How to make your own sourdough starter
By Request – here is a re-post of a very popular campfire cooking story. Sourdough is the original yeast-raised bread. Here is how you can make your own unique sourdough starter.
by Leon Pantenburg
Commercial yeast is a relatively new idea. But sourdough has been around ever since somebody figured out that raised bread tasted better than unleavened wheat cakes.
Sourdough starter is where great bread begins. (Pantenburg photo)
Essentially, sourdough refers to a bread that is made with a natural, liquid yeast mixture for the leavening agent.
Buy a custom antler ferro rod firestarter
There is always a mystique associated with sourdough starter. For some reason, the story sounds better if the starter is old and established.
For example, that famous San Francisco sourdough flavor may be reported to come from a starter that has been around since the gold rush of 1849. Or you’ll hear about starter that goes back to the Alaskan Klondike gold rush around the turn of the century.
My sourdough starter was given to me by my sister, Karla Moore. She got it in a trade, and legend has it that the starter goes back to the Oregon Trail in 1847. (Legend has it means I can’t prove something, and you can’t disprove it.)
But I have used that starter since I got it in 2004. For years it was the basis for my kids’ bread for school lunches. My sourdough dinner rolls made with that starter have won several Dutch oven bread competitions, and it has appeared twice in the finals of the International Dutch Oven Society’s World Championship cookoffs.
Regardless of its real genealogy, that starter has a family history already.
There is authentic heirloom sourdough starter available, and you will decide how important that is to your baking. IMHO, any authentic/heirloom starter would inevitably get changed and mutated by native wild yeast spores. I also think that sourdough flavor is heavily influenced by the natural environment of the area it is being made in. (But consult an expert before you make up your mind: For more info on sourdough baking try my go-to bread book: Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood.)
For the prepper/survivalist, sourdough baking is a practical method of bread baking. You don’t have to worry about running out of yeast, and once you acquire a taste for sourdough bread, other types seem bland and tasteless. But first you have to have the starter. It is not difficult to create.
Airborne yeast spores are everywhere, and to make a starter an appropriate landing place is required. All you need is flour and water.
This technique for catching wild yeast comes from Ernie Hahn of La Pine, OR. Ernie is a retired baker, a former competition cooking partner of mine, a Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society member, and the terror of the dessert category at any Dutch oven competition. He is an instructor at many Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society seminars, specializing in breads. Here is Ernie’s method for catching yeast and making a sourdough starter.
Sourdough Starter
2 c flour
2-1/2 c lukewarm water
Put flour in a crock, jar or plastic bowl that is room temperature. Add lukewarm water. Gently fold the flour and water together. Set the batch of starter in a warm, not hot place. Cover with a towel.
In about four or five days, the pot will be bubbling slowly and a wonderful aroma will fill your kitchen. When you have used up a cup in a recipe, you will want to replenish the starter. Generally, fold 2 cups of flour and 3/4 cup of warm water together and add to your starter.
(If you are not going to use your starter for a couple of weeks, put the starter in the refrigerator. If you are not going to use it for a month, put it in the freezer. Bring your starter to room temperature to get it working again.)
Check out the food and cooking section of SurvivalCommonSense.com. There are recipes for campfire and Dutch oven baking, as well as my award-winning sourdough dinner rolls recipe.
Thanks I have been trying to find a recipe like this that does not require yeast to start. Where can I find recipes to go forward from here? I apologize for not having much imagination in these matters.
I’ve heard stories about the old sourdoughs during the Alaska Gold Rush taking their starter to bed with them to keep it functioning. I’m guessing that the starter would work at any temperature above freezing. I have noticed that cold hampers how fast the dough will rise. When I’m cooking sourdough bread in a Dutch oven outside in the winter, I’ll put 2-3 lighted charcoal briquettes on top of the lid to help the bread rise.
I don’t know, I have never tried. If you try the starter with the gluten free ingredients, please let me know how it comes out.
wonder this sour dough started can be used with gluten free flours/ingredients?
What would be a minimum air temperature to try this in??
It’s already posted. Check out: http://wp.me/p2qiUB-2VC. It’s my money recipe in Dutch oven cookoffs! If you need another recipe, let me know!
Any idea when you are going to post the Sour Dough bread recipe? Just started my starter tonight and want to use it in a few days.
Thanks
It depends on a lot of environmental factors: elevation, humidity, air pressure etc. I always fill the container no more than halfway, and it works out well.
C stands for cup here in the USA. I’m flattered you’re reading the post! Thanks!
Hi, How much will the starter rize in the container?,So I will know what size container to put the starter in.
Thanks for the recipe.
PS may b ‘c’ is a CUP measurment LOL
Good simple recipe, but what is a ‘c’ ? obviously a unit of measurement – here in Europe we use cc’s (cubic centimetres) or fluid ounces… can anyone tell me what is a ‘c’ unit of measurment please – many thanks…..otherwise I suppose we could just use the figures of 2 and 2 and half to transpose to any amount…e.g. 2 Lbs 2 and a half litres? Many thanks
PS may be ‘c’ is a cup measurement…doh…
Good simple recipe, but what is a ‘c’ ? obviously a unit of measurement – here in Europe we use cc’s (cubic centimetres) or fluid ounces… can anyone tell me what is a ‘c’ unit of measurment please – many thanks…..otherwise I suppose we could just use the figures of 2 and 2 and half to transpose to any amount…e.g. 2 Lbs 2 and a half litres? Many thanks
Next week I will post it.
Yes.. is the bread recipe available ?
Will give this a try. Sourdough hates me! Either that or my house has toxic yeast spores. I have tried several different methods that failed. But when I had a starter (that I obtained) working it was fantastic! The sourdough pancakes were incredible! When you mixed the starter, the bubbles exploded and the sound of the batter changed and SO LIGHT because of all the bubbles. Thanks for the push to try again.
I’m posting a prize-winner sourdough bread recipe next week. Stay tuned!
Noobie Dutch oven user but always wanted to make great bread… so +1 for the recipe using bread starter … especially with Dutch Oven directions !
I don’t know! I would think that the yeast could work on a variety of mediums…I have a niece who is gluten intolerant, so I would like to know so I could pass that on to her. What ng flour do you usually use? I’ll get some and see what I can find out.
Unfortunately I cannot eat gluten so am wondering if you could make this w/a gluten-free flour or blend of g-f flours.
Any ideas on which particular flour or blend would work best? Do you have a to have gluten in a starter? I usually
add xanthan or guar gum to the flour mixture when baking as it is similar to gluten in binding ability.
Sure – it will make a denser starter, but there should be no problem. As long as there is gluten in the starter, it should work fine.
Hey….can you use any kind of flour? I’d like to use whole wheat flour if possible.
There will be my best sourdough bread recipe next week. I’m posting my sourdough dinner rolls recipe that has won bread several times in various Dutch oven cookoffs. You have to have the starter before you make the bread, so get your sourdough going!
Is there a bread recipe using this starter available? Thanks!
This is by far the easiest recipe I’ve seen to make sourdough starter. I’m going to try this out. Thanks for posting this!