BASICS

Before we get into this, let’s talk about bread.

To make bread, you only need three things: flour, water, and salt.

Buy Good Flour
In the beginning of my sourdough journey, I used plenty of King Arthur Flour. I even used Gold Medal Flour sometimes, always going for the “unbleached” variety. You can bake with any flour, but the best results are truly going to come from locally sourced, stone-milled grains. Mostly, I use Lindley Mills Hi Gluten Bread Flour. I also regularly use their Whole Wheat Bread Flour, Super Sprout Whole Wheat Flour, and their Malted X.

Here is a list of mills around the U.S. from which to buy flour. There may be others, but here is a start at least: https://ritualfinefoods.com/pages/resources

Use Good Water
Good water refers to water that is not overly chlorinated. Personally, I always use store-bought bottled water because the water that comes from my faucet is unreliable. It has too much chlorine and messes with the microfauna that makes a starter wonderful.

Salt
My preference is always to use quality ingredients that are as natural as possible. For that reason, I use sea salt in my baking. Any salt is probably fine, but because of varying grain size, weighing this ingredient is best.

SOURDOUGH

I believe that it's easier to make sourdough if you've had experience with baking yeasted bread. I think this has to do with all the variables in bread baking. All bread is affected by humidity, temperature, water quality, the hands that are handling the bread, etc., but sourdough is even more susceptible to those things. It will be helpful to know what bread dough is supposed to feel like and look like before you begin a sourdough journey.

Through all my sourdough research (which has been mainly focused on making and maintaining a starter) I've found that there are many opinions. Some people weigh the water and flour every time they add it to their starter. Some people measure using volume. Some people just throw in a little of each until they get their preferred consistency. Some people like a more liquid starter where others want more of a paste.

The general consensus for volume measurements is equal parts starter to flour, and half the amount of non-chlorinated water. If measuring by weight, use equal parts starter to flour to water.

I have read posts from people who say that they've neglected their starter for months at a time, then started it back up again. In this case, you would throw all but a couple of tablespoons out and build the starter up again. It stinks to think about throwing away any starter, but for me it is comforting to know that even if you think a starter is dead, there is a strong possibility that it could be brought back to life within a few days.

There's a ton of information out there, but I think researching the maintenance of a starter has helped me learn the most about sourdough.

How to Make a Starter

It has been many years since I made my starter. I thought I had documented my process, but I can’t find my notes anywhere. I know that I used regular all-purpose flour and water, and that it took about a week. My starter was very runny in the beginning and I read somewhere that a thicker starter would show more signs of life, so after about a week, I added more flour to form a thin paste, and the bubbling began.

How to Feed a Starter

For the first several years, I fed my starter like this: 1 cup starter, 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, 0.5 cup water.

I used all-purpose flour from the grocery store. Sometimes it was the cheap stuff, and sometimes it was the expensive stuff. A few times, I used bread flour.

My starter was fine and active, but I don’t feed it like that anymore.

Now, I feed my starter like this:

Equal parts (measured in grams) flour to water to starter.

Now I use a 50/50 mix of unbleached bread flour and whole wheat flour. I use locally milled, non-gmo, organic flours from Lindley Mills. They are much more active than my original flour preference.

I generally keep 9-12 grams of starter. I pour my discard into a jar in the fridge, and when that’s full, I use it to make sourdough waffles or pancakes. 9-12 grams is not very much, but I almost always make a leaven when I make bread.

THE FIRST SOURDOUGH BREAD I MADE

(it’s originally from King Arthur Flour, but I cannot seem to find it on their website anymore)

MIX AND LET SIT AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR 4-5 HOURS, AND THEN OVERNIGHT IN THE FRIDGE:

1 cup fed and ready Sourdough Starter (it should have doubled since its last feeding, and will float in water when it’s ready)
3 cups Unbleached Bread Flour
1.5 cups Water

THE NEXT MORNING:

·     Add 2.25 teaspoons salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey. Mix and Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic, and passes the windowpane test (you should be able to stretch the dough until it is so thin you can see through it without the dough tearing.)

·     Let this dough sit until doubled (a few hours at room temperature)

·     Divide the dough in half.

·     Shape the dough (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx5I5O_RoeI)

·     Put the dough into loaf pans (Recommended: aluminized steel USA loaf pan, or similar alternative. Grease the pan with olive oil first.)

·     Let rise, covered with a dish towel, in a warm environment for 2-4 hours (this could take longer. It will be ready when the dough has about doubled.)

·     Bake at 425 F for 25 minutes. The bread should sound hollow when tapped from the bottom. Internal done temperature for bread is 200 F.

*A warm environment can be created by turning on the pilot light in your oven. Alternatively, you can almost always put bread dough in the fridge for 8-10 hours until you’re ready to bake it. In that case, you would cover with a dish towel and then a plastic bag to make sure it stays moist but doesn’t collect too much condensation on the surface.

OTHER HELPFUL THINGS

King Arthur Flour:
This website is just a wonderful array of baking knowledge
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/guides/sourdough

The Perfect Loaf:
a super scientist baker who writes all the details of sourdough that will blow your mind.
https://www.theperfectloaf.com

This Pilgrim Life:
a friend of mine who made a starter more recently than I did, and has some really good resources for new sourdough enthusiasts.
https://www.thispilgrimlife.com/how-to-make-sourdough/

Pans for Sandwich Bread:
https://www.amazon.com/USA-Pan-1140LF-Bakeware-Aluminized/dp/B0029JQEIC

Pans for Artisan Bread:
https://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Cooker-Pre-seasoned-Skillet-Convertible/dp/B0009JKG9M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=cast+iron+combo+cooker&qid=1595785157&s=music&sr=1-1 (or you can use a Dutch oven)

Recipes

Really really good bread, kind of complicated, but the video is very informative. https://food52.com/recipes/80565-table-loaf

The first artisan sourdough that I made. This is a pretty simple recipe: https://anoregoncottage.com/easy-sourdough-artisan-bread/

My favorite sourdough pancakes (a.k.a. what I do with discard. To make waffles, just double the amount of butter) https://pinchmysalt.com/perfect-fluffy-sourdough-pancakes-recipe/

Helpful Instagram Accounts
There are so many fun sourdough accounts, but here are some that I have found helpful on the information front:

@jess .wagoner (some really great shaping videos in her highlights)
@tartinebakery (they did a series of posts that show how to make a starter and how to make their “country loaf” – that same bread has been made in various YouTube videos too. Search: Tartine Country Bread)
@sour_flour (a skilled scorer!)

The Sourdough Podcast
Fun, informative, and very encouraging!
https://www.thesourdoughpodcast.com/