Sarah Owens cured my blood pressure problem...listening and watching her calms me. bless your soul and thank you for this fantastic info. Josh should name his starter Mr. Bubbles.
Dear Sarah, This video is the first I watched in learning to make sourdough. My pastry-chef cousin sent it to me (she is too busy to help me otherwise in this COVID environment with four kids to teach at home!). What a delight! Your video makes prepping sourdough starter inviting, in spite of the fact that It has quite the learning curve. And I love how you name and describe your starters. I'm naming mine "Bella", after my sweet but frisky 15 year old poodle (shall I say "bubbly"?) who died last November. Was so impressed by your video that I subsequently bought two of your books, SOURDOUGH and HEIRLOOM. They are GORGEOUS. I am learning so much from them. Thank you! I was lucky enough to get my starter from Steven Sullivan (of Acme Bread Company fame), and have been baking happily away for about two months now. At first I made about six different starters from the mother - just to learn about the different fermentation activities of the different flours (I'm a scientist and can't help myself!). But then my fridge became unusable because it was so full of starter and discard (in this COVID-19 era, I don't throw ANYTHING away). So, after reading your book, SOURDOUGH, I pared my starters down to ONE, and only build others when I want to add a new flour to the next bake. All of the discard is used: pancakes, pizza (use fresh discard for this!), english muffins (I need a better recipe - please!). I started with Chad Robertson's Tartine Country bread , which is on the web - it is excellent - and baked it about 5-6 times to get the feel and taste of it. Each Time is Different! This sourdough is such an art, and such a science! Lessons: 1) Using an old heating pad under my starter (Bella) kept her warm enough in this cooler weather to allow her to really bloom! It made all the difference; 2) Purchasing Banneton baskets are worth it, as using bowls with towels made the bread more dense and heavy; 3) Purchasing a Lame is worth it - its cheap and way more FUN; 4) started by using my Le Creuset dutch ovens (c. year 2002), and learned the hard way that those older handles will MELT IN THE OVEN - STINKY! ; 5) Buy flour in 25# bags online if you like to bake as much as I do, as it's impossible to find in the grocery stores. I store them in those secure, screw-top dog kibble bins outside. My next step is to buy a Baking Stone, so that I can make longer loaves, braided loaves. Thank you again, Sarah. You are a gem!!!!! Bette
Ilve watched the video 20 times and it's truly amazing.. i made 6 loaves before i understood.. it's a long process but very well worth it.. Sara is brilliant.. i love her
I discovered a good way to make my active starter really grow and become bubbly after a feeding. What I did is not feed my active starter for two days (48 hours), and then when I did feed it I gave it some good sprouted rye flour. The starter then tripled in height! Starving the starter for a couple of days made it real hungry and when I fed it it really grew. It never happened like that when I fed it every 24 hours.
Hello, I have a two part question could you please advise. (1) How often do we need to feed the starter and How much quantity? [Flour and water ratio] (2) If we use the starter to bake bread, how much flour and water should we add back to the starter container?
It's kind of funny to watch this from the perspective of the current food shortages during the pandemic. A few months ago, this would have made me think carefully about which flour I want to select to feed my starter. These days, it's "whatever I was lucky enough to find". The last time I actually bought flour, it was one of the last bags available on the supermarket shelf.
I bought BLEACHED flour for the first time in.... let's not count the number of years. I am THE FURTHEST THING from religious, but this is a great example of "be thankful for what you have, because that could change QUITE suddenly."
i tried several starters that didnt bubble. thought I was doing it step by step. "Then realized i had bleached flour. Started my new one last night with unbleached . I'll see how it goes this time.
Thank you! My friend gave me a starter a few days ago... still can’t find yeast in the grocery store. I’ve been watching RUclips videos for at least 2 hours tonight to learn how to use it. This was by far the most helpful and informative video I’ve watched. I just finished feeding “Francis” based on your instructions and we’ll see how it looks in the morning. Also, Sarah is great! Thanks again!
Wow, great video! Thank you for sharing this! My neighbor just graciously gave me some of his sourdough starter that he just started during the pandemic due to regular bread yeast packets being in short supply. I had no idea how to keep it alive, but now feel much more educated. And I agree with the other commenters that the woman presenter, Sarah (sp?) bears a striking resemblance to Julia Roberts, the actor. The presenter’s smile and voice and just overall demeanor is so soothing and beautiful to watch. The male presenter did a great job keeping the video moving and interacting with the female presenter too. Both did such great work in this video! I’m definitely going to be referring to this video in the future to help me start making sourdough bread. Thanks again! 🙏
I use Bake With Jack’s scrapings method. He explains it on youtube. Just leave a little bit in your jar, put it in the fridge and forget about it until a couple days before you want to bake again. I did this on new years eve, and two days ago I make delicious sourdough bread from that starter. No need to be feeding it once a week, that’s just wasteful if you cannot bake with all that starter!
Oh boy this is such a revelation for me. Thanks for this video. Other videos did not describe and show the different flour starters and what they look like. I didn't have any rye flour and didn't know why my starter did not look like other starters in the pictures or videos. Now I get it. Thanks Food52! Mine is "princess" starter. Okay need to get some rye flour for bread.
I am a 'newbie' and I learned a lot in this video. I may have missed it, but 'How often do you have to feed it?' and then 'How do you actually pull it off and use it to make bread?'. My daughter is sharing some of her starter with me and my daughter. We want to keep it alive!!! Thanks in advance!
Hi Teresa, great questions! Per Sarah, you should feed your starter about once a week if you keep it in the fridge, or daily if it's kept at room temperature. Here are additional tips: food52.com/recipes/80659-a-simple-sourdough-starter You can find tips for baking the bread in our followup video: ruclips.net/video/sZP3TKWlGnA/видео.html&lc=UgxnUW6r-IVE6gvwSXp4AaABAg Hope this helps!
