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NEW! - How to Create a Sourdough Starter : Step by Step — Transcript

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0:05Hi, I'm Tom coming to you from the
0:08internationally acclaimed Sourdough
0:11Baking Institute of Cleveland, Ohio,
0:14also known as My Kitchen. Thank you for
0:17selecting my video. Now, I've made a
0:20number of videos on my YouTube channel,
0:22The Sourdough Journey, but I have not
0:25made one that shows how to create a
0:27sourdough starter. I created my starter
0:30about 11 months ago and I started making
0:32those videos shortly thereafter, but I
0:34already had my starter created. Now, we
0:37finally have the opportunity to see how
0:40a starter is created because I'm ready
0:42to create my second own sourdough
0:45starter. So, I'll take you through this
0:47entire process. Now, before I go any
0:50further, who is this video for? This
0:52video is for beginners who want to
0:55create their sourdough starter for the
0:57first time. I'll go through this in
0:59great detail. If you're an experienced
1:01baker or you have an existing sourdough
1:03starter, I have some other videos
1:05already created. One that includes steps
1:08of how to maintain an existing sourdough
1:11starter. I have a video that describes
1:13how to strengthen a weak sourdough
1:15starter. And I have a humorous video
1:18called 50 Ways to Kill Your Starter that
1:21talks about all the ways people
1:23accidentally kill or try to kill their
1:25starter and how to save your starter
1:28from common mishaps.
1:31In this video, we'll start from the very
1:33beginning. What is a sourdough starter?
1:36How do you create one? And then we'll
1:37get into a little bit of how you
1:39maintain it on an ongoing basis.
1:46Now, the first step in sourdough baking
1:48is to get your hands on a sourdough
1:50starter. There are many ways to do this.
1:53You can buy a sourdough starter already
1:55pre-made on the internet. There are
1:57places that sell them either in
1:59dehydrated form or in fresh form. That's
2:02a perfectly acceptable way to get
2:03started. If you have a friend who's a
2:06sourdough baker, you could ask them to
2:08give you some of their starter and then
2:10you can cultivate that into your own.
2:12You can go to a local bakery that makes
2:15sourdough bread and you could ask a
2:17bakery if they would give you some of
2:19their starter. Some bakeries are
2:20sensitive about this. They don't give it
2:22out. Other bakeries are happy to give
2:24some of their sourdough starter to a
2:26baker. Now, there are all kinds of
2:28starters out there in the world. Some
2:30sourdough starters have been handed down
2:32through generations. There are people in
2:34the US who have sourdough starter
2:37cultures that they've been maintaining
2:39since the mid 1800s from the California
2:42gold rush. There are people in Europe
2:45who have 400y old starters that have
2:48been handed down through generations.
2:50And there was recently a person who went
2:54to Egypt and took some dehydrated
2:56starter off of a baking vessel that was
2:58estimated to be 4,500 years old,
3:01reactivated that sourdough starter and
3:04baked bread using a 4,500y old starter.
3:07So, it's a pretty amazing, versatile,
3:10and longived microorganism. It's been on
3:13the earth for over a billion years. But
3:16if you cannot get your hands on a 4,500y
3:18old Egyptian baking vessel, I'll show
3:20you the easy way to make a sourdough
3:23starter in your kitchen.
3:30Now, what is a sourdough starter
3:33exactly? A sourdough starter is a living
3:37biological culture of wild yeast and
3:41lactic acid bacteria. This is the way
3:44bread has been made for over 4,000
3:46years. This started in the fertile
3:48crescent and in Egypt where there are
3:50the first remnants of baking facilities
3:53found in archaeological locations there.
3:56The Egyptians initially mixed a porridge
3:59of water and wheat and they would eat
4:01that for sustenance and they would bake
4:03flatbread out of that because it
4:05wouldn't rise. It didn't have the yeast
4:07in it. And then some Egyptian baker left
4:10some of his wet dough sitting out
4:12overnight and came back the next day or
4:15two days later and found this wet
4:17porridge had basically doubled in size.
4:20And all of a sudden this Egyptian baker
4:22had discovered the yeast that creates a
4:25sourdough culture that leavenvens or
4:27rises the bread. So then now they had
4:29this magic porridge that would double in
4:32size overnight. And by keeping some of
4:34that wet porridge overnight, day after
4:37day after day, you could maintain this
4:39magic porridge that would be doubling
4:41and bubbly and would cause flatbread to
4:44turn into risen or leaven bread. That's
4:46really how bread originated. What we're
4:49creating is that culture of yeast and
4:52other microbes that are exactly the same
4:55as what was done 4,000 years ago when
4:58the first leaven bread was discovered.
5:07So from ancient times up to the 20th
5:09century, people used a sourdough culture
5:13to make bread. What's in a sourdough
5:15culture? Two basic microorganisms. One
5:18is yeast. The yeast is what causes the
5:21bread to rise. And lactic acid bacteria.
