Most people’s New Years Resolution’s are to quit something, learn something new or exercise more. Mine is slightly different, mine is to cultivate a live microbiological culture which actually performs fermentation in bread… simple! Having read many horror stories of how volatile sourdough starter’s are I am pretty dubious to how successful this resolution will be. However, after thorough research (and not being swayed by the fact I received a copy of his book for christmas) many people recommend Dan Lepard’s approach as the easiest for sourdough novices.
So here goes, day number one and day number two have been completed and so far so good (I think)
DAY ONE
Dan Lepard suggests to use a Kilner Jar (which I did) of a minimum of 500ml.
Ingredients:
50g water at 20 degrees
2 rounded tsp rye flour
2 rounded tsp strong white flour
2 rounded tsp currants or raisins
2 rounded tsp live low-fat yoghurt
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together in your jar. Cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day one!
DAY TWO.
So Mr Lepard says that at this stage there shouldn’t be a perceptible change, he says the surface should look shiny as the solids serpent from the water and sink down into the jar. Which I think mine did, although my photograph isn’t of the best quality.
Day Two!
Day Two’s Ingredients:
50g water at 20 degrees
2 rounded tsp rye flour
2 rounded tsp strong white flour
Method:
Stir the ingredients in, starting with the water and the the flours. Cover and leave for a further 24 hours at room temperature.
I have four more days of actively feeding my starter and on day six it is apparently usable. However, I think I’ll leave baking my first sourdough loaf (if this is successful) till the following weekend as many of Dan Lepard’s loaves are very time consuming. Will post again in a few days to document my process.
Yes Michael, I ‘wanna be starting something’ *tenuous song link, but surprisingly no ballad has been written about a girl and her sourdough starter.
Snacks and Tracks 