SOURDOUGH STARTER A sourdough starter is essentially about producing yeast to make your dough rise and give it a great flavour. For this one, I’m using green grapes to help it get going, but you could use another fruit such as an apple. For the first week, treat your starter like a pet, don’t just leave it alone. It’s beginning to grow and you need to understand its characteristics and how it reacts to temperature variations. Look at it a couple of times a day to see what’s going on and when it needs to be fed, or ‘refreshed’ with flour and water. MAKES 1 QUANTITY SOURDOUGH STARTER
250g strong white bread flour 5–7 seedless organic green grapes 250ml tepid water For each refreshing 100g strong white bread flour 100ml tepid water
Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Chop up the grapes, add them to the flour, then pour in the water and mix to combine. Tip the mixture into a large jar or a plastic box with an airtight lid that is roomy enough for it to rise. Cover and leave to ferment at warm room temperature (20–24°C is best) for 3 days. You should see the mixture froth up. One tip is to draw a line level with the top of the mixture using a black maker pen so you can see how your starter rises and falls. After 3 days, the mixture should be risen, bubbly and slightly darker. When you open the lid, it will smell distinctly sour. This shows your starter is undergoing a lactic fermentation and is active. If it isn’t working then discard half the mixture, add 100g flour, 100ml water and some more chopped grapes and leave it for another day or two. Once your starter is active, discard half the mixture and stir in another 100g strong white flour and 100ml water (or enough water to keep it the same consistency). This is called ‘refreshing’ your starter and is what you do to feed the yeast. It needs to be done at least every few days to keep your starter alive. Leave the refreshed starter for at least 24 hours and it should bubble up and become thick and almost jelly-like in texture. It is now ready to use to make your sourdough. Continued overleaf
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