It’s June 2024… and I’m finally hopping on the “sourdough” bandwagon. I like sourdough bread on occasion, but I never had it and thought I need to eat this every day. Unfortunately, I’ve had digestive issues for over a year now and learned about the digestive benefits of sourdough. Then I started watching two YouTube channels (This Golden Hour and Farmhouse on Boone), and these women make many many things with their sourdough starters! Contrary to what I had thought, it’s more than bread and waffles. So I made a list of recipes I wanted to try and decided to give it go.
I used Paul Hollywood’s method to make my own sourdough starter. I decided to make my own primarily because I wanted to be able to say that I did it. So far, I’m glad I did. I’m learning what my starter likes and doesn’t like.
I had the starter in a Weck jar on my kitchen counter next to the stove. After 48 hours I got my first rise! I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to make my first recipe. Sadly, I couldn’t get my starter to rise again. After the first rise, I discarded half of it, and added more water and flour. (I now know I wasn’t adding enough flour and water.) After another 48 hours, it smelled strongly of acetone and remained bubbly but it wouldn’t rise. So I discarded half and fed it again with the same results. Another 48 hours later, I read that I was underfeeding it and possibly adding too much water. So, as a newby, I just added more flour twice a day for two more days. The starter remained bubbly, smelled like acetone, and wouldn’t rise. I realized I was ignoring a crucial factor–temperature.
After reading many more blogs and watching videos, I tried moving my starter to the oven with the light on. My kitchen’s temperature varies and generally leans on the cool side. I also realized if I didn’t discard anything that my starter would eventually overflow. I still hadn’t used my starter yet, I wanted to wait until I had a consistent rise.
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