Let's Begin...
Firstly - Hello and Welcome! And thank you for joining me...
I want to start by saying that I will, one day, go into detail and tell you the story of how being in the kitchen baking, cooking and discovering all the culinary adventures that could be had has become something I love and spend my time enjoying. Of how, besides the exciting adventures of travelling, being in the kitchen is also an escape for me - a sanctuary where I can create something out of a little (or a lot) of ingredients and see them come to life.
I want to start by saying that I will, one day, go into detail and tell you the story of how being in the kitchen baking, cooking and discovering all the culinary adventures that could be had has become something I love and spend my time enjoying. Of how, besides the exciting adventures of travelling, being in the kitchen is also an escape for me - a sanctuary where I can create something out of a little (or a lot) of ingredients and see them come to life.
Let's start today with my introduction to Sourdough, and that I have become fascinated with how a live culture, namely sourdough starter, is formed over the course of about two weeks from two simple ingredients; flour and water. The mixture of these two ingredients is allowed to ferment over time, and during this time, will develop living organisms - what is also called 'wild yeast' or 'live culture'. It is this live culture that is the important ingredient that brings life to a loaf of bread and other baked goods.
I watched a number of instructional videos and read some tutorials on bread making websites and discussion boards before I started, just to make sure that I was on the right track, since creating my own sourdough starter would take some time and I didn't want to end up wasting ingredients if I got it all wrong. Also during this time, I am proud to say that I have learnt enough borderline basic lingo to feel confident enough to tell you about my sourdough journey - discard, feed, bakers percentage, ratios - I will talk about what these words mean in the sourdough world in more detail in future posts.
Hence, my journey began approximately four weeks ago when I mixed these two simple ingredients together and was excited to watch it develop into a live organism (some call it their pet) and that I would need to continue feeding and nurturing it, and give he or she a name!
I used a ratio of 50:50 plain, all purpose flour (30 grams) and whole wheat flour (30 grams) with the same amount in weight of purified water (60 grams), mixed it vigorously in a jar, put the lid on without screwing it tightly and let it sit on the dining room table overnight. And so it began...
I was excited - jumping out of bed early in the morning to go check on its development. I started the discard and feed cycle on Day 4 when, to my joy I could see the bubbly activity bouncing off the jar's walls and the off-milk, oaty odour. I then continued the discard and feed cycle every 24 hours during the week (had to tend to my day job) and every 12 hours on the weekend. I was glad to see that I had done well and grew more ecstatic as the bubbly activity gradually developed.
My starter took three weeks to develop to the stage that I felt confident enough of the activity to start storing a small amount in the fridge for weekly feeds and when I wished to use it. Besides the bubbly activity, the other determining factor was the development of its aroma - it developed into a yoghurty tang and then into a sweetly, sour aroma distinctive of sourdough - and when I took the lid off the jar and got a whiff of this aroma, it gave me the satisfaction that it was worth the time and effort to create something natural and organic that I can now use for many future delicious recipes. I am so excited for all the possibilities it can become!
I was excited - jumping out of bed early in the morning to go check on its development. I started the discard and feed cycle on Day 4 when, to my joy I could see the bubbly activity bouncing off the jar's walls and the off-milk, oaty odour. I then continued the discard and feed cycle every 24 hours during the week (had to tend to my day job) and every 12 hours on the weekend. I was glad to see that I had done well and grew more ecstatic as the bubbly activity gradually developed.
My starter took three weeks to develop to the stage that I felt confident enough of the activity to start storing a small amount in the fridge for weekly feeds and when I wished to use it. Besides the bubbly activity, the other determining factor was the development of its aroma - it developed into a yoghurty tang and then into a sweetly, sour aroma distinctive of sourdough - and when I took the lid off the jar and got a whiff of this aroma, it gave me the satisfaction that it was worth the time and effort to create something natural and organic that I can now use for many future delicious recipes. I am so excited for all the possibilities it can become!
I admit that at the end of the three weeks, I did not see enough strength in the starter to be confident that it would give a decent rise if I was to make a loaf of bread. However, I am happy to say that, to my pleasant surprise, following the first weekly refresher feed of 1:2:2 ratio, my starter doubled in size after 8 hours, indicating that he would be quite capable of making a decent loaf of bread...
Meet Oscar...
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| Oscar at the time of his refresher feed, 10pm |
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| Oscar the next morning, 6am |
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| Oscar's bubbly activity at 6am |
So now that you have met Oscar, rest assured that this will not be the only time that you will see him...as he will be making more appearances in future on this blog, as the main star of many recipes to come.
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