7:45 i actually thought of this a few days ago! I went to the nearest stationary store and bought sticky labels, then weighed all my jars and wrote on the labels and stuck them on them. Excellent idea
Sarah is AMAZING! Josh - zip it! Use rye+AP 50/50 for one and bread flour for second, and note their difference in trapping bubbles. Can't really go wrong with KA or Bob's Red Mill, which are usually available locally. Write the weight of your jar ON YOUR JAR with a marker (jars will vary a few grams from the same mfg), and clean it off with alcohol or Goo Gone if you need to. MARK the starter level with a rubber band around the jar. And have w-3 jars for each culture so you can rotate a fresh one in as they become caked with flour Goo over time. Oh, and keep a small spare of each starter in the fridge as well as drying each culture on wax paper, flaking them off when very dry, and storing the flakes in small closed containers in a cool, dry location as stable, long-term back-ups. A good starter is worth saving!
I made a wonderful starter from scratch with organic raisins following instructions I found online. When I neglected that starter and it went south, I ordered a starter online just to save time. The first one lasted a year before I killed it. This new one has gone on for several years. This video offers really excellent advice about keeping sourdough starters happy! (I habitually underfeed my starter and my home is never as warm as recommended here. Back-to-back feeding when I find liquid on the top was news and helpful.)
no name for my starter yet and realised I have been making it diet... I shall go do a couple of feeds to make it more healthy and less acidic. Thanks so much for this advice.
A tip for all of you that don't have a scale. 1/4 cup water (58 grams) to 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (59 grams) gives you an almost 1/1 by weight starter. So much easier than weighing every time you feed your starter. Need more starter for all the bread you're going to bake? Just double, triple, quadruple, ... your starter the day before you're going to bake.
1/3 cup of AP white flour is 50 grams. Flour weights were measured by the scoop and level method. Your flour weights could vary. Due to surface tension you can also overfill the 1/4 cup and get 60 or more grams of water. But that's not really enough to make a difference. Once my starter is a week or two old I keep it in the fridge. You only have to feed it once a week that way. Take it out, feed it, leave it on the counter until it rises, put it back in. Saves on flour and time.
I named my starter Ovid, because like the poet, we're all in Covid-19 exile, and Ovid (the starter) is transforming my bread life. Thanks for the video - I'll check out the flour mills on the website.
if you don't have a starter here is another way to obtain one. Buy a good organic sourdough bread. Cut some slices off, break up the slices into small pieces or simply cube them, then dry the broken up pieces in a warm place, on a terra cotta type plate which absorbs moisture. When the pieces are brittle and easy to crunch up, put them in a glass jar in a room temperature dry cupboard. When you want to use some, simply bring out some pieces and crush them to powder in a mortar and pestle till fine. Use the powder as your dry starter. I havew used this method for a while now and it works fine for me.
Yeah, I remember Jacques Pépin on his show taking pieces of leftover bread, putting them into a glass jar with a good amount of water, let them soak up (or reconstitute) and lt would turn into a yeast or a starter. It's similar to making wild yeast water by soaking dry raisins for a week in water with any natural sweetener to act as an activator (optional). Think of wine. One day, I tried out these concepts and experimented with a thin layer of sweet pumpkin brioche stuck on the wax paper it was baked in. I ripped up the paper, threw them in a jar full of water, along with any leftover crumbs, shook it up and let it sit in the oven for a week. No thought, no measuring. Once a day, I would shake the jar and open the cap to let it air out for a second. Each day for a week, the live bubbles multiplied and became louder and louder, snap-crackle-and-poppin like rice krispies. The yeast water was active and ready to use.
This has been the most helpful video so far and I'm only into it five minutes. I have had so much angst over my starter(s) not looking or acting like the pics or videos I keep seeing, and this is the first time I've seen someone show what different starters look like. My AP flour starter has never looked like the rye starter, which is the sort of pic I keep seeing, but it looks absolutely like the bread flour starter. I instantly felt so much better. And mentioning different uses was really reassuring, too. Thank you for this.
Thanks so much for these videos! I made the best sourdough possible after watching these sourdough series. So informative. (Line cook speaking), this is what I want to see in culinary videos!
I was struggling with my starter. Then I went to Bob's Red Mill in Portland Oregon and got some rye flour. It really took off. I named my starter "Atlas" because it took off like a rocket.
Same. my first attempt using wheat and AP was a fail. Started again with unbleached AP and Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye and BOOM, nice starter in a week made from scratch.
All beautiful, very helpful but... What about making the starter from scratch? What if people don't have someone else's starter to work with? Update: they changed the title, so it's accurate now.
Even though I learned a couple of things in this video, I also was expecting to see a video on 'from scratch' that would include everything in this video.
A Quick daily recipe for a starter keeping the starter mix in a warmish place (top of the fridge works well for me) Day 1: 50 g flour and 50 g water Day 2: 50 g flour and 50 g of water again, mix well Day 3: Discard 100 g of the starter and add 100 g of water and flour Day 4: Discard 150 g of the starter and add 150 g of flour and water Day 5: Discard 200 g of the starter and add 200 g of flour and water Day 6: Discard 250 g of the starter and add 250 g of flour and water The 7: the starter should be complete by now, if not repeat Day 6 until you are satisfied. BTW I named mine "Oscar" He got rather Grumpy at me on Day 6!!!
It's so true about the naming helping you remember to feed it!! Makes it very much like having a pet you don't want to kill. Floyd is my second attempt at making a starter, and has been making me wonderful sourdough for 2 months now ^_^
Question: if the starter has been dormant for a few weeks and a liquid has formed, should I mix the liquid in or should I pour it off before the back-to-back feedings?
One thing which I would recommend is to not use city water, which contains chlorine. The chlorine can make it difficult and, depending on the amount of chlorine in the water, impossible for your starter to build up its strength. I would suggest either bottled spring water or even distilled water when feeding the started. In my case, since I have a well, I don't have the problem with chlorine.
