![]() If your tap water is so heavily treated you can smell the chemicals, try filling an open container and leaving it at room temperature overnight. I’ve successfully used tap water in my starter for years. While chlorine and other chemicals in your treated tap water don’t create the friendliest environment for your starter, there’s no need to make a trip to the store for bottled water. 3) Do I have to feed my starter with pure spring water or bottled water? I wouldn’t recommend using a bowl that’ll react with sourdough’s acidity - for instance, don’t mix or store your starter in cast iron or uncoated aluminum - but other than that, glass, plastic, stoneware, acrylic, stainless steel - take your pick, all are acceptable. ![]() Our Baking School keeps its starter in food-safe plastic buckets and uses metal spoons or acrylic spatulas to mix it up after feeding. ![]() One caveat: Bleached flour may eventually yield a decent starter, but due to its natural flora having been killed by bleaching it’ll probably take a heck of a lot longer for a starter made with bleached flour to become fully active.Ģ) I read that you should never use a plastic bowl or metal spoon around sourdough starter. And if it calls for whole wheat or rye and you have neither? Your starter may be a bit slower coming to life without the initial “kick” of a whole grain, but eventually it’ll work just fine. ![]() If your starter calls for all-purpose flour and all you have is bread flour, increase the water a bit if it calls for bread flour and all you have is all-purpose, decrease the water a bit. Perhaps the formula lists organic rye flour or white whole wheat, and you simply don’t have them and can’t get them. Maybe you have a good supply of bread flour but your starter recipe calls for all-purpose (or vice versa). But not all flours work the same: some are better right at the beginning of your starter’s life, while others have more to contribute farther along in the process. All flours, from whole grain rye to all-purpose white, harbor wild yeast and will cultivate bacteria. Sourdough starter is a combination of water and flour which, when mixed together, grows wild yeast, produces organic acids, and attracts friendly bacteria. Here are 10 tips directed specifically at brand-new sourdough bakers that should clear up the confusion you’re feeling around not just the starter itself, but the various tools and recipes associated with sourdough baking.ġ) My starter recipe says to begin with flour. I regularly scan social media sites devoted to bread-baking, sourdough in particular, and the confusion, angst, and even despair among first-time sourdough bakers out there is truly distressing.Īre you having a rough time with your starter? Let me help. Talk about variables! Everything from the flour you use to the season of the year to whether you’re urban or rural plays into your sourdough bread success - or less-than-success.Īt this point, you may be struggling just trying to get your starter going. Well, it’s simple but creating a starter and baking sourdough bread's not easy - at least not until you develop your own personal process, something that works for both you and your starter. Seems like it should be easy, right? After all, people have been baking naturally fermented bread for thousands of years. The shelves in the bread aisle at the supermarket are often half-bare, there’s not a granule of yeast to be found anywhere and besides, you’ve always liked sourdough bread. I mean, what better time? While not quite housebound, you’re home more than you’re out. I understand you’ve decided to dive into sourdough baking.
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