(11-01-2024, 06:30 PM)MykeNukem Wrote: WTF? No recipe?

I love it, but have never made it.

Okay...here's a recipe for sourdough.  I'm assuming you want the recipe for the sourdough starter, not the bread itself.  It's super easy (or more difficult than you can imagine...I'll explain).

First off; it's almost impossible to fail, but I'd wager that 95%+ people fail the first try...even thought it's impossible to fail (again, I will explain).  Full disclosure; I failed twice at first (even though I didn't realize I'd actually only failed once!).  It's all about patience (something I'm short of).  It's actually amazing how you will swear up and down you've failed when you haven't failed.  There's really only one rule (and not even it is cast in stone).  That rule is...don't use bleached flour.  Read the label.  If it says bleached anywhere on the package, get something else.  The only other rule is weights are important, and measures are almost irrelevant.  Do everything by weight.  You can get a really good digital scale on Amazon for $10 bucks (if you don't have one already); buy one.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, here goes...

The recipe only has two ingredients, flour and water.  That's it, just flour and water.  You can use any kind of flour you like, just NOT any kind of bleached flour.  Wheat flour actually works really well, and it's easy to get.  Rye flour works best, and makes the best sourdough, but getting rye flour is very difficult (and expensive).  I'd suggest starting with whole wheat flour (unbleached).  A good target protein content is 14%, but anything will work.  A couple decent and widely available flours are Bob's Red Mill and / or King Arthur.  You can get them in just about any grocery store.

About the only other thing you'll need is a container.  A glass jar with straight sides is best.  The (straight) sides are important because you need to be able to scrape the sides (again, I will explain).  Doesn't have to be big, 16oz is fine.   BTW, I'm removing all the bullshit mystery out of this process here.  If you try to look this up on the interwebz, you'll find 75,000 recipes, but they're all missing steps which you will cuss at and learn over time.  What I'm writing here includes these steps.  Another couple handy things to have are a cake spatula (long skinny spatula) and a couple rubber bands. 

Process

1. Weigh the empty jar on your scale and write it down.
   
2.  Measure out 100g of flour and 100g of water (exactly...not 103g of one and 97g of the other, 100g of each)  Weights matter.
   
3.  Combine flour and water in the jar.  Mix thoroughly until there are no remaining lumps.  This is where the long cake spatula comes in handy.  The consistency is like peanut butter, so stirring it isn't easy.
   
4.  Scrape down the sides of the jar (the concoction is sticky).  This is why a straight sided jar is helpful.  Scraping a jar without straight sides, like a canning jar with a shoulder, is a PITA.
   
5.  Cover the jar with a doubled over paper towel and put one of the rubber bands around the jar to hold it in place.
   
6.  Place the other rubber band at the level of the mixture in the jar.  (This won't matter the first couple days, but it will later)
   
7.  On a sheet of paper mark down the day number (starting with #1), the date and the net weight of the mixture and the jar (sans the rubber bands and paper towel).  Also write down the time
   

BOOM!  You're done (...sort of!)

Set the jar in a room temperature place.  On the counter is fine.  Don't listen to the interwebz; anything from about 65F to 80F is fine (lots of people will tell you..."it has to be EXACTLY 77F, or 75F"...bullshit)

On day #2 (same time as day #1) do the following:

1. Weigh the jar and mixture without the rubber bands and the paper towel.  Write it down.  On the 2nd day the weights will probably be the same as the 1st day, but later on they won't.
   
2. Add 60g of flour, and 60g of water to the jar.  Stir until no lumps.  Always weigh the contents.  Weight matters.  Don't try to approximate with measures.
   
3. Weigh the final result (w/o the rubber bands and cover)...and write it down.
   
4. Re cover and set it back on the counter.  Also place the 2nd rubber band at the new level.
   

On day #3 (same time as day #2) do the following:  (now you're going to see why weight matters)

1. Weigh the jar and contents.  Write it down
   
2. Now subtract the weight of the empty jar (that you wrote down at the very beginning).  This gives you the weight of the contents only.  Divide this number by 2 (half).
   
3. Using your spatula (now you're going to start loving this spatula!), remove half of the contents (the number calculated in step #2 above).
   
4. Add 60g of flour, and 60g of water.  Mix thoroughly.  Scrape down the sides of the jar back into the mix (now you're really gonna' be lovin' that cake spatula!)
   
5. Weigh the final result.  Write it down.
   
6. Cover and replace the rubber bands.
   

On days #4 through #8 (and possibly up to day #14) just repeat the steps above (i.e. weigh, remove half, add 60g water+ 60g flour, weigh, scrape, record and re-cover).

You just made sourdough!

Now, here's some tips and things you will see:

• The jar is gonna' get nasty, but the more you scrape the sides with the spatula helps keep it from getting bad.  (You'll probably buy (5) of those cake spatulas now...I did!  They're handy little fuckers!)
  
• On about day #3 you will see the mixture rise after a few hours.  It may even overflow your jar.  Don't sweat it.  This isn't sourdough; it's a war!  This is the yeast killing all the other bad bacteria.  After it rises, it will then fall back to its original level.  Just keep going.  This means it's working!
  
• Depending on the room temperature, by about day #5-6 you should start seeing two things happen each day.  First, the mixture will rise each day.  Second, you will notice the starting weight of your jar is less than the day before (this is the yeast feeding on the flour).  This is a good thing.  This is also why weight is so critically important, down to the gram.
  
• Some days you may see a liquid on top of your mixture.  It looks gross.  Don't sweat it.  This just means your yeast is hungry.  Mix the liquid back into the mixture and feed it with your daily dose of flour and water.  (Note: this is where I thought I failed the first time, but it was just part of the normal process)
  
• Some people say you can go to feeding twice per day when you see liquid.  Screw that, once a day is enough of a PITA; you wanted sourdough...not a wife!  Just stick to once per day.
  
• The part you remove each day is called "discard".  Once your sourdough starter matures (after day #8-ish, you can either toss it, or keep it to either use in a recipe (like pancakes or biscuits), or you can use it to start another sourdough starter if you want.  There's nothing wrong with the discard; it has just been depleted of food, and if you didn't remove it then you'd wind up with more and more each day.
  
• After day #3 your starting weight will be close, but a little less than the finishing weight the day before
  
• If your jar gets too nasty, you can always switch jars.  Just be sure to weigh everything before and after, and write everything down.
  
• As long as you've kept your jar covered the whole time, you shouldn't really ever see mold (the yeast kills it), but if you don't keep the sides of the jar clean mold can form there.  Don't panic.  Just remove it and carry on.  Sourdough is some tough stuff.  It's damn near impossible to screw it up or kill it...even if you space off feeding it; it will recover in a few days.
  
• Patience (my shortcoming) is really key here.  You will swear up and down you've failed, but every sourdough is a little different.  Some take longer.  Yours might take 10 days, or maybe even 14 days.  Don't sweat it.  I threw out my first batch because I freaked out, saw liquid and figured it was bad.  My wife fished it out of the garbage and made her own starter out of it...and now it's better than mine!!!!  (DAMMIT!)   
  

Lastly, if you made it this far without falling asleep...how do you know the sourdough is ready to use?  How much do you use?  How do you use it?  How do you store it?  How often do you feed it when storing it?

All good questions.  I will be happy to cover all of them if you're still interested.  For now, I will end this post, but I will also make a reply which covers how to tell when your sourdough is really "sourdough" and not just a bunch of sticky goo in a jar.

Enjoy!