Sourdough Care
Sourdough is bread like you used to get. It’s the way bread was always made, right up until the Industrial Revolution. In a sourdough culture, wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria work together to ferment the sugars and starches in your flour into simpler things like carbon dioxide, which over time develop flavour and texture and help bread rise.
Starter
Your starter has been lovingly cared for over the last five years. It began with water, fresh-milled Almanac Red Fife flour and wild apple skins. We’ve kept it going through care, use and feeding. To keep your starter happy we recommend naming it. It’s hard to ignore a friend.
Initial feeding
Remove your starter from the jar to a larger container as soon as you get home. Glass is ideal, but plastic will work just fine, too. If you don’t have time to deal with it immediately that’s okay: place your starter in the fridge and come back to it in a day or so.
Feed your starter by weighing out 50g of fresh-milled Almanac Red Fife flour and 50g of water. If you don’t have a scale, consider buying one. They’re inexpensive and will make a huge difference as you begin your sourdough journey. Combine using a wooden spoon.
Maintenance
If you’re not planning to use your starter right away, cover your container with a plastic lid or beeswax wrap and place it in your fridge. Set a reminder to feed your starter every five days.
The cooler temperature will slow fermentation, but you’ll want to make sure your starter doesn’t go hungry. The first casualty of an unfed sourdough culture is good bread: without well-fed yeast and bacteria you won’t get a vigorous fermentation, and the result is flat, overly sour bread.
To feed, take your starter out of the fridge and weigh out 200g of unfed starter. Discard the excess, or keep it in a separate container in the fridge for waffles, pancakes and other delicious things.
Feed 200g of hungry starter 100g of Almanac Red Fife flour and 100g of water. Combine with a wooden spoon, return it to the fridge and feed again in another five days.
Preparing for use
The day before you plan to mix your bread dough, take your starter out of the fridge and feed 200g of hungry starter with 100g of water and 100g of Almanac Red Fife flour.
Leave your freshly fed starter on the counter somewhere steadily warm, but not hot.
Questions
How often should I feed a sourdough starter kept in the fridge?
Every five days. Weigh out 200g of starter, discard the rest, and feed it 100g of Red Fife flour and 100g of water.
How do I get my starter ready to bake?
The day before you mix your dough, take it out of the fridge, feed 200g of starter with 100g of flour and 100g of water, and leave it somewhere warm but not hot.