Thursday, August 16, 2012

Saga of the Sourdough Starter

I am a chronic suffer-er of insomnia. This hasn't always been true of me. It's only become a real problem in the last two years. It began when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, Caroline. It's extremely annoying to me but I will say that I have used the time it allows for some serious thinking. So tonight is one of those nights where I cannot get my body to cooperate. I can hear snoring upstairs where my wonderful husband and three beauties are sleeping. Bless them all...but what to do? So I started thinking about my last post. I mentioned a Sourdough Starter that I learned to make when I was in my early twenties. I tried to remember the recipe but it just wasn't coming to me. I got out my trusty-dusty The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook (my absolute favorite wedding present from-I have no idea who!!). Sure enough there in the sticky pages was the recipe for a Sourdough Starter! I swear-this cookbook has everything in it! Don't you just love that! Actually, many of the pages are stuck together where I have spilled food on the page...messy cook! Cut me some slack people...I've been using this cookbook for 10 years! It has been my inspiration for countless recipes. To be honest, it is one of the only cookbooks that I will use because I'm not the best recipe follower-but I love to read cookbooks to get ideas for my own recipes. I think it is because I don't like over complicated recipes...or over complicated anything for that matter. I mean really-why do it to yourself? Get this totally over-priced piece of meat and this ridiculous slab of cheese that you will only use in this one recipe and then cook it for 15 hours over low heat stirring every half hour while balancing on one foot. Ok-maybe I exaggerate slightly...you get what I am saying! Some things in your life don't have to be so darn complicated to really enjoy. But here I have gone off my subject-Sourdough Starter. So now I am looking at this recipe and quite honestly, why was I so afraid of it? You can keep it in the fridge (not a science project on your counter!!) and you only stir it once a day. I can handle that. So tomorrow...I'm gonna make it and see where we go from here! I will post my picture and result in my science fair project Sourdough Starter! Wish me luck! I am planning a meal to bring a family in just a few weeks and they may be my next victims getting some awesome beef vegetable and barley soup with sourdough rolls. Pictures and recipes to follow soon...Maybe.

2 comments:

  1. Did you ever make it?! I have been in search of a "do-able" sourdough starter!

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  2. Hey Fantacy! Yes, I have made it and it went pretty well. I have a blog post started about it but I have been a little lazy about the pictures and haven't posted it yet. This is the recipe I am using- it was taken right out of my Southern Living Cookbook...I love that cookbook!!

    Sourdough Starter
    1 pkg active dry yeast
    1/2 C. Warm Water (105 to 115)
    2 C. Flour
    3 Tbs. Sugar
    1 tsp. Salt
    2 C. Warm Water
    Starter Food

    -Combine yeast and 1/2 C. Warm Water in a cup. Let stand for 5 minutes.
    -Combine Flour, Sugar and Salt in a med sized glass or ceramic bowl (stir well). Stir in 2 C. Warm Water. Add Yeast mixture and mix well.
    -Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for 72 hours, stir 3x a day. Place fermented mixture in fridge and stir once a day. Use within 11 days.
    -To Use: Remove sourdough starter from fridge and let stand at room temp for an hour.
    -Stir starter well and measure amount of starter needed. Replenish remaining starter with Starter Food and return to the fridge. Use within 2 to 14 days. Whenever you use the starter- use replenish procedure again.

    Starter Food
    1 C. Flour
    1 C. Water
    1 tsp. Sugar
    -Stir all ingredients into remaining Sourdough Starter.

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