Homesteader Depot

Tag: sourdough

  • How to Make Sourdough Without a Recipe (Video)

    How to Make Sourdough Without a Recipe (Video)

    I’m a huge fan of home fermenting and culturing of all kinds. Yogurt, kefir, kombucha, pickled vegetables, and my personal favorite, sourdough bread.

    Sourdough is not just a distinct flavor of bread, it gets its rich, sour flavor from the leavening culture that causes it both to rise, and changes the metabolic structure of the wheat. Sourdough is actually much healthier than breads that are not naturally fermented, because the culturing process actually breaks down the antinutrients that can make wheat difficult to digest. Some people who can’t otherwise eat gluten can still eat sourdough, actually!

    I have made sourdough at home for a few years, but I haven’t ever put a whole lot of time into learning the techniques that would make my homebaked loaves as good as those delicious boules you can get at chic, foodie restaurants and bakeries. My loaves are usually pretty dense, and while they have the delicious flavor of sourdough, they lack the air bubbles and lightness that make professionally baked sourdough loaves so delicious. Also, without those air bubbles to help with the rise and create that light dough, I get small loaves that are gone in a flash.

    There are a lot of very specific recipes out there for sourdough, and many people even recommend measuring your ingredients on a kitchen scale to get the ratio of flour, water, and starter just right. This does make a lot of sense, of course, considering breadmaking is a very specialized science, but it actually doesn’t have to be so complicated.

    So, how can you make delicious sourdough boules right at home, without the stress and headache of measuring ingredients or seeing recipes fail you because they simply don’t work in the climate of your kitchen or with your culture?

    By feel. 

    The thing about sourdough is, not all flour, sourdough starters, or kitchen climates are created equal, and your dough simply might not turn out the way it’s supposed to following an exact recipe.

    This excellent video walks you through the process of making a sourdough loaf without measuring, and by creating a dough that looks and feels a certain way, and how to handle it so it will get those coveted air pockets.

    I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to get my hands in some dough and try this out! Check it out:

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  • How to Make A Sourdough Starter

    How to Make A Sourdough Starter

    Sourdough starters can be purchased online or you might even have a friend or relative who’s already making them who’d be willing to share. They’re easy to pass around, and you can use just a small amount to grow as much as you want! That’s the beauty of sourdough.

    To grow your own, you don’t need anything more than flour, water, and time. Let’s begin!

    What you need: 

    • a mason jar or similar sized glass or plastic container, no metal
    • measuring cups and spoons
    • plastic wrap
    • flour (at least a pound to be safe)

    What you do: 

    1. Combine 3/4 cup of water with 3/4 cup + 2 tbs flour and stir vigorously in your container. Once bubbles are formed and you have a nice, thick, evenly combined batter, cover with plastic wrap and set on your counter. It will need to be placed somewhere that is warm, at least 70 degrees F, where it won’t be disturbed.
    2. Over the next 24 hours, bubbles should start to appear. During this period, stir the mixture occasionally to attract more yeast and air into the starter. The bubbles mean the yeast is becoming active and alive, that’s what you want!
    3. On the third day, its time to feed the yeast! Add another 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup water and stir vigorously, then cover and let sit once again.
    4. On the fourth day, your starter should be noticeably bubbly and have doubled in size. You will also notice that active-sourdoughvery distinct sour smell that is signature to sourdough. It is active when it is light with many big bubbles, like
      in the photo.
    5. If your starter is not this active yet-don’t worry! Just keep feeding it, it might just need another day or so. Every climate and local yeast available is going to be different.
    6. If your starter is ready-you can use it! Take about half out and use in a sourdough recipe of choice. Just make sure to add the same amount of flour and water back to your starter. Let it become active again, and either continue to reuse, or put it in the fridge to be “dormant”. Just make sure that if you do want to do this, that it is active before adding it to the fridge, and also don’t put an airtight top on it-or it might explode! You can put a sealed top on it after a few days, but let it breathe at first.

    And your done! What’s your favorite sourdough recipe?

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