We’re trying something new here at Bab’s Buch, sourdough! Her friend Rose Ann Weber was kind enough to give us some sourdough “starter”. We’ve never done sourdough but we went to YouTube U and now we’re well on our way to adding another family of bacteria and yeast to our commune. Much like a SCOBY you have to feed your starter and if it’s hibernating in the fridge you need to feed it weekly. We fed our new starter today with flour and water, equal parts by weight. Here’s how we did that….

We put the new starter on our scale and found it weighed 97 grams. We added 97 grams of flour, 97 grams of water and stirred it all together. That’s it! Now here’s the part we aren’t real sure about. Do we need to leave it out and let it “proof” (rise) a little or can we put it right back in the fridge. We read somewhere that you should let it proof for 1-2 hours, then seal it and put it back in the fridge. So that’s what we’re doing. We’ll make a few batches of starter and start learning how to bake bread and make pancakes! Should be fun. Stay tuned!

From Cultures For Health ….

FEED REFRIGERATED SOURDOUGH STARTER ON A WEEKLY BASIS

If you do not bake often, maybe only weekly or monthly, it may be more practical to keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, in a tightly-closed container, and feed it once per week.

  1. Remove at least ¼ cup starter from refrigerator. Discard remaining starter.
  2. Feed starter with flour and water: If using a scale to measure ingredients, combine equal amounts by weight of starter, water, and flour. For instance, 50 grams starter, 50 grams water, 50 grams flour. If using measuring cups, combine 1 part starter, 1 part water, and a little less than 2 parts flour. For instance, ¼ cup starter,¼ cup water, slightly less than ½ cup flour.
  3. Cover; let starter sit for 1-2 hours at room temperature, until light and bubbly.
  4. Put a tight lid on jar and return to refrigerator.
  5. Repeat weekly even when not baking with your sourdough culture.