I think of all my ferments as something between a houseplant and a pet. When the kids and I had to suddenly move this spring, we brought the houseplants and the animals, but somehow my jar of sourdough starter didn’t make it over here. Just one of many things I’ve been grieving.
What I love about sourdough, besides its being a vehicle for butter, is how it‘s another way to become part of a PLACE; a way to eat my way into belonging, in a healthy sense. A wild yeast culture, it’s unique to the air around it.
About a month ago, feeling ready to step out of the labyrinth of pregnancy and birth, I started a new sourdough culture. A couple tablespoons of water, a couple tablespoons of rye flour. Feed it every day. Forget to feed it once in a while. Worry that it’s not going to work. Make pancakes. Keep feeding it. Bake bread. Keep feeding it. More pancakes. More bread. Keep feeding it.
While soooo many other things have gone to absolute shit of late, this new sourdough starter is AH-MAZING! It performs like no other. Something about the air or the water here is not the same as where I used to be, even though we’re just up the hill.
This land is not that land.
I’ve cried over that so much. So so so so much.
The bread I used to bake was good, in a dense old European kinda way. It reminded me a lot of bread I ate in Germany. But now, even though I’m using the same recipe, every loaf is soft and lofty with a chewy-crisp crust. We had PB&J for dinner tonight, because how could we not. My teenager joked that they’d be $12 sandwiches in Portland.
I still maintain that where I am is only a temporary home, and wish fervently for the land where I was to become a community land trust that could be home to many families, breaking bread among the cedars, but until all that’s unknown becomes known, my job is to keep feeding the jar and watch it rise.
Want to start a starter? Gather up a wide-mouthed, quart-sized glass jar; a couple cups of rye flour (I find rye to be more reliable than wheat for feeding a starter, but you can use wheat or look into what folks are doing with all manner of gluten-free flours); a big fork; some warm water; a cloth napkin or other scrap of cloth with which to cover the jar; and a bit of string or a rubber band to secure it.
Begin by putting a couple tablespoons of flour in the jar (reserve the rest for later) and vigorously stir in enough warm water to make a thin paste the consistency of pancake batter. Some people like it thicker, some like it thinner; you'll figure out what works for you. I tend to keep mine on the thinner side. That big jar will look almost empty. That’s ok. You’re doing it right. Secure a cover over the jar to keep out the flies. You don’t want to put a lid on it, it needs to breathe, but fruit flies love this stuff and will find a way in if they can.
Now you're going to repeat that flour/water/stirring thing 1-2 times a day for several days. In between feeds, keep the jar somewhere you’ll see it, in a location that’s room temperature or even a little warmer than that. I move mine around...near the toaster oven when I've just made toast; behind the woodstove at night; on top of the dryer while I'm doing laundry; near the crockpot while dinner cooks. Like I said, it can get a little pet-like. You don't want it sitting on a direct heat source though, and I don't put mine in the window. It won't do much at first. That's fine. You’re still doing it right.
After a few days, however, you'll notice that, for one, there's getting to be a lot of goo in there; and, two, there may be some little bubbles visible against the glass. You may even see a "waterline" well above the one you've created by stirring it. That would be from the culture rising and falling on its own. Those are all signs the starter is becoming more active!
Around day 4-5, I like to pour off about a cup of the starter into another clean jar, identical in size and shape, and continue the flour/water/stirring thing 1-2 times a day in that new jar for another 4-5 days. With that initial transfer, when the starter is still establishing itself, I just give the rest of what was in the old jar to the chickens, but eventually...and this is where it gets tasty...the excess beyond what you pour off every few days as the starter grows will be what you use to leaven bread, pancakes, crumpets, or whatever else you can dream up.
And if it goes off, gets funky, moldy, gives you the willies, you forget about it for a month, the flies get it…whatever, no worries.
You’re still doing it right.
Just start over.
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