Sourdough adventures with Coronatina!

March 20, 2020 2 Comments

March 20, 2020

Making homemade sourdough bread has always been something that I wanted to try but have been too intimidated to attempt. Stories about 50-year-old starters and having to feed the starter to keep it active in order to make the perfect, crusty loaf just seemed to be something that was just out of my reach.  Much less getting my hands on the said 50-year-old starter. 

So the notion of baking my own sourdough loaf went on the back burner... Until I came across this article about making your own sourdough starter!  After reading it a couple of times, it seemed like a much more feasible task.  So, what better time than now to give this a try...  #shelterinplace.   

COVID-19-activities at home sourdough starter

All you need to make sourdough bread is flour, water, and the required tools (a kitchen scale, a dough scraper, and a Dutch oven).  You can use kitchen shears or a sharp knife instead of a lame (razor tool that bread bakers use to slash the dough) and a colander or bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel instead of a Banneton basket (bread proofing and shaping basket).  

The recipe I ended up following is from King Arthur Flour. So here we go!

Day 1: Making my own starter

What you'll need:

  • 113g whole wheat flour
  • 113g water (I used lukewarm water since our house temperature is less than the required 70 degrees)

sourdough-starter-ingredients-supplies-how-to-COVID-19-ACTIVITIES

I combined and stirred the flour and water together so now we wait 24 hours to see!

 

UPDATE: April 1, 2020

It took longer than the 7 days for my sourdough starter to be strong enough for baking.  I started seeing some activity on day 3, so I continued my daily feeding. On day 7, it still didn't look like my starter was ready yet.  It had not doubled in volume within four hours after feeding nor did it pass the float test… so I continued to feed my starter and wait.  [By this point my starter had become a new pet so it needed a name. Named by the girls - Coranatina]

Sourdough Starter Progression

On Day 10, my starter passed the float test!!  I never thought I would be so excited over sourdough starter, but here it is - the day I am using my sourdough starter to bake my very first sourdough loaf.

I followed Eat, Live, Run’s steps for making sourdough bread at home and by Day 11, we ate bread!

Sourdough Bread Corona Activities Pre-Cut Finished Sourdough Bread




2 Responses

Kathy
Kathy

March 20, 2020

looks great! and easy… will have to try

Kristin
Kristin

March 20, 2020

welp, I know what I’m doing this weekend!

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