Homemade Sourdough Bread

Okay, this isn't my usual post... but I just found the neatest project to teach my kids about microbes in the air! The kids and I just spent two weeks making sourdough bread from scratch. It was really easy, so I thought I'd share our procedure with y'all :) Oh, and the bread is the best I've ever made in my kitchen!

First step, or rather first 2 weeks, the sourdough starter. We're harvesting wild yeasts, people!

Yes, wild yeasts. All you need is 1/4-1/2 c flour and 1/4 c filtered water. Mix it together really well, and leave it on your counter in a container, covered loosely (I used a piece of an old t-shirt on top of a mason jar). 12 hours later, "feed" the starter with equal parts flour and water (I used the same amounts as stated above every time). Keep feeding the starter in 12-24 hour intervals until it looks like this:

Can you see the small bubbles at the top of the mixture? This happens about day 4 or 5- it means that you've succeeded in harvesting those wild yeasts! They are growing and making your dough start to sour (hence, the name sourdough). This is a good thing!

I decided to transfer my starter to a larger container, since it was starting to expand a little with each feeding. If you would rather not keep all your starter (it tends to get large), you can throw away up to half before a feeding (or give away half to a friend!). You will only need 1 c for the sourdough recipe, and you can see how much I made with this small amount (see 1st picture- this is ONE batch!).

Keep feeding your starter for a total of about 14 days. When the starter is soured enough (I go by smell), you can store it in the fridge until you're ready to make bread! Once it is stored, you only have to feed it once a week to keep it going.

When you're ready to bake, take the starter out of the fridge and let it warm to room temp.

I'll post the recipe I followed in the next post!...

This post is part of Monday Mania on The Healthy Home Economist