San Francisco sourdough starter | make your own 100% natural bread

What is sourdough bread?

Sourdough bread is made by the fermentation of dough using naturally occurring lactobacilli, acetobacter and yeast. The lactic acid produced by the lactobacilli gives it a more sour taste and improved keeping qualities. To make sourdough bread you need a sourdough starter. However, several sourdough starters have very specific characteristics that are impossible to create yourself. That’s where our sourdough starters come in.

About San Francisco sourdough

San Francisco sourdough is one of the most famous sourdoughs in the world because of the awesome crust and the distinctly sour taste.

Micro organisms San Francisco sourdough starter

This sourdough starter contains many bacteria and yeast, among others: the yeast Torulopsis Holmii and the bacterium Lactobacillus sanfrancisco.

Content San Francisco sourdough starter

• 5 grams of freeze dried San Francisco sourdough.

Why a dried starter?

• A dried starter has a long shelf life
• Easy to ship / take with you, also abroad
• Does not deteriorate due to transportation
• Light in weight (shipping costs)
• You can buy it even if you are not planning to make sourdough bread immediately
• You can save a part in case your sourdough dies
• After activation, the result using of freeze dried sourdough is identical to fresh sourdough

Activating your sourdough starter

The freeze dried sourdough starter is in a resting state, so you can easily store it until you want to activate it. It only takes about 1 week before it is fully active!

General tips

Read this through before you begin so you have an idea of ​​what supplies and ingredients you will need every day.

A note about metal: it is best to avoid metals when working with sourdough, especially aluminum and copper, which can react with the microorganisms. Stainless steel is great for mixing or making bread, but opt ​​for glass, porcelain or a food-grade plastic for storage.

Sourdough is a living organism and working with it has a learning curve. Just like a pet or plant, it will behave differently with different temperatures, climates, flour, etc. You will quickly learn the subtle rhythms and preferences, simply through simple day-to-day observations. You can even name your sourdough starter as many others do!

No matter how detailed this may seem, you don’t have to feel intimidated or worried, as long as you care, it will live!

You can bake with this starter as soon as it is activated, in about 5-10 days!

Requirements

• a clean, clear (easier to view) glass, plastic or ceramic pot or bowl or large cup (that can contain at least 2 cups, this small starter needs room to grow!)
• a wooden or plastic spoon to stir
• measuring spoons and / or scales
• a room with a fairly stable (room) temperature.

Ingredients

• The starter (save a bit just to be certain)
• White flour
• Tap water

The steps

1. Take 25 grams of lukewarm water and put it in a pot or bowl.

2. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the starter from the bag to the water and stir. Allow the starter to hydrate for about 5-15 minutes. Now mix very well, so that you see air bubbles.

3. Add 25 grams of white flour.

4. Mix until evenly distributed.

5. The consistency should not be too smooth or too stiff to stir. Just nice and thick.

6. Cover your pot / dish with something clean and breathable (cloth, paper towel, loose lid, loose plastic wrap, paper, etc.). Store somewhere out of direct sunlight, at room temperature.

7 . After about 12 hours,. Feed another 25 grams water and mix vigorously. Add another 25 grams of white flour. Stir the mixture well.

9. Put the cloth over it again and let it ferment for another 12 hours.

10. You may or may not already see signs of bubbling, and the consistency of the dough will be more pancake batter-like. You now have 100 grams of starter. Throw away 50 grams of your starter and add 50 grams of water, mix vigorously, and add mix in 50 grams of flour. This gives you 150 grams.

11. Let sit again for 12 hours

12. You may already see signs of bubbling. You now have 150 grams of starter. Throw away 100 grams of this starter (or use it to make pancakes or something) and add 50 grams of water, mix vigorously, and add mix in 50 grams of flour. You again have 150 grams.

13. Repeat step 12 until you have a nice and bubbly starter that smells yeasty, perhaps somewhat like yoghurt.  This could take anywhere from 4-7 days usually.

Your starter is ready for use. Let’s bake! You can use the 100 grams of your starter for baking, and will always have 50 grams left to create a new starter for the next day.

Save your starter in the fridge and feed (step 12) at least once every 2 weeks. If you want to bake, take it out of the fridge and feed 12 hours before you make your dough.

Online English spoken workshop ‘how to make your own miso’

During this online master class, Dutch foodwriter and fermentation expert ‘Meneer Wateetons’ will teach you how to make your own miso. Thanks to a special form of fermentation, two very modest and rather boring ingredients come together to form one of the most beautiful, complex substances on earth. Mister Wateetons tells you exactly how that fermentation works and what you need for it, how you can make miso at home from now on, how you can speed up the process of making miso, how you can vary endlessly on these two basic ingredients and what kind of cool things you can do with miso. Click here for more info.