Uncle Jacks Sourdough Starter Recipes

Steps:

• Day 1:To begin your starter, mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 2:Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for another 24 hrs.
• Day 3:Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for another 24 hrs.
• Day 4:You should start to see some activity in the mixture now; there should be some bubbles forming and bubbling on top. Mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, semi-uncovered, at room temperature for another 24 hrs.
• Day 5:The mixture should be very active now and ready for making your levain (starter). If it's not bubbling, continue to feed it on a daily basis until it does. When it's ready, it should smell like yogurt.
• You now have a starter, which is the base to the bread. You'll need to look after it, but naming is optional! Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 24 hrs before you want to use it, pour half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave it at room temperature and it should become active again. The longer the starter has been dormant, the more times it will need to be refreshed - the process of pouring off half the starter and replacing it with new flour and water - to reactivate. If your starter is ready to use, a teaspoonful of the mixture should float in warm water.The starter can now be used to make white sourdough bread.

Steps:

• Measure out starter into a bowl. Add water, salt, and bread flour. Mix until ingredients are well blended into a very sticky dough. Cover with aluminum foil; let rest 4 hours at 70 to 75 degrees F (22 degrees C).
• With wet hands, fold dough over on itself 3 or 4 times. Cover with foil and allow dough to ferment for 2 more hours.
• Generously dust a bread form with rice flour (see Chef's Note for banneton substitution).
• Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (you can use bread flour or all-purpose flour). Shape into a ball with a smooth, unbroken surface, using just enough flour on the surface to keep it from sticking. Transfer smooth-side down to banneton. Pinch together the rougher edges of the surface toward the center to smooth them and maintain the round ball shape.
• Cover and refrigerate 12 hours to slow the fermentation process.
• Remove loaf from the refrigerator and let it rise in a warm spot until the dough springs slowly back and retains a slight indentation when poked gently with a finger, about 3 to 5 hours.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Dust surface of dough with flour. Gently invert banneton over the baking sheet and transfer dough onto parchment paper. Gently brush off excess rice flour. Score the top of the dough about 1/8-inch deep with a sharp knife to create a shallow slit running across the center. Mist entire surface lightly with water.
• Bake in the center of preheated oven until beautifully browned, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Transfer to a rack to cool completely (do not slice loaf while it is still warm).

Steps:

• To make your own starter, mix flour, sugar, salt and vinegar in enough warm water to make a creamy batter. Leave it in a warm place for four days to a week until it begins to sour, or "work." If it is ready, it should have bubbles on top. Pour some in a dish and mix a dash of soda with it if it is active and ready to use, it will respond like hotcake batter. (Batter should rise to about double, looks kind of like meringue).Sourdough "works" because of a culture similar to yogurt. It forms an acid which will attack most metal containers and could poison you, so keep your starter in glass, crockery, or plastic. Stainless steel is OK for mixing batter, but it's not best to leave it in that, or even in a fruit jar with a regular ring and lid. It is imperative to never use any metal pot or metal spoon with sourdough EXCEPT stainless steel, as it causes a chemical reaction. A wooden or plastic spoon is a good idea to go with the sourdough pot. Gas bubbles (carbon dioxide) are released as the starter "works," so don't close the lid too tight!Sourdough rises because of the gas bubbles, same as bread dough with yeast. The baking soda you add to the batter causes a rapid reaction with the acid in the starter to make the light hotcakes, and also, neutralizes the acid taste. There is no reason for sourdough to taste sour. A slight soda taste is OK, but if you get too much, it makes the bread look yellowish. When you plan to use your starter, take it out of the refrigerator the previous evening and mix flour and water with it to batter consistency. Let it set out overnight to work. Then you take out as much as you will need for the day, but be sure there is a cup or more left, and put it back into the refrigerator. If you forget it and it molds on top, simply get two or three tablespoons of clean batter from the bottom of the crock and mix with new flour and water. Never add anything to the starter but flour and water. No yeast, no leftover batter, no potato water or any of the other stuff you hear about. A slightly lumpy starter will work itself out overnight, so it's better to leave it that way than way too thin. A Back Country Guide to Outdoor Cooking Spiced with Tall Tales - Bread in Camp