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Why Sourdough?

Let’s talk about Sourdough. I’ll give it to you simple – VIDEO Below ⬇️

1. It’s a fermented food- that means it’s good for your gut – by allowing it to “ferment” overnight or for many hours the yeast has done it’s job by breaking the gluten down so it’s easier for your gut to digest, allowing your stomach & gut to absorb the vitamins easier and not be bogged down by breaking down the gluten.
2. Because the fermenting process has done it’s job by breaking down the flour & gluten it can be much easier for a gluten sensitive person to digest and handle better. This is only for someone who is sensitive to gluten, not celiacs, etc.
3. Another great reason for eating sourdough bread, the fermenting process also has broken down the bad starches and when we consume the bread it does not dramatically spike your glycemic index as much.
4. The process breaks down the phytic acid and allows for the good bacteria such as Lactobacillus to thrive which makes it another reason for our digestion system to access the good stuff.
5. It’s made with “wild yeast” not store bought yeast that was lab created.
6. There’s vitamins!

What is Sourdough?

Sourdough is the process of breaking down the gluten which is the protein strands that is found in wheat grains.  By breaking down the gluten and phytic acid with lactic acid it creates a more digestible protein but also keeps the structure that breads needs to be bread.

Basic Sourdough Terminology

• Discard:  This is typically half of your starter that you will either store in the fridge or use for discard recipes
• Feed:  Everyday you’ll need to feed your starter in order to keep the wild yeast thriving and growing. This is how you get the bubbles in the flour water mixture
• Fermentation: The chemical breakdown of a substance by using wild yeast L
• Long Fermentation 8-12 hours Short Fermentation 3-8 hours
• Hooch:  This gray liquid will show up on the top of your starter when it’s starving. Simply dump the liquid off, discard and feed more often.
• Starter:  A mixture of flour and water that contains yeast and bacteria
• Yeast:  During the fermentation process the yeasts and bacteria feed off the starches and oxygen present in the mixture which then creates carbon dioxide. This creates the lift and rising of the bread dough.

Let’s Create Your Starter

Day #1 Watch the Video – Full of must Information + Instructions

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1.  🍞 Mix 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water, stir well
2.  🍞 Cover and let sit until tomorrow on your counter
3.  🍞 Admire your hard work 😉

Day #2

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1.  🍞 Pour 3/4th of your starter into a container with a lid and place into the fridge.
2.  🍞 Mix 1 cup of flour and approx 1/2 cup of water, stir well.
3.  🍞 Cover and place on your counter.

Day #3 Repeat same steps as day #2

Day #4 Repeat same steps as day #2

Day #5 Repeat same steps as day #2

Day #6 Repeat same steps as day#2 ALSO See “Let’s Talk Discard” section below. ⬇️

Day #7 Repeat same steps as day #2- bake with the discard with recipes below

Day #8 Repeat the previous steps – bake with discard

Day #9 Repeat discard & feeding – use up that discard!

Day #10 It’ll be ready real soon – continue to discard & feed

Day #11 – Ready Or NOT?!?!?! See below in the section “How to Tell… ” for video + blog post

Let’s Talk Discard

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Whether your just starting out on your sourdough journey or been doing it for years, there’s always the discard.  The discard that you acquire while you are creating your starter will be different than later on after the starter is active.   It’ll take about two weeks to get to that point in the mean time the flour and water mixture that your storing in the fridge is basically spent flour with not much “sourness” or active yeast to  it.

WHY DO I HAVE TO DISCARD FROM THE STARTER WHEN FEEDING?

At first you may wonder why you need to discard half or more of your mixture as it may feel wasteful.  First keep the discard accumulating in the fridge in a container that we’ll use for “discard” recipes.

We do this for a few reasons 

1. If you were to feed every day you would need a huge container just to hold it all.
2. When you feed it new flour and water it helps keep the bacteria and yeast balanced.
3. It helps with keeping a milder flavor and not overly sour. You’ll notice the older your discard is the more sour smelling it is.

Instead of throwing away the discard it most certainly can be used!  This beginner discard is great for making waffles, cookies, crackers, pie crust and my egg drop biscuit recipe.    In these recipes there doesn’t need to be any gassy bubbles, aka yeast that helps bread lift and expand.  In some recipes you’ll add baking soda and or baking powder to help achieve that.