5:24Lactic acid bacteria is what assists the
5:27yeast in the fermentation process. And
5:29it gives sourdough bread that tangy
5:31flavor. It's essentially creating two
5:34types of acid. Lactic acid, which is the
5:37tangy flavor that you get in yogurt, for
5:39example, and acetic acid, which is the
5:42biting acidic acidic flavor that you get
5:45in vinegar, for example. The lactic acid
5:48bacteria is creating both of those
5:49things. The yeast is creating ethanol,
5:53which is a alcohol. That's why yeast is
5:55used in brewing and creating wine and
5:57things of that nature. but it's also
5:59creating carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide
6:02basically fills your dough with air and
6:04that's what causes the bread to rise. So
6:06the two things that you're trying to
6:08grow in your culture are the yeast which
6:10rises the dough and the lactic acid
6:12bacteria which gives it that signature
6:15sour flavor.
6:22Now this is the way bread was made for
6:24centuries. This was great for using it
6:26to bake bread in small bakeries. But in
6:29the 20th century when people decided it
6:31would be better to make bread in a
6:33factory, this is a very unpredictable
6:35way to make bread in a factory. So
6:38that's when commercial yeast was
6:40created.
6:41Commercial yeast was created in a
6:43laboratory by taking all the strains of
6:46wild yeast from sourdough cultures and
6:49finding the one strongest, most robust
6:52and most stable species or strain of
6:56yeast. And they isolated that and
6:58reproduced that in a factory. And that's
7:00what you get in these little baggies.
7:02This is one strain of yeast that's been
7:04separated from the lactic acid bacteria
7:07and reproduced in a factory. And it does
7:09one thing really well. It basically eats
7:12sugar and creates carbon dioxide. So
7:15when scientists created commercial yeast
7:17in a factory, they were able to separate
7:19for the first time since the beginning
7:21of time. They separated yeast from its
7:26symbiotic partner, the lactic acid
7:28bacteria. And they were able to separate
7:30those two. So now you can buy yeast in a
7:32bag that doesn't include lactic acid
7:34bacteria. But that's why bread that you
7:36eat now, non- sourdough bread,
7:39commercially yeasted bread, just doesn't
7:41taste very good because you took out the
7:44flavor enhancers of the lactic acid
7:47bacteria that gives sourdough that
7:50unique flavor. So that's why we create
7:52our own starter because it does two
7:54things. One, it uses wild yeast to rise
7:57the dough. And along with that wild
7:59yeast comes its symbiotic partner, the
8:01lactic acid bacteria, which gives the
8:04sourdough its unique flavor.
8:11So the two microbes that are in the
8:13sourdough starter, yeast and lactic acid
8:16bacteria, these have traveled together
8:19through the history of time going back
8:21millions of years. When you find one,
8:22you find the other because they have a
8:25symbiotic relationship. They both eat
8:27similar foods, starches and sugars. The
8:30lactic acid bacteria consumes some
8:32sugars and gives them off in a different
8:34format that allows the yeast to then eat
8:37them and digest them. The yeast gives
8:39off alcohol and carbon dioxide. The
8:42lactic acid bacteria creates acid. And
8:45the two of those together create an
8:48environment that's perfectly suited for
8:50the two of them to exist. But because
8:53it's acidic and it's alcoholic, it
8:56basically fends off other microbes. So,
8:59it creates an environment where you can
9:01let a sourdough starter sit on your
9:03countertop non-refrigerated for a really
9:05long period of time and mold won't grow
9:08in it. Other pathogens won't grow in it.
9:10Other bacteria won't grow in it because
9:12these two microorganisms have created
9:15this perfect environment that they
9:16cohabitate in symbiotically and they
9:19keep out other bacteria.
9:27So, what are the ingredients that we
9:29need to create a sourdough starter? You
9:31need two ingredients, flour and water.
9:35Now, there are sourdough recipes on the
9:37internet where people talk about all
9:39kinds of other ingredients that you want
9:41to add to your sourdough starter.
9:43They'll talk about adding sugar, honey,
9:45pineapple juice, kefir, raisin water,
9:49all kinds of crazy stuff. You don't need
9:51any of those things. All you need is
9:53flour and water. So you might ask the
9:56question, well if I just start with
9:57flour and water, where does the yeast
10:00come from if I'm not adding it? The
10:02yeast is already attached to the flour.
10:07Now, when you create a sourdough
10:08starter, the yeast theoretically can
10:11come from three places. The yeast is
10:13already on the flour because the yeast
10:15is everywhere. There's yeast on my
10:17counter. There's yeast in wheat fields.
10:19There's yeast in the back of a truck
10:21that the
10:23uh wheat berries were dumped into. The
10:25yeast is already everywhere in the
10:27environment. And where you have yeast,
10:29you have lactic acid bacteria with it.
10:31So in this bag of flour, I already have
10:34the other ingredients that I need. The
10:36yeast cells and the lactic acid bacteria
10:38cells. They're just dormant because this
10:40is dry. So that's