Sunset Sourdough Starter Recipes

Steps:

• I bought whole wheat berries at the health food store and ground my own flour in a coffee grinder from them because I wanted the yeast on the flour to be really fresh, but this probably isn't really necessary. The pre-ground flour at the health food store is probably quite fresh, also, and you can buy very small quantities in bulk.
• DAY ONE: Mix 2 Tablespoons whole grain flour and 2 Tablespoons pineapple juice. Stir well, cover and let sit for 24 hours at room temperature.
• DAY TWO: Add 2 Tablespoons whole grain flour and 2 Tablespoons pineapple juice. Stir well, cover and let sit another 24 hours at room temperature. You may, or may not start to see small bubbles at this point.
• DAY THREE: Add 2 Tablespoons whole grain flour and 2 Tablespoons pineapple juice. Stir well and let sit 24 hours at room temperature.
• DAY FOUR: Stir mixture and measure out 1/4 cup--discard the rest. To the 1/4 cup, stir in 1/4 cup unbleached AP flour and 1/4 cup water. Let sit 24 hours at room temperature.
• REPEAT Day Four until mixture expands to double its size and smells yeasty. Mixture may start to bubble after a couple of days and then go flat and look totally dead for a couple more days. If this happens, at about Day 6 add the 1/4 teaspoons vinegar with your daily feeding. This will lower the PH and wake up the yeast, which will then start to grow.
• Once the yeast starts growing, starter should be fed equal parts of flour and water in a quantity sufficient to make enough starter for your recipe. Store the starter in the refrigerator when you are not using it. It needs to be fed equal parts flour and water once a week to keep it alive. Either use or discard at least half of it when feeding--THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT to maintian a healthy starter! If you forget to feed it for a few weeks, it probably will be fine but may take several feedings to get it back up to par.

Steps:

• In large non-metallic bowl, mix together dry yeast, 2 cups warm water, and 2 cups all purpose flour and cover loosely.
• Leave in a warm place to ferment, 4 to 8 days. Depending on temperature and humidity of kitchen, times may vary. Place on cookie sheet in case of overflow. Check on occasionally.
• When mixture is bubbly and has a pleasant sour smell, it is ready to use. If mixture has a pink, orange, or any other strange color tinge to it, THROW IT OUT! and start over. Keep it in the refrigerator, covered until ready to bake.
• When you use starter to bake, always replace with equal amounts of a flour and water mixture with a pinch of sugar. So, if you remove 1 cup starter, replace with 1 cup water and 1 cup flour. Mix well and leave out on the counter until bubbly again, then refrigerate. If a clear to light brown liquid has accumulated on top, don't worry, this is an alcohol base liquid that occurs with fermentation. Just stir this back into the starter, the alcohol bakes off and that wonderful sourdough flavor remains! Sourdough starters improve with age, they used to be passed down generation to generation!
• Use this starter to make the Sourdough Chocolate Cranberry Cake, and the Sourdough Chocolate Cake.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the water, sourdough starter and 4 cups of flour.
• Mix well and cover with plastic wrap in a warm place 8-12 hours (I do it over night).
• The next day stir in the salt and sugar and add flour 1/2 to 1 cup at a time to make a very stiff dough .
• Knead till smooth.
• Cover and let rise 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
• Punch down and divide in half.
• Knead till smooth and form into rounds. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover lightly and let rise till double and puffy (1 to 1-2 hrs).
• While this is rising mix the 1/2 cup water and 1/2 tsp cornstarch in a small bowl and microwave till boiling, remove from heat and let cool.
• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Carefully place a small pan of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven.
• Cut two slashes across each other on top of each loaf.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Pull out the rack and baste each loaf well with the cornstarch mixture.
• Close the oven and allow to bake another 20-25 minutes. Loaves should be a light golden color and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
• You are suppose to allow this to cool for 2 hrs to develop the sourdough flavor fully -- we wait maybe 30-45 minutes!

Steps:

