Sourdough

Good morning! I'm prepping a new batch of sourdough starter. I love sourdough bread or biscuits hot out of the oven. It's pretty easy to make from scratch. There are just 2 basic ingredients: 2 cups of organic white flour and 1.5 cups of purified water. The tools are pretty easy, too: a glass measuring cup, a rubber spatula, cheesecloth, and a 5-cup ceramic cookie jar (smooth inside without grooves, making it easy to stir and eventually clean) to hold your growing, fermenting sourdough culture. I only use inert items like glass/ceramic due to having difficulty in the past with the fermenting process.

Every morning for six mornings, stir in 1/3 cup of flour along with 1/4 cup of water. Stir for about a minute, making sure all the flour is mixed in. Here's a picture of the sourdough starter at day one.

Set the starter aside on your countertop in a warm area, away from drafts or any heat source. Wet the cheesecloth and wring it, then stretch it over the top of the ceramic container and put the lid on askew. This keeps the culture moist and lets it breathe.

On day 7, remove 2 cups of starter for your recipe. It should be all bubbly looking and smell sour. Remember, this is a day of rest, so *don't* add any flour or water today. The next day, resume 1/3 cup of water stirred with 1/3 cup of flour. Always remove 2 cups of starter on day 7. If you don't need any sourdough starter, it's fun to share with neighbors, by putting it into a glass canning jar with a piece of cheesecloth and a recipe card with directions, so that they can be *started* on wonderful sourdough baking adventures, too!