Thanks for the great tip on how to feed a starter with only rye flour. I have left my starter in the fridge for 6 weeks while traveling and found that it comes back very nicely after a few days of feeding twice a day. Also Weck brand jars have straight sides and a loose fitting glass lid that allows the dissipated gas and moisture to evaporate. The straight sides makes the discard / feed process very easy. One jar can handle the rise and fall of 100g starter + 100g fresh flour + 100g water.
Loved the info on "what's sourdough starter is" regarding the microbes and their respective actions. Still looking for a video guide for hotter countries...
So apparently I have been underfeeding my starter for years. I bake often and mine is never in the fridge. I feed it 50 grams water/rye every day and only remove starter when i bake. And I only feed it once a day before work. This has never had a negative effect on my bread. I will try the (seemingly wasteful) throw half away every-time and do a 1:1:1 starter flour water off that but i don't expect to see a huge difference. My starter is always very vigorous.
how often do you bake? I bake like once a week usually, I jsut keep mine in the fridge, take it out a day before and feed it then use it, feed it again and put it back in the fridge
Oh, you don’t have to throw it away! Make a pancake, that’s what I do, my husband loves it as a treat. He eats it with jam. You could compost it too. You search RUclips with want to do with extra sourdough starter. I think it’s Baking Bettie who has lots of good sourdough info.
I just started my, well, starter last month and now I'm discovering I've underfed it all this time and maybe closed the jars too tightly. The breads I tried turned out very acidic and I felt the dough didn't rise as it should. Now I think this may be the reason of my bread failures. Will try again and keep it as suggested here. Thank you for the video.
Sarah is not a just a sourdough savant, she is a genius! I do have a couple of questions about her “beast” starter. Is it made with dark rye flour or white rye flour? Also, do I understand it correctly that the beast can be used to make bread with any kind of flour? Thanks.
Hi Joshua, great questions! Sarah uses this rye to feed her starter: www.mainegrains.com/product/organic-rye-flour-stone-ground/ And yes, per our executive editor -- you can use a rye starter to make bread with any flour (doesn't need to be rye)! Hope this helps!
Amazing video! I've made my starter from a previous bread batch I've made with brewer yeast, so I guess ive cheated a bit 😬 but now is looking good! I will buy a better flour, something stone grounded, for the feeding, and I'm looking forward to make pizza this weekend! Loved the tip of the back to back feeding to keep ti for longer time in the fridge! Do you have a video where you explain how much starter to use and so on?
Interested in Joanna's recipe for her Pea Starter, how she started it, temperature she keeps it at, why she choose this flour, recipes she uses it in. Thank you~ really Fun!
On the shelf in this video...top shelf....those are all pitchers except for about in the middle of shelf is a squat mug....does food52 sell that mug? Unique. Chunky.
Hi all, i.am.from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Neighbouring country to Thailand.and.Singapore and Indonesia. Just wanted to ask uoll.. which is the best to keep watery starter or the thicker starter ?
Sour dough starters are so intimidating - info is all over the place. Landed on your channel last week and decided no better time than the present to try my hand and see what happens (fingers crossed). Just got my starter stirred up from the link posted above and awaiting glorious results!! Thanks for great videos!! PS: Liked, subscribed and hit the bell for notifications.
@@food52 I ACED it - in other words, my starter is very active!! Step 2: now I need to learn how to actually USE it. I heard Sarah say she likes to keep a tablespoon or 2 of active starter in the fridge. I know a Tbsp or 2 is not enough to make a loaf of bread so how do I get enough to actually make a loaf of bread?
@@02271953me You pull it out the day before feeding then it should be about a cup if it requires a pack of quick starter from what I understand then put rest back in fridge
My starter is named Blobby. Edit: Actually, now I have 3 starters: Blobby, Blobby’s Mommy, and Son of Blobby (SOB) They are each fed different flour. SOB is the one I’m using the most.
I have an all purpose starter that's a few months old now and performing well. Would switching over to bread flour affect anything? And, would it be a good idea to slowly switch to whole wheat or should I just start a new whole wheat starter from scratch?
I have starters named Jane Dough, Ryan (rye), Nancy (started with kombucha instead of water), and Marsha. So funny!!! My question: Why are you using a metal spoon to stir? I also make kombucha and yogurt (used to make kefir too!) and I always thought you weren't supposed to introduce anything metal into that stuff. I use wooden and plastic spoons to stir. And thanks for the advice on glass/ceramic--I have now moved all my starters into glass Mason jars.
Amanda McKay I don’t specifically know the technicality, but I think you can’t. Coconut and almond flour are not made from cereals, unlike wheat or rye.
Great advice. Clear, simple (even I can follow) and easy. Absolutely charming presenters! Simply Sunshine in these times. Fed 'Ricky' for first time as he arrived in the post earlier. Novice at bread baking .... You guys would make a ☘Great Double Act ☘Think about it 😏
Fifi lol I love this. Its been a while since I've done this. But damn, Im ready. I just need to get some different flours as well. Can't wait to use some rye. I love rye.
I made a mistake and I didn’t keep track of the weight of the starter. How do I know what is the weight of the starters so I know how much to feed it?? I don’t know how much the jar weights or what the starter weights
I had the same dilemma after watching this video over the weekend, and discovering I'd been caring for my starter incorrectly! I weighed a bowl, poured my starter in temporarily. I cleaned and dried my jar & lid, weighed, then added the starter back into my jar. I subtracted the weight of the jar (lid not included in the weight), and then added equal amounts of flour and water to meet the weight of my starter. Extra things to clean, but that worked for me. Hope you enjoy working with your starter and make some great things!
I added coconut and it kinda stunted my starter. I have two jars now: Emmerson - (fed with Emmer flour); and Arty -(fed with Bob's Redmill Artisan Bread Flour). Both got a taste of Pasayten hard white flour and loved it, btw. I'm going to feed Emmerson Pasayten until he's all Pasayten and rename him Payton. (Pasayten has more gluten but is an "ancient grain")
Great video, but as others have said, I was hoping to see a starter made from scratch. I just Googled it and found a simple recipe: 3/4 Cup flour and 1/2 Cup warm water.