• Day 1: Add 50 grams whole wheat flour, 50 grams bread flour, and 100 grams warm water to a clear lidded container with a capacity of 1 pint or more. Mix until there are no dry spots. Scrape down the sides of the container with a spatula. Cover with a lid.
• Use a rubber band or piece of tape to mark the mixture level. This will allow you to track any movement (eventually it will grow!) Set the starter in a warm spot. Let sit for 24 hours.
• Day 2: After 24 hours, open the container and look for signs of fermentation in the form of bubbles on top, volume growth, and/or a funky, slightly sweet acidic smell. If you see some of these signs, proceed to the next step. If not, cover the starter again and let sit for another 12-24 hours, until these signs appear. If the temperature in your house is cool, it may take a bit longer.
• Once the starter has gotten a bit bubbly and funky, it is time to discard and feed. Discard all but about 25 grams (2 tablespoons) of starter (see Note below on how to minimize waste!). Add another 100 grams warm water and stir to dissolve the remaining starter. Add 50 grams of bread flour and 50 grams of whole wheat flour and stir until there are no dry spots. Cover and let sit in a warm spot for another 24 hours.
• Days 3-15: Repeat the feeding process every day for 7-14 days. Eventually, a few hours after feeding, the starter will begin to grow, almost doubling in size, then deflate again. Once your starter is rising and falling regularly, it is in a good place.
• To test the readiness of the starter, do a float test: Fill a cup with cool water. Use a clean spoon to take a scoop of the starter (be careful not to stir the starter and deflate the air bubbles that make it float) and carefully plop it in the water. If it floats, it is gassy and alive and ready to make some bread! If not, don't despair, it can take a while to get going. Either wait longer if it has only been a few hours since feeding, or if it has been closer to 24 hours since feeding, discard and feed again.
• After passing the float test, the starter is ready to use for baking! You may find you like to use your starter when it is young, only a few hours after feeding when it just passes the float test. At this point it will smell sweet. If you want a more sour taste, use the starter 6-12 hours after feeding, when it will be more mature and smell a bit more vinegary and funky. This is up to you!
• Mold: If you see any fuzzy moldy spots on your starter that are black, red, or blue, unless it is very easy to scrape them off the top, unfortunately you need to start over. Sometimes, a while after feeding or being in the refrigerator, the starter will develop a dark, clear liquid on top. This is called hooch and is harmless. Just pour the liquid off!
• Flour: Use what you have. If you only have all-purpose flour, you can use that. If you only have bread flour, use that. If you only have whole wheat flour, you can use that, just know that you may need to feed more often because it gets funky more quickly.
• Discard: It may be tempting not to discard most of your starter every time you feed it because you don't want to waste, but we discard for a variety of reasons. We are giving the starter a lot of fresh food and water to eat. If we don't discard, the starter will retain a lot of that funkiness and also eventually grow to be huge if you just keep adding water and flour to it. I like to discard into another container and keep that container in the refrigerator until I need it for other baking projects. You can fold the discard into banana bread, pancakes, cookies, etc.
• Storage: Once your starter is up and running, you can either keep it at room temperature and feed it daily, or store it in the refrigerator. To store in the refrigerator, do a regular discard and feed, then place in the refrigerator. A day before you want to begin making bread, pull the starter out and let it come to room temperature. Then, discard and feed as usual.
• Scaling: This starter recipe calls for equal amounts of water and total flour by weight. You can scale this recipe up or down as needed, depending on how much starter the recipe you are going to make calls for.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Mix the milk and yogurt together in a glass or pottery container (Do not use metal).
• Place lid on it, but don't seal it (sealed starters have been known to explode).
• Put mixture in a warm place (80 to 90 degrees) for about 24 hours.
• The yogurt and milk will separate forming a large curd, when adding the flour just stir it all back together.
• Add the flour stir, and put back in warm place for 3 to 5 days; stirring daily.
• It will bubble and have the odor of fermentation--it is ready to use.
• Remember the starter is a living thing and needs to be fed and fed frequently when an infant.
• I feed the "infant" weekly by placing it on the counter for several hours and allowing it to come to room temperature.
• Then remove 1/2 cup starter, discarding the remainder.
• Feed the 1/2 cup with equal amounts of milk (buttermilk will produce a stronger sour taste) and unbleached flour; i.e. 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk plus 1/2 cup of starter.
• If you would like, you can feed the starter with 1/3 cup dry milk powder and 2/3 cup bottled water in place of the 1 cup milk.

Steps:

• Fill a 3 to 6-cup container with hot water and let it stand. In a pan, heat the milk to 90-100 deg.F. on thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.
• Drain water from container, wipe dry, and pour in milk-yogurt mixture. Cover tightly; if using a screw-top jar with a metal lid, place a double layer of plastic wrap over mouth of jar before screwing on lid. Let stand in a warm place (80-90 deg F.).
• After 18-24 hours, starter should be about the consistency of yogurt - a curd forms and mixture doesn't flow readily when container is slightly tilted. (It may also form smaller curds suspended in clear liquid). If some clear liquid has risen to top of milk, simply stir it back in . However, if liquid has turned light pink, milk is beginning to break down - discard and start again.
• After curd has formed, gradually stir in flour until smooth. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place (80-90 deg F.) until mixture is full of bubbles and has a good sour smell (2-5 days).
• If clear liquid forms during this time, stir it back into starter. But if liquid is pink, spoon out and discard all but 1/4 cup of starter, then blend in a mixture of 1 cup each warm skim milk or low-fat milk (90-100 deg F.) and flour. Cover tightly and let stand again in a warm place until bubbly and sour smelling.
• To store, cover and refrigerate.
• Always bring your starter to room temperature before using it (this takes 4 to 6 hours).
• To maintain an ample supply, replenish your starter every time you use it with equal amounts of warm milk and flour. Use the same type of milk and flour to maintain consistency. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place for several hours or until bubbly; then cover and refrigerate.
• If you bake regularly, your starter will stay lively. If you don't bake often, it's best to discard about half your starter and replenish it with warm milk and flour about every 2 months.

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl combine flour and water making sure there are no clumps. Then press the cranberries evenly into the wet mix cover with a lightly wet tea towel and keep in a warm place for 24 hours.
• Remove cranberries along with 90% of the mix before replacing with 100 grams of fresh flour flour and 100 grams water, cover with lightly wet tea towel and keep in a warm place for 24 hours.
• Repeat step 2, (this is re-feeding, providing the microbes with fresh food to thrive and grow).
• By now you might see some bubbles on the surface of your mix and a funky smell this is a good sign and typically it is ready for use, but I always like to go an extra day. If you are yet to experience this keep going until you do.
• This next day you are ready to transfer your dough to an airtight container and keep it in the pantry. Be sure to remove a portion every day either for use in a sourdough or to re-feed.
• Factor to consider.
• -The Cranberries contain natural sugars for the bacteria to initially feed off and begin to grow, you can do it without, but I like the little boost they can give.
• -You are growing bacteria which means they develop more efficiently in warmer temperatures, hence the reason for leaving in the warmer locations overnight.