The Magic of Sourdough
Sourdough is wonderful! It’s an adventure that harkens back to the days before commercial bakers yeast was available. Sourdough starter is a wild yeast culture that imparts a distinctive sour flavor to the dough. You can purchase a sourdough starter or you can let a sponge made with rye flour and some pineapple juice go “wild” for a few days. The conditions in which the starter grows such as the amount of sugar, the strain of yeast that thrives locally, and the other starter ingredients a can influence the starter’s flavor.
After you have established a sourdough starter, you can keep it in your refrigerator between uses. As you take out some starter to make sourdough, replenish the starter with equal parts of flour and water so that the wild yeast can continue to multiply. For example, if you take out one cup of starter, replenish the starter with a half-cup of flour and a half-cup of water. The more frequently a sourdough starter is used and replenished, the stronger sourdough personality it will have.
When you make dough using sourdough starter, you start with a cup of the starter. This counts for about 1/2 cup of water (or liquid) and 1/2 cup of flour as you prepare the recipe. Keep the sourdough starter cooler than lukewarm so you do not kill the wild yeast. You will probably want to use some commercial yeast with the sourdough starter or the dough will rise only a little. Beyond these adjustments, you can use sourdough in almost any dough recipe.
While it does add some effort making and maintaining a sourdough starter, the additional taste is worth the effort!