Hi iamdawt, thanks for your feedback! We asked Sarah for her starter recipe -- you can find it here: food52.com/recipes/80659-a-simple-sourdough-starter Hope this is helpful -- let us know if you try it!
I have a two part question could you please advise. Thank you! (1) How often do we need to feed the starter and How much? (2) If we use the starter to bake bread, how much flour and water should we add back to the starter container?
1) If it is on the kitchen counter, feed it every day with the ratio of starter:flour:water 1:1:1. If it is in the fridge, feed it once a week with same ratio. 2) feed it at least with the same weight of flour and water as the remaining starter in the jar 1:1:1.
Given what has taken place since this was filmed, I feel it's a great example of "be thankful for what you have because that #$*& could change really quickly and, perhaps, permanently.
Levain isn't just a semantic thing. I know you're the expert, but I'm French, and in France, Levain is NOT sour. The bacteria is actively suppressed, but the flavor is amazing. So it's a mother starter without the sour. I feel that if you want to use a French word that has a meaning in France, you should use it to describe the same thing in the US.
How your feeling makes a difference besides room temperature and time of day ... I started my starter a few weeks ago and I was feeling sick and it died and I waited till I felt better And my starter is grew in 24hrs
If I want to do a brown rice starter do I have to start that from scratch? Or can I just start adding brown rice flour to my white flour starter and eventually turn it to a brown rice starter? Love this video thank you
This women is magical. When she said "Good girl" to Princess the starter when she floated...I got so happy
Glad you enjoyed watching Sarah's tutorial, Alan!
OMG as soon as she said "Good Girl" I scrolled down to the comments section to see where Sarah's Fan Club is at :)
Hahaha so cute!
That was the exact moment I fell in love.
Loved this video with Sarah. Could you post information on her book please 😁
I named my starter Jane Dough.
Ha, that's a great name -- thanks for sharing!
I named mine bRYEn
My starters are named Sally Sourdough, Reuben Rye, and Wynona Wheat.
I named mine Little Joe. Lame compared to yours but it just popped into my head.
Mine is Samus the Sourdough Starter
Sarah Owens cured my blood pressure problem...listening and watching her calms me. bless your soul and thank you for this fantastic info. Josh should name his starter Mr. Bubbles.
Dear Sarah, This video is the first I watched in learning to make sourdough. My pastry-chef cousin sent it to me (she is too busy to help me otherwise in this COVID environment with four kids to teach at home!). What a delight! Your video makes prepping sourdough starter inviting, in spite of the fact that It has quite the learning curve. And I love how you name and describe your starters. I'm naming mine "Bella", after my sweet but frisky 15 year old poodle (shall I say "bubbly"?) who died last November.
Was so impressed by your video that I subsequently bought two of your books, SOURDOUGH and HEIRLOOM. They are GORGEOUS. I am learning so much from them. Thank you!
I was lucky enough to get my starter from Steven Sullivan (of Acme Bread Company fame), and have been baking happily away for about two months now. At first I made about six different starters from the mother - just to learn about the different fermentation activities of the different flours (I'm a scientist and can't help myself!). But then my fridge became unusable because it was so full of starter and discard (in this COVID-19 era, I don't throw ANYTHING away). So, after reading your book, SOURDOUGH, I pared my starters down to ONE, and only build others when I want to add a new flour to the next bake. All of the discard is used: pancakes, pizza (use fresh discard for this!), english muffins (I need a better recipe - please!). I started with Chad Robertson's Tartine Country bread , which is on the web - it is excellent - and baked it about 5-6 times to get the feel and taste of it. Each Time is Different! This sourdough is such an art, and such a science!
Lessons: 1) Using an old heating pad under my starter (Bella) kept her warm enough in this cooler weather to allow her to really bloom! It made all the difference; 2) Purchasing Banneton baskets are worth it, as using bowls with towels made the bread more dense and heavy; 3) Purchasing a Lame is worth it - its cheap and way more FUN; 4) started by using my Le Creuset dutch ovens (c. year 2002), and learned the hard way that those older handles will MELT IN THE OVEN - STINKY! ; 5) Buy flour in 25# bags online if you like to bake as much as I do, as it's impossible to find in the grocery stores. I store them in those secure, screw-top dog kibble bins outside. My next step is to buy a Baking Stone, so that I can make longer loaves, braided loaves.
Thank you again, Sarah. You are a gem!!!!! Bette
Ilve watched the video 20 times and it's truly amazing.. i made 6 loaves before i understood.. it's a long process but very well worth it.. Sara is brilliant.. i love her
Thank you for creating this great content on sour-dough. I was just given my first sour dough starter. I just fed it for the first time.
How is your starter now?
I discovered a good way to make my active starter really grow and become bubbly after a feeding. What I did is not feed my active starter for two days (48 hours), and then when I did feed it I gave it some good sprouted rye flour. The starter then tripled in height! Starving the starter for a couple of days made it real hungry and when I fed it it really grew. It never happened like that when I fed it every 24 hours.
Hello, I have a two part question could you please advise.
(1) How often do we need to feed the starter and How much quantity? [Flour and water ratio]
(2) If we use the starter to bake bread, how much flour and water should we add back to the starter container?
It's kind of funny to watch this from the perspective of the current food shortages during the pandemic. A few months ago, this would have made me think carefully about which flour I want to select to feed my starter. These days, it's "whatever I was lucky enough to find". The last time I actually bought flour, it was one of the last bags available on the supermarket shelf.
I bought BLEACHED flour for the first time in.... let's not count the number of years. I am THE FURTHEST THING from religious, but this is a great example of "be thankful for what you have, because that could change QUITE suddenly."
i tried several starters that didnt bubble. thought I was doing it step by step. "Then realized i had bleached flour. Started my new one last night with unbleached . I'll see how it goes this time.
