“Old Dough” Sourdough Starter

During the California goldrush, pospectors would carry a mixture of flour and water in a packet strapped to their waists. The heat of their bodies fermented the mixture, creating a natural leaven, and giving them the nickname “sour bellies.”

To follow up from the simple sourdough starter recipe I gave you last time, let me show you how to make an "old dough" starter. I learned to use it with certain sourdough bread recipes, like San Francisco sourdough bread, along with the simple starter.

Equipment Needed
2 large glass mixing bowls
wooden spoon (plastic is fine)
waxed paper
aluminum foil

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
4 tablespoons room temperature water
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
cooking oil

Directions
Add the water the large glass bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and leave for 5 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve. Add the flour and mix to from a soft, sticky, dough.

Flour a cutting board or area of the counter top. Turn out the dough on the floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Oil a clean bowl. Put the dough into the bowl and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with with a dish towel and let rise for about 3 hours. Punch down the dough and divide it into two equal pieces. Tear one piece of dough into small pieces, and mix into the dough of your next loaf of sourdough bread, when you add the rest of the simple starter required by the recipe. Wrap the remaining piece loosely in plastic wrap, and then aluminum foil, allowing room for expansion, and set aside for future use.

“Old dough” can be prepared in advance and frozen or refrigerated. To use frozen dough, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight, and then rest at room temperature for at least two hours before using.

To replenish “old dough,” pinch off a racket-ball sized piece of dough from the sourdough bread you're making before shaping and proofing the loaf. Wrap and refrigerate as above.

How to Make a Simple Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starters offer an alternative method of preparing yeast for mixing in bread dough. It's also a way to keep yeast cultures alive, when refrigeration isn't an option.

Yes, I've seen sourdough starter available in some specialty markets, but why pay for it? In it's most basic form, it's a mixture of bread flour and water. Fresh bread flour naturally contain a variety of yeasts and bacteria, including the important lactobacillus sanfranciscensis bacteria.

I'm not making this up. Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis was first discovered as one of the main bacteria in sourdough bread, and then named after the city it was discovered in: San Francisco.

Yeast and lactobacillus grow symbiotically within the mixture, breaking down the gluten and acting as both a leavening and flavoring agent. The mixture is left to ferment anywhere from a few hours, to a few days.

Rye flour was a common ingredient in norther Europe during the middle ages. Bread's made with 100% Rye flour, it turns out, doesn't respond well to traditional bakers yeast, being too low in gluten. This makes sourdough starters the preferred method to leaven rye bread.

Breads made with starter require a bit more planning, if you don't have any starter already on hand. The two most common ways to make a sourdough starter today start with bakers yeast: a simple sour-dough starter, and the “old dough” method. Here's the more common, simple starter.

Simple Sourdough Starter

This liquid starter can be used to make a French poolish starter, fermenting only two hours before using, or an Italian biga starter, fermenting at least 36 hours. A poolish starter gives less of a yeasty or “sour flavor”, but still retains some of the “chewiness” associated with sourdough.

Equipment needed
wooden spoon (plastic is fine)
wide mouth 1 quart glass jar

Ingredients
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 1/4 cup water
1 3/4 cup unbleached flour
pinch of sugar (optional)

Directions
Do not use metal utensils with this. I'm not sure why, but somehow the metal interferes with the bacteria and yeast.

Place the water in a large glass jar. Sprinkle in the yeast, and let it sit for 5 minutes to activate. Stir to dissolve. Stir in the flour and sugar, if your using it, with a wooden or plastic spoon. Cover the jar with a dish towel (do not seal!) and leave it in a safe place on the counter, away from direct sunlight, for up to five days before refrigerating. You can put a lid on the starter, but never seal it tightly. The culture needs air to live.

Stir the mixture twice a day. It will become bubbly and smell pleasantly sour.

Maintaining the Starter

After removing the amount of starter required by recipe, replenish with an equal amount of flour and water. For example, if you used 1 cup of starter, replace it with 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of flour (this makes about 1 cup when mixed). This lets you keep the cultures alive and lets the mixture continue to ferment for the next time you make sourdough bread. Let the jar ferment on the counter for at least 12 hours, or overnight, before returning to the refrigerator.

If you aren't going to use your starter at least once every other week, you need to feed it. Remove half the starter and replace with and equal amount of flour and water, just like replenishing your starter.

Sometimes the starter will separate, and the liquid portion turn various colors. This is called a “hooch” and is perfectly normal. You can stir it back in, or drain it off if the starter is looking a bit too watery.

Many sourdough aficionados don't refrigerate the dough. They also make sourdough bread at least once a week. I don't make it as often so, I've learned to refrigerate mine. I had some starter that I believe “went bad” on me after two weeks on the counter. It quit smelling pleasantly sour, and just smelled ... off. I decided not to take chances and threw it out. Now I refrigerate.

Sourdough starter can also be made with whole wheat flour for 100% whole wheat sourdough bread.

Next time, I'll show you how to make sourdough starter using the “old dough” method.

Do you know of any great sourdough resources on the web? Feel free to share them in the comments.

How to Make American Potato Salad

July 4th, Independence Day, is today. For my friends overseas, that's the day America declared its independence from the British Crown. What better way than to celebrate with something grilled, and a side of American Potato Salad?

Immigrants to America brought their own food and food cultures with them. This is all the better for us American foodies because we get to sample to best cuisines from all across the world. Some foods have become truly American staples, though, contributing to the world's recipes. American Potato salad join the ranks of such tasty dishes as New England clam chowder, meatloaf, and jambalaya. It's also a great cold salad, so you can enjoy it all summer long, not just on July 4th.

Equipment Needed
vegetable peeler
kitchen knife
cutting board
sauce pan
baking sheet
measuring spoons
mixing bowl

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup bread and butter pickles
2 tablespoons of the pickle juice from the jar
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
3 green onions
1 medium celery stalk
3 eggs, hard-boiled

Directions
Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them into 3/4 inch pieces. Place them into a large saucepan with enough cold water to cover them by about 1 inch. Bring it to boil, add 1 teaspoon of the salt, reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer for about ten minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Do not overcook, or they will be mushy.

While the potatoes are boiling, you can make the dressing. Finely chop the bread and butter pickles, and put them in a mixing bowl. Finely chop the green onion and celery and add to the pickles. Add the mustard, reserved pickle juice, mayonnaise, sour cream, remaining salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

I bottle my own bread-and-butter zucchini pickles, based on a recipe from my great grandmother. I think they're fantastic for this.

When the potatoes are done, drain them thoroughly and place them on a baking sheet. If you'd like, drizzle a bit of the pickle juice on them and toss evenly. Refrigerate the potatoes until completely cool.

This is a trick I learned from Cook's Country magazine, the sames folks behind America's Test Kitchen. They can't claim it as original, either. The French do it with their potato salads.

Add the cooled potatoes to the dressing and gently mix with a rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 30 minutes. Chop the boiled eggs and mix them in before serving.

Makes 6 – 8 servings.