping the mixture at 70°. If
it’s cooler than that this will take longer, and if it’s warmer it may ferment
too fast, although I’m not sure if that’s a problem.
Note: Once done, you can store in the fridge until needed.
Most people recommend you feed it once a month or so.
* For best results, use bottled water, as chlorine can kill the yeast/bacteria.
* For best results, use bottled water, as chlorine can kill the yeast/bacteria.
50 comments:
The video went "poof!" :(
If I could offer just a touch of improvement to this... When making the initial mix, use unsweetened pineapple juice instead of water. This will make the mixture slightly acidic, helping to prevent unwanted bacteria from invading, while promoting the growth of the wanted lactobacilli. Feed with filtered water thereafter.
Chef John, great video, I'm going to try this special flour as well, thanks so much.
I don't care that you use grams, but could you please use measurements like cups and tbs etc? I have no way of knowing how much to use as not everyone has scales for food in their homes.
Thank you, otherwise, I love your videos and recipes.
My starter is over 50 years old, while it has a family that brought starter on a wagon train to the west. They had to harvest a western wild yeast to begin again. It has been shared with many people that have asked for their own start from the families stash. Left to start again the yeast is joined with a new wild strain from each new location.
The video doesn't seem to work
I'm having trouble loading the video; anyone else having problems can go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FkGX3xGlog
So I've got my starter made, now the process begins!
I started my sourdough a few years ago and the only thing I would say is once you get it going try to feed it at least once a week. Any longer and liquid starts accumulating at the top and smelling boozy. That may have to do with the ratio as well since I don't measure, I just fill the jar back to about half after I take so to make pizza once a week. But I do think feeding more often (and definitely every time you use it) is best to keep your yeast happy and smelling delicious.
Instead of discarding half... couldn't you put half in another container and feed that half too?
The video doesn't work.
I can't wait to try this! Thank you Chef John! I haven't had a decent sourdough since I visited San Francisco.
By the way...The video link on the blog isn't working for me...And I had some trouble with YouTube too, saying "Video has been removed by user." It did load after a few minutes, mysteriously though.
The youtube video is unavailable! :(
The video is unavailable :(
The video is unavailable :(
Hi Chef John, I understand redoing some of your original video's. One of my favourite recipes of yours in your Ultimate Roast Chicken recipe. It's the best roast chicken I have ever had. I make that quite often when I have company coming over for dinner. Everyone loves it. Your videos have come a long way since you first started producing them. I think your chicken recipe needs to be shared with the world once again.
I enjoyed watching this video. I love chef John's enthusiasm. I have been making sourdough bread for more than 20 years and I am always looking for a better approach to creating a starter. I have never successfully made one without using an eighth teaspoon of yeast. I am going to give rhis one a go as my starter in the fridge is kaput after a long period of rest.
I enjoyed watching this video. I love chef John's enthusiasm. I have been making sourdough bread for more than 20 years and I am always looking for a better approach to creating a starter. I have never successfully made one without using an eighth teaspoon of yeast. I am going to give this one a go as my starter in the fridge is kaput after a long period of neglect.
Just so you know, Chef John, the video remains "unavailable" according to my laptop.
Thanks for all the great recipes and techniques.
Video unavailable (at least in denmark). This video looks interesting though. :-)
/Jonas
Love your videos by the way.
If all goes according to plan, and we get to keep the starter in the fridge, how long does it stay good for? Or will this last for "forever" as long as we take care if it?
what are your suggestion on maintaining 70 degrees
Dear John,
if you say "discard half of it" - does it mean half of everything? Do you keep the hooch or do you discard all of it before discarding half of the rest?
The video doesn't work... :(
Video unavailable message recd. :(
What's happening here, video is unavailable? Someone needs to fix this.....
Hi Chef, the video doesn't seem to be available. Cheers!
Hi Chef, the video doesn't seem to be available. Cheers!
the video is not working for me. not on youtube either
Hi Chef John! I am a long time fan of your videos! My husband and I both subscribe to your YouTube channel and when a new video is available we wait to watch together. I am the cook in the house but my husband enjoys watching the videos and often makes special requests that I make your recipes.
I started my sourdough starter last night and I was wondering if there is any issue with continuing to feed the starter without discarding half? I understand it will become a LOT of starter but, is that the only issue?
Thank you so much for your awesome videos, your great puns and your fabulous food. Looking forward to part two of this video series!
Shannon
Where is the yeast?
I didn't have audio on but read the recipe. It seems like 70 g (gallons) is a lot. So that's a total of 140 gallons of starter. That's a lot of bread. Sorry, just pulling your leg. I know what a gram is. :)
Just started mine! Hope that I will get it right :)
I was told that the microbes on an unwashed grape (grapes) can influence the subtle taste of the starter and therefore the bread. Add a small amount of freshly squeezed grapes into the very first day's mix only?