Thank you! My friend gave me a starter a few days ago... still can’t find yeast in the grocery store. I’ve been watching RUclips videos for at least 2 hours tonight to learn how to use it. This was by far the most helpful and informative video I’ve watched. I just finished feeding “Francis” based on your instructions and we’ll see how it looks in the morning. Also, Sarah is great! Thanks again!
Mike Beutler I love how your starter has a name. I should name mine.
Julia Roberts and Michael Buble!Incredible! :D
More handsome than Michael Buble! God bless them both for sharing their experiences with us.
😂😂😂
If I want to keep my starter for six Months? Is it ok to put it in the fridge or better in the freezer?
Free movies syfi
I think he looks more like Tim Tebow, but I agree on Giulia Roberts
I named my starter “My Precious”😂 Once you develop a mature starter, it’s like GOLD thus “My Precious”❤️
Good one!
Excellent video. She needs her own channel. She seems knowledgeable, kind and soft spoken. Also, good chemistry between them!
I love how soothing her voice is! And she drops so much information in that laid back, nonchalant way. Like I’m talking to a chilled out friend.
Glad you both enjoyed Sarah's tutorial!
那11。4記錯32給63
I could listed to her sweet soothing voice all the time! Great video :) this and the one on baking bread.
Wow, great video! Thank you for sharing this! My neighbor just graciously gave me some of his sourdough starter that he just started during the pandemic due to regular bread yeast packets being in short supply. I had no idea how to keep it alive, but now feel much more educated. And I agree with the other commenters that the woman presenter, Sarah (sp?) bears a striking resemblance to Julia Roberts, the actor. The presenter’s smile and voice and just overall demeanor is so soothing and beautiful to watch. The male presenter did a great job keeping the video moving and interacting with the female presenter too. Both did such great work in this video! I’m definitely going to be referring to this video in the future to help me start making sourdough bread. Thanks again! 🙏
I use Bake With Jack’s scrapings method. He explains it on youtube. Just leave a little bit in your jar, put it in the fridge and forget about it until a couple days before you want to bake again. I did this on new years eve, and two days ago I make delicious sourdough bread from that starter. No need to be feeding it once a week, that’s just wasteful if you cannot bake with all that starter!
Oh boy this is such a revelation for me. Thanks for this video. Other videos did not describe and show the different flour starters and what they look like. I didn't have any rye flour and didn't know why my starter did not look like other starters in the pictures or videos. Now I get it. Thanks Food52! Mine is "princess" starter. Okay need to get some rye flour for bread.
I am a 'newbie' and I learned a lot in this video. I may have missed it, but 'How often do you have to feed it?' and then 'How do you actually pull it off and use it to make bread?'. My daughter is sharing some of her starter with me and my daughter. We want to keep it alive!!! Thanks in advance!
Hi Teresa, great questions! Per Sarah, you should feed your starter about once a week if you keep it in the fridge, or daily if it's kept at room temperature. Here are additional tips: food52.com/recipes/80659-a-simple-sourdough-starter
You can find tips for baking the bread in our followup video: ruclips.net/video/sZP3TKWlGnA/видео.html&lc=UgxnUW6r-IVE6gvwSXp4AaABAg
Hope this helps!
My fermented foods are collectively named The Culture Club.
7:45 i actually thought of this a few days ago! I went to the nearest stationary store and bought sticky labels, then weighed all my jars and wrote on the labels and stuck them on them. Excellent idea
My starter, Hermann, was born in July 2018. It took 2 tries, but he’s strong now. Love the videos 😋Thanks
Thanks for sharing, Sandra! Glad to hear Hermann is doing well :)
This is so helpful. Most videos assume a lot of prior knowledge. Thanks!
Sarah is AMAZING! Josh - zip it!
Use rye+AP 50/50 for one and bread flour for second, and note their difference in trapping bubbles. Can't really go wrong with KA or Bob's Red Mill, which are usually available locally.
Write the weight of your jar ON YOUR JAR with a marker (jars will vary a few grams from the same mfg), and clean it off with alcohol or Goo Gone if you need to. MARK the starter level with a rubber band around the jar. And have w-3 jars for each culture so you can rotate a fresh one in as they become caked with flour Goo over time.
Oh, and keep a small spare of each starter in the fridge as well as drying each culture on wax paper, flaking them off when very dry, and storing the flakes in small closed containers in a cool, dry location as stable, long-term back-ups. A good starter is worth saving!
I made a wonderful starter from scratch with organic raisins following instructions I found online. When I neglected that starter and it went south, I ordered a starter online just to save time. The first one lasted a year before I killed it. This new one has gone on for several years. This video offers really excellent advice about keeping sourdough starters happy! (I habitually underfeed my starter and my home is never as warm as recommended here. Back-to-back feeding when I find liquid on the top was news and helpful.)
Hi Jan -- so glad you found this video helpful!
no name for my starter yet and realised I have been making it diet... I shall go do a couple of feeds to make it more healthy and less acidic. Thanks so much for this advice.
Glad you found Sarah's tutorial useful! Let us know if you end up naming your starter 😀
I'm going out of town, please water my plants and feed my starter. 😁
Ha! 😂😂😂
HA! Youre joking, but that's exactly what we say when we leave town.
Raina Fowler can’t we put it in the fridge and it’ll go to sleep
@@maric4455 you still need to feed once a week while it's in the fridge.
I left my sourdough starter for 6 months in the fridge and when I came back I used it and it was strong as I feed it last night.
A tip for all of you that don't have a scale. 1/4 cup water (58 grams) to 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (59 grams) gives you an almost 1/1 by weight starter. So much easier than weighing every time you feed your starter. Need more starter for all the bread you're going to bake? Just double, triple, quadruple, ... your starter the day before you're going to bake.
1/3 cup of AP white flour is 50 grams. Flour weights were measured by the scoop and level method. Your flour weights could vary. Due to surface tension you can also overfill the 1/4 cup and get 60 or more grams of water. But that's not really enough to make a difference.