With the following recipes you can use your discard either direct from the time you are feeding your starter or from the fridge.  Some of the recipes may say discard, active or starter in the ingredient list but it doesn’t matter you can use whatever you have, it’s really all the same thing.

This is the part where you’ll have to start trusting yourself, learning from success and failures and understanding how the dough should look and feel.

If the end product is something moist, fluffy or soft then you’ll want a much softer dough when your mixing. For example muffins, waffles, or drop biscuit.

If the end product is more stiff like tortillas, naan, pie crust, tostadas then you’ll want a stiffer dough when your mixing.

If you keep this in mind it’ll make more sense once you get creating these recipes.

Grab the FREE Discard Recipe PDF or click the image below 

Q&A

Your Sourdough questions answered in this part one video. Turn your bread into breadcrumbs.

https://youtu.be/OTNQb3YAnO0

Q1: Does your starter need to be doubled to use it? Short answer is no, however your starter needs to be established (ready, active, bubbly, been around for two weeks or more) Once established I feel you can use your starter at any level and start a new recipe.

Q2: Can I use the discard to make any sourdough recipe online? If the discard is established yes pretty much, it may need more rise time to rise the recipe you will be using it for (if that recipe is for a bread that needs to rise) If the discard is still in it’s new phase (2 weeks or under) I would use it only in your typical discard recipes such as above or lot’s of those sweet sugary ones you see online.

Q3: Will there be hooch on the discard, if so what do I do? Yes hooch will eventually accumulate on the discard that your storing in your fridge. I dump it off just like I suggest if it shows up in your starter on your counter. You could stir in but I think it looks gross so I toss it. I do however suggest to dump it off from your starter always.

Q4: When I’m adding discard to the containers of previous discard should I stir it together? Short answer, no don’t worry about it. If you have a gallon stored up then yes but seriously that should’ve already been used in something.

Q5: Will I always have this much discard? Nope, if your baking on a regular basis that discard will actually be going to those recipes instead of in your fridge. You’ll need to feed as usual to keep it growing, fed and happy.

Q6: What is oven spring? This is when your bread hits the hot oven it’ll give a pretty decent rise. Sometimes your looking at your bread and it hasn’t risen that much or as much as you think it should the hot oven will help with that.

Q7: Lesson – when life gives you lemons you turn it into lemonade. It’s the same concept if your oven gives you doughy, not cooked, overly proofed, or wonky bread you turn it into breadcrumbs. Recipe HERE

How to Tell if your Ready to Start Baking?

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This is a tricky question because each of our kitchens are unique and I’m not there to smell or see exactly what your starter looks like.

But in a nutshell…

• Has it been at least 10 days preferably two weeks since you started your starter?
• Does it double in size for a few days in a row?
• Real bubbly and foamy on the top
• Does it smell like really smelly? Tangy & sour

If your answers are yes then it’s time to bake bread baby!!

I suggest starting with this very simple Sandwich Bread recipe (video coming soon)

You can always experiment and try at any point just please do not give up if it doesn’t do what you think or should do, or taste like you think it should taste.  DO NOT GIVE UP!

Remember you can always turn it into breadcrumbs if it doesn’t turn out or just eat it as is with enough butter.

Baking with Sourdough

I have a large collection of delicious sourdough recipes that I can’t wait to share with you!

START HERE — > When it’s time I highly suggest starting with the EASY Sourdough Sandwich Loaf for many reasons. View the FULL Tutorial video to see every step along the way. The tutorial is MUCH longer than it actually takes but I drop a lot of valuable information that will help you learn even more about baking with Sourdough including milling your own grains.

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Recipes (will be posted when it’s time to start baking)

•  🍞 Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
•  🍞 Sourdough Pizza
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Starter Maintenance

Come back for video + text

Creating a Backup of your Starter

Don’t fear if you have a backup (or several like me) Video coming soon

Learning All About Wheat Berries

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Read all about Wheat Berries by clicking HERE

Common Misconceptions

I’ll also share with you some common misconceptions that you may have based on the wonderful world of social media.

Learn the Techniques of Bread Shaping

Here is where I’ll share what common techniques are such as shaping, pinch & pull method, folding, etc.

Why is long fermenting better than using discard?

I’ll be sharing with you why I prefer the long fermented recipes than discard recipes.