What say thee ( anybody who cares to offer )?
Chef John, Your Style, and Manner of presentation are very much appreciated.
Thank you, for your talent and generosity.
So you use 100 gms of starter and then add 100 gms of flour back to the starter???
Mmmmmm.....sour dough pancakes :)
Julie4Evert asked, "Where's the yeast?" Yeast is everywhere, in the air you breath and the flour that we buy (there's a lot of non-flour things in flour). But wild yeast is very location specific. That's why San Francisco sourdough bread is so famous; the wild yeast that can grow in that area can only grow in that area. The same chef taking the same steps in southern California would produce a different flavor because of the different strains of yeast that thrive in that environment. The difference in taste and texture would be subtle, but it would be there. We live in Asia; our flavor of sourdough is very different than what came out from my native California.
Hey Chef John!
So I forgot to feed my starter (Sour Puss) for a couple days....I just fed her now though. Do you think my starter will be ok? Or do I need to start a new one. I'm about halfway through the process.
Thanks! Xox
My starter has been on the feed for about 10 days so I put it in a jar to rise. However it doesn't seem to be rising. Is it wrecked? Any way to rescue it?
Hi,
today is 6th day of my starter making process and I kind of still have a bit nasty smell from it, it is not very plesent you know but it is not very grose (no gaging or something like that), defenetely very sour smell but I can't really define it, it has bubles, but it still cant pass the floating test, is the smell going to change soon or something is not right...
Sorry if I misspelled something, English is not my main language...
Thanks!!
Hey Chef John,
I, like Joseph Princiotta, am also interested on your thoughts on using grapes as yeast food and whether you think this would work with other less sour fruits? Can I make a mango sourdough?!?!
Also helpful tip I found, when beginning your starter use organic flours with a high ash content. Organic flours often contain more wild yeasts and a high ash content provides the yeast with more nutrients to start.
Hi Chef John! I started a bit early and will be trying to make bread on day 13. Can i feed it for 13 days in a row or should I do something else with it for those extra days?
Discard and miss out on sourdough pancakes or waffles or English muffins? Put what you were about to discard into some delicious bread products. You could do a whole show on that alone.
My starter worked well, although probably was cooler than 70 degrees. I added just a single drop of honey (sugar should work just as well) on day 4 and the mix foamed up in an hour indicating that it is feeding and alive. I makes sense to use water that has no chlorine in it which you can get by boiling then cooling the water or allowing the water to set at room temperature for a day. Or, you can use distilled water. I used part whole wheat flour and regular bleached flour which probably seeds the starter with a more variety of yeast particles, then after a few days switched to regular all purpose flour for the feedings. The yeast bubbles are carbon dioxide. I'm guessing that it is a good idea to pour off the hooch, since the alcohol in it is a waste by-product of the yeast and does nothing to keep it alive. You want your starter to have oxygen available to it (opening the container once a day and stirring should be enough) in order to encourage aerobic respiration, otherwise you'll get anaerobic respiration which produces alcohol. If the starter is not bubbling, feed it and watch else it is most likely dead and you will want to discard it.
Hi Chef John,
I made my starter about 1 week ago now. I have named her Patricia (Patty for short) I used all white flour as I don't like the taste of the wholemeal flour. However the starter did not look like your starter. Im worried Patty is dead. However i am clinging on to hope and have been diligently feeding her. She does have the yeast-y smell however the bubbles are not as robust as your starter. should I add some sugar so that the yeast has something to eat?
Would you mind telling me where I went wrong or what do I do to rescue Patty?
Also when the starter has started you said that i only need to feed it once a month, is the feeding 70g of flour and 70g of water?
There's no way I could get a loose dough using only 250 grams of water!! I don't know this going to work. I had to add more water, I looked at other videos and went by the amount of flour they had in their recipes. Wish me luck!!
First day I added 70 grams of white bread flour, 70 G of water. 24 hours later, on day two, I did the same thing, adding 70 grams flour, and 70 grams water. That evening, about 16 hours later, I noticed that it had proved out of the jar and leaked everywhere. I see some recipes saying on day to remove half. I did not find that in this recipe though? Should I have removed half? I'm restarting doing it the same way but with a different flour mixture.
I want to increase the amount of starter I have. If I don't discard half of the starter would I need to feed it with 140 grams of flour and 140 grams of water?
Dear Chef John,
It's alive! You have no idea what a calming presence your voice has been the past 2 weeks (indeed, it's pretty soothing at all times).
Now that it's up and running, what is the best fuss free way to keep it alive?
Thanks again!
My starter smells fruity but never developed the "hutch" that has that sour, yeasty smell. Is it still good?
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