Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Hi, I want to make some sourdough, but do not have a starter. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good SF starter? The last time I made it, many many years ago, I got the starter from a friend. Now I have to start from scratch. If I can't make SF, then another one will have to do for now.

I looked at BBA but his starter calls for rye flour which I don't have, and would not likely use for anything else (not super fond of rye bread). Anyway, any suggestions will be appreciated. TIA

PS. my Alta Artisan will be here later today.

SF starter can only be made in SF of because a unique resident microbe called lactobacillus sanfrancisco. Finding some existing starter is quickest way to get started with wild yeast bread.

If you are committed to building a starter from scratch, using the BBA procedure without rye should work. Rye flour is used in most starter recipes because it has copious quantities of wild yeast on it and is a reliable way to get visible results in two days. A starter made without it, may take longer and may not be ready to use in the 4-7 days that some procedures claim.

Alina,

The best sourdough culture I have bought (and I have tried a few) is from Sourdoughs International. I have tried getting that SF sourdough flavor for many years, but until recently, the flavor had eluded me. Many of the sourdough recipes called for "retarding" the dough, which is refrigerating it, either before or after forming the loaves. This is because the sour in sourdough is formed more when the bacteria are cool, or much warmer than room temp. - around 85º or above. I only learned this recently, and this made sense now - the recipes I had tried had not been consistent, even though I had done what seemed to be the same thing every time, but refrigerator temp. is not constant! It can be opened and closed many times, and it can go through a "defrost" cycle, and there is no way of making this constant.

However, now that I have that Brod & Taylor proofer, I found that bread can be made all at higher temps., and I recently found a method on another forum called a 10 Hour Sour, and the bread came out great! I have made it twice, and it came out great both times, with a good sour, but not too sour. However, you do need a method for keeping the dough at 86º the entire time.

Check out some of the links given on that site, for some more info on SF sourdough.

I love the Tartine recipe that was in Martha Stewart. The resulting bread is amazing.

Thank you Becca and Dave and Jim. I looked at the Tartine recipe and it is scary, being that being on a schedule is not my strong suit since I retired and patience has never been one of my virtues. However, I am determined to make some one way or the other.

My daughter and the grandkids are coming to CA next week for a wedding in Berkeley and then up here to visit. So I've tasked her with trying to find me a starter while she's in the bay area, either from a friend or a store. It is a very long shot, but optimistically I'll wait until after she comes to attempt another method. In the meantime, I'll just get some Artisan in five going. I was getting pretty good flavors by using a bit from the previous batch for the next.

I will be spending next week decluttering and child-proofing as well as making breaded Cuban steak and blintzes for them. I won't want to spend time in the kitchen while they are here.

PS, I am copying all the comments and suggestions to my LC so I have them when I start. Thank you so much again

Alina,

One thing you will have to do if you want to make sourdough is follow a schedule. Once you get the starter made, and you have it stored in the fridge, you will have to refresh it, or rather feed it, at least twice, about 12 hrs. per feed, until it is fully active. Then, figure out when you want the bread for, and count backwards, allowing time for cooling, baking, rising the loaves, resting the dough and shaping the loaves...well, you get the picture. The bread I made for Easter dinner I started at 11:30 PM, then got up briefly at 4:30 AM to continue, then baked at 10 AM, so it was cooled and ready by our early dinner. But something like that should be no problem - don't you like working in the kitchen early in the morning?

Alina,

I'm happy to give your daughter a jar of our 6-year-old starter if she wants to pop over to my place in SF and pick it up. If she's flying back, though, that's kind of impractical; a liquid starter needs to "breathe", and would explode in airline luggage.

Aside from that, an SF starter will gradually lose its flavor over 3 or 4 renewals in some other place, due to gradual replacement of the microflora.

Thanks so much for the offer Josh. She is driving up from Berkeley, so the plan for now is for her to go to Acme on San Pablo Ave. and pick up some on her way up on Monday. Won't work if she decides to come up on Sunday as they don't like giving it out on the weekend. They do give it out for free which I think is supercool. I wonder if I should have her bring me back a gallon of local water as well That is of course if the kids cooperate.

Yes Dave weird night hours work well for me. It is the morning that finds me not functional.

I have copied all the comments and suggestions so I'll have them in one place. My flour got here a few minutes ago. Now, I have to figure out how I want to divide it to food saver what will not go in my glass jar. I have my GM in one of these. But I am thinking of swapping since I buy GM in 5 lbs. and that will fit in my regular jars. I do love that I can stir dip one and sweep and level right from the red jar, whereas I can't really level off on the other ones. I guess I could get another one, but that would require major pantry rearrangement.

Alina,

You're probably joking, but just FYI you can't use Bay Area tapwater for sourdough. It's purified with chloramine, which kills starters.