Once my starter is a week or two old I keep it in the fridge. You only have to feed it once a week that way. Take it out, feed it, leave it on the counter until it rises, put it back in. Saves on flour and time.
I have a tip. Plave the jar on the scale before turning ut on. This way the weight if the jar is automaticly sicounted for
I named my starter Ovid, because like the poet, we're all in Covid-19 exile, and Ovid (the starter) is transforming my bread life. Thanks for the video - I'll check out the flour mills on the website.
if you don't have a starter here is another way to obtain one. Buy a good organic sourdough bread. Cut some slices off, break up the slices into small pieces or simply cube them, then dry the broken up pieces in a warm place, on a terra cotta type plate which absorbs moisture. When the pieces are brittle and easy to crunch up, put them in a glass jar in a room temperature dry cupboard. When you want to use some, simply bring out some pieces and crush them to powder in a mortar and pestle till fine. Use the powder as your dry starter. I havew used this method for a while now and it works fine for me.
Thanks for the tip, Ian!
Yeah, I remember Jacques Pépin on his show taking pieces of leftover bread, putting them into a glass jar with a good amount of water, let them soak up (or reconstitute) and lt would turn into a yeast or a starter. It's similar to making wild yeast water by soaking dry raisins for a week in water with any natural sweetener to act as an activator (optional). Think of wine.
One day, I tried out these concepts and experimented with a thin layer of sweet pumpkin brioche stuck on the wax paper it was baked in. I ripped up the paper, threw them in a jar full of water, along with any leftover crumbs, shook it up and let it sit in the oven for a week. No thought, no measuring. Once a day, I would shake the jar and open the cap to let it air out for a second. Each day for a week, the live bubbles multiplied and became louder and louder, snap-crackle-and-poppin like rice krispies. The yeast water was active and ready to use.
Carlsfriends.net. They give away dried starter that dates back to the Oregon trail.
I've heard that San Fransico starter was brought to the region by miners - who would sleep with it during the winter months to keep it warm.
Starter is a livein creature , your suffocating it and treating it cruel,it brought tears to my eyes the way you treat it
Love that you ask for explainers for terms like leaven.So many videos out there skip over this.
This has been the most helpful video so far and I'm only into it five minutes. I have had so much angst over my starter(s) not looking or acting like the pics or videos I keep seeing, and this is the first time I've seen someone show what different starters look like. My AP flour starter has never looked like the rye starter, which is the sort of pic I keep seeing, but it looks absolutely like the bread flour starter. I instantly felt so much better. And mentioning different uses was really reassuring, too. Thank you for this.
Thanks so much for these videos! I made the best sourdough possible after watching these sourdough series. So informative. (Line cook speaking), this is what I want to see in culinary videos!
So glad you enjoyed these videos, Pat!
I'm so sad to find out I've been underfeeding my starter. Sorrrry, Gladys!!!
I was struggling with my starter. Then I went to Bob's Red Mill in Portland Oregon and got some rye flour. It really took off. I named my starter "Atlas" because it took off like a rocket.
Same. my first attempt using wheat and AP was a fail. Started again with unbleached AP and Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye and BOOM, nice starter in a week made from scratch.
I named my starter “proof I survived the coronavirus”.. I’ll let you think about that 😂😅
I see what you did there 🙂
Lol... nice pun... aren't you proof enough? (No pun )
: |
I got it! I laughed so hard!
All beautiful, very helpful but... What about making the starter from scratch? What if people don't have someone else's starter to work with?
Update: they changed the title, so it's accurate now.
This is what I was hoping to see as well.
That was implied in the title of the video.
Even though I learned a couple of things in this video, I also was expecting to see a video on 'from scratch' that would include everything in this video.
@@tiamaribu9394 I agree. Feels like click bait.
A Quick daily recipe for a starter keeping the starter mix in a warmish place (top of the fridge works well for me)
Day 1: 50 g flour and 50 g water
Day 2: 50 g flour and 50 g of water again, mix well
Day 3: Discard 100 g of the starter and add 100 g of water and flour
Day 4: Discard 150 g of the starter and add 150 g of flour and water
Day 5: Discard 200 g of the starter and add 200 g of flour and water
Day 6: Discard 250 g of the starter and add 250 g of flour and water
The 7: the starter should be complete by now, if not repeat Day 6 until you are satisfied.
BTW I named mine "Oscar" He got rather Grumpy at me on Day 6!!!
I named my starter Bobby. So I can say "dang it, Bobby" in my hank hill voice
OMG! I wish I could ❤️ this comment! I immediately heard Hank saying, “That boy ain’t right” as soon as I read this! LMAO
Thank you great info, very helpful. I'm on day 3 of my new starter with rye flour.
It is really a pleasure to listen to you and to see you teach him the basics of natural leaven.
New fan of Sarah Owens. :-D Awesome, thanks again!
It's so true about the naming helping you remember to feed it!! Makes it very much like having a pet you don't want to kill. Floyd is my second attempt at making a starter, and has been making me wonderful sourdough for 2 months now ^_^
My sourdough starter Mo has been with me since 2019. I maintain a small amount and make more when I need to bake. Especially now during the pandemic.
I like using rubber bands for marking jars.
Good idea! You can move the band and mess up the outside of jar with a marker.
Question: if the starter has been dormant for a few weeks and a liquid has formed, should I mix the liquid in or should I pour it off before the back-to-back feedings?
I am just learning but from other videos that I have watched they say just stir it in. Part of the process and all good.
I just got a starter that's 120 years old! ☺️ So excited to get started
Eryn MacGillivray Oh that’s gotta have a story behind it. So cool.
@@MissCaraMint yes! I'm from Whitehorse, Yukon and it apparently came over the Chilkoot pass for the Yukon Gold Rush in 1898! ☺️
Eryn MacGillivray Oh wow. That’s an actualy living piece of history right there.
I just started my own starter and found this... I have decided my starter is Fred. My wife and kids think Ive gone nuts.
Sarah is gorgeous; warm, inviting and knowledgable.
HEY! I saw her first!!!!!
What a great synopsis of sourdough starting for beginners!
When she said “aw, good girl!” to the plop of paste floating in water 😂
I purchased starter from our favorite local bakery. Made a perfect loaf the first time.
I came for the recipe stayed for Sarah Owens
One thing which I would recommend is to not use city water, which contains chlorine. The chlorine can make it difficult and, depending on the amount of chlorine in the water, impossible for your starter to build up its strength. I would suggest either bottled spring water or even distilled water when feeding the started. In my case, since I have a well, I don't have the problem with chlorine.
That's a great tip -- thanks!
Love this.....what fun....my two starters are named Gordon (stings real name) and also Plato (named by my husband)
MAKE a podcast, the female voice is just wonderful to listen!
Thanks for the great tip on how to feed a starter with only rye flour. I have left my starter in the fridge for 6 weeks while traveling and found that it comes back very nicely after a few days of feeding twice a day. Also Weck brand jars have straight sides and a loose fitting glass lid that allows the dissipated gas and moisture to evaporate. The straight sides makes the discard / feed process very easy. One jar can handle the rise and fall of 100g starter + 100g fresh flour + 100g water.
Thanks for these great tips, John!
Loved the info on "what's sourdough starter is" regarding the microbes and their respective actions.
Still looking for a video guide for hotter countries...
So to make our own starters we all need 50g of Sarah´s starter
So apparently I have been underfeeding my starter for years. I bake often and mine is never in the fridge. I feed it 50 grams water/rye every day and only remove starter when i bake. And I only feed it once a day before work.
This has never had a negative effect on my bread. I will try the (seemingly wasteful) throw half away every-time and do a 1:1:1 starter flour water off that but i don't expect to see a huge difference. My starter is always very vigorous.
Thanks for sharing! Hope you found Sarah's tips useful!
how often do you bake? I bake like once a week usually, I jsut keep mine in the fridge, take it out a day before and feed it then use it, feed it again and put it back in the fridge
Oh, you don’t have to throw it away! Make a pancake, that’s what I do, my husband loves it as a treat. He eats it with jam. You could compost it too. You search RUclips with want to do with extra sourdough starter. I think it’s Baking Bettie who has lots of good sourdough info.
My son named my starter "Mr. Tape" because of the masking tape I keep on the side of the jar that marks the baseline.
I just started my, well, starter last month and now I'm discovering I've underfed it all this time and maybe closed the jars too tightly. The breads I tried turned out very acidic and I felt the dough didn't rise as it should. Now I think this may be the reason of my bread failures. Will try again and keep it as suggested here. Thank you for the video.
Glad you found Sarah's tutorial useful!
Sarah is not a just a sourdough savant, she is a genius! I do have a couple of questions about her “beast” starter. Is it made with dark rye flour or white rye flour? Also, do I understand it correctly that the beast can be used to make bread with any kind of flour? Thanks.
Hi Joshua, great questions! Sarah uses this rye to feed her starter: www.mainegrains.com/product/organic-rye-flour-stone-ground/
And yes, per our executive editor -- you can use a rye starter to make bread with any flour (doesn't need to be rye)!
Hope this helps!
Amazing video! I've made my starter from a previous bread batch I've made with brewer yeast, so I guess ive cheated a bit 😬 but now is looking good! I will buy a better flour, something stone grounded, for the feeding, and I'm looking forward to make pizza this weekend! Loved the tip of the back to back feeding to keep ti for longer time in the fridge! Do you have a video where you explain how much starter to use and so on?
Name it for sure, my first two attempts both died but the third one I named Hamilcar Breadca and a year later it's still going strong.
Thanks for sharing, Randall -- glad to hear your starter is thriving!
You have inspired me to also name my starter off of a Roman enemy. The newly dubed Queen Breadica is now sitting on the kitchen counter
Interested in Joanna's recipe for her Pea Starter, how she started it, temperature she keeps it at, why she choose this flour, recipes she uses it in. Thank you~ really Fun!
or maybe I should ask Zoe....these questions? :)
On the shelf in this video...top shelf....those are all pitchers except for about in the middle of shelf is a squat mug....does food52 sell that mug? Unique. Chunky.
Amen , very informative. Going to make my own starter and bake my own bread. Thanks and God Bless.
Hi all, i.am.from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Neighbouring country to Thailand.and.Singapore and Indonesia.
Just wanted to ask uoll.. which is the best to keep watery starter or the thicker starter ?
Thank you I have watched lots of video’s yours is the best!
Sour dough starters are so intimidating - info is all over the place. Landed on your channel last week and decided no better time than the present to try my hand and see what happens (fingers crossed). Just got my starter stirred up from the link posted above and awaiting glorious results!! Thanks for great videos!! PS: Liked, subscribed and hit the bell for notifications.
Hi Kerry, welcome to our channel! So glad you enjoyed Sarah's tutorial -- keep us posted on how your starter is doing!
@@food52 I ACED it - in other words, my starter is very active!! Step 2: now I need to learn how to actually USE it. I heard Sarah say she likes to keep a tablespoon or 2 of active starter in the fridge. I know a Tbsp or 2 is not enough to make a loaf of bread so how do I get enough to actually make a loaf of bread?
@@02271953me You pull it out the day before feeding then it should be about a cup if it requires a pack of quick starter from what I understand then put rest back in fridge
My starter is named Blobby.
Edit: Actually, now I have 3 starters:
Blobby, Blobby’s Mommy, and Son of Blobby (SOB)
They are each fed different flour. SOB is the one I’m using the most.
What do you feed to SOB? Tears?
Ivory's Tinkershack, yes. Equal parts tears and Central Milling Artisan Craft. He’s a mean SOB...
Strong, healthy, vigorous starter is the very foundation of an awesome loaf of sour dough bread!!
I have an all purpose starter that's a few months old now and performing well. Would switching over to bread flour affect anything? And, would it be a good idea to slowly switch to whole wheat or should I just start a new whole wheat starter from scratch?
I have starters named Jane Dough, Ryan (rye), Nancy (started with kombucha instead of water), and Marsha. So funny!!! My question: Why are you using a metal spoon to stir? I also make kombucha and yogurt (used to make kefir too!) and I always thought you weren't supposed to introduce anything metal into that stuff. I use wooden and plastic spoons to stir. And thanks for the advice on glass/ceramic--I have now moved all my starters into glass Mason jars.
Can you use almond flour or coconut flour to make a sourdough starter? And or can you alternate feedings with either of those and regular flour?
Amanda McKay I don’t specifically know the technicality, but I think you can’t. Coconut and almond flour are not made from cereals, unlike wheat or rye.
Great advice. Clear, simple (even I can follow) and easy. Absolutely charming presenters! Simply Sunshine in these times. Fed 'Ricky' for first time as he arrived in the post earlier.
Novice at bread baking .... You guys would make a ☘Great Double Act ☘Think about it 😏
My starter’s name is Tamagotchi, it is 4 years old.
that is what you call a misnomer
CrazyNerdMonkey I understand you didn’t get it, but hey, you can make your own starter and name it whatever you want. Have fun*.
@@flavianomadink if it is still alive is it really a Tamagotchi
@@CrazyNerdMonkey again, you r not getting it. Watch the video of these awesome people here, make your own starter, name it, have fun. ☮️
When Sarah went "Good Girl", i felt that. Atta girl, Princess... u did good
Fifi lol I love this. Its been a while since I've done this. But damn, Im ready. I just need to get some different flours as well. Can't wait to use some rye. I love rye.
My daughter thinks Bob would be a great name for your starter, HAHA! This was such an educational and very helpful video thanks so much!
Ha, thanks for the suggestion! Glad you enjoyed watching, Natalie!
Mine is named Bobby! Hahaha
She kinda looks like julia Roberts 💛
I'd say Julia Roberts looks like her.. :-)
@@s3freebird lol, that works too:)
I made a mistake and I didn’t keep track of the weight of the starter. How do I know what is the weight of the starters so I know how much to feed it?? I don’t know how much the jar weights or what the starter weights
I had the same dilemma after watching this video over the weekend, and discovering I'd been caring for my starter incorrectly! I weighed a bowl, poured my starter in temporarily. I cleaned and dried my jar & lid, weighed, then added the starter back into my jar. I subtracted the weight of the jar (lid not included in the weight), and then added equal amounts of flour and water to meet the weight of my starter. Extra things to clean, but that worked for me. Hope you enjoy working with your starter and make some great things!
he looks overwhelmed, and now I feel overwhelmed
nah, he looks smitten.
Now I'm going to try adding other flours to my starter.
Like coconut.
Let us know how it goes, Pat!
I added coconut and it kinda stunted my starter. I have two jars now: Emmerson - (fed with Emmer flour); and Arty -(fed with Bob's Redmill Artisan Bread Flour). Both got a taste of Pasayten hard white flour and loved it, btw. I'm going to feed Emmerson Pasayten until he's all Pasayten and rename him Payton. (Pasayten has more gluten but is an "ancient grain")
I’ve used a little teff flour in my starter and it really strengthened it!
Just got the BEAST from California along with the WARF 150 YEAR OLD starter dry
Great episode, very informative. My starter’s name is Stinky Pete 😜
Your starter can stay in the fridge unfed for MONTHS just fine. Do not worry about feeding it twice before you go on a two-week-long trip…lol.
how do i find the closest store to buy sourdough :) Great video thanks
😂 Glad you enjoyed watching!
Great video, but as others have said, I was hoping to see a starter made from scratch. I just Googled it and found a simple recipe: 3/4 Cup flour and 1/2 Cup warm water.
Hi iamdawt, thanks for your feedback! We asked Sarah for her starter recipe -- you can find it here: food52.com/recipes/80659-a-simple-sourdough-starter
Hope this is helpful -- let us know if you try it!
@@food52 Thank you so much!
Equal weight of flour and water. A scale is needed. Or 3 tablespoons of flour to 2 tablespoons water.
I have a two part question could you please advise. Thank you!
(1) How often do we need to feed the starter and How much?
(2) If we use the starter to bake bread, how much flour and water should we add back to the starter container?
1) If it is on the kitchen counter, feed it every day with the ratio of starter:flour:water 1:1:1. If it is in the fridge, feed it once a week with same ratio.
2) feed it at least with the same weight of flour and water as the remaining starter in the jar 1:1:1.
Given what has taken place since this was filmed, I feel it's a great example of "be thankful for what you have because that #$*& could change really quickly and, perhaps, permanently.
Levain isn't just a semantic thing. I know you're the expert, but I'm French, and in France, Levain is NOT sour. The bacteria is actively suppressed, but the flavor is amazing. So it's a mother starter without the sour. I feel that if you want to use a French word that has a meaning in France, you should use it to describe the same thing in the US.
Five or six years - give it a name !
This was a very nice tutorial!
Glad you enjoyed watching Sarah, Callah!
How your feeling makes a difference besides room temperature and time of day ...
I started my starter a few weeks ago and I was feeling sick and it died and I waited till I felt better And my starter is grew in 24hrs
Thank you so much. This was such of amazing educational video to watch
7:18, you make sour dough starter with flour and water. That’s how. Getting a sampler from a friend is also another way. ?
Is this a video about sourdough starter or how to flirt?
If I want to do a brown rice starter do I have to start that from scratch? Or can I just start adding brown rice flour to my white flour starter and eventually turn it to a brown rice starter? Love this video thank you
Frank Henderson you could do it both ways, I would convert the one you already have cause it would be faster though
She is the Julia Roberts of Sour Dough Baking. Love Sarah