How I did it: I stirred some water into some spelt flour and left it in a warm place. Each day I stirred it, and fed it a bit of flour and water. When I'd filled the jar I chucked a bit on the compost and mixed in fresh water and flour. Within a week there were bubbles starting to surface. I gave it a good beat every now and then to aerate it. Once it was really puffy, I used half the jar with a three pounds of flour, water for a soft dough, 2tsp salt, a teaspoon of honey, a tbs of olive oil. The bread wasn't as puffy
as commercial yeast but it did have a nice, sour taste which developed over the months I've used it. Having the sourdough starter in the kitchen was great - a cross between a spiritual source and a pet. There is something ace about raising bread with what is out there, in the air.

Lessons & tips: The dough made with usual proportions for commerical yeast was too soft: I learned to make it stiffer with sourdough
starter because the dough seemed to relax on rising.
I tried using our local, very fresh and live honey as a boost. This was a disaster: I think it killed the wild yeast!
I had to chuck the starter after a month because it turned to acetone - not a healthy option. If your starter smells like nail varnish remover, throw it away and start again.

Resources: There are great internet resources out there to help getting going on sourdough.

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Aug 18, 05:14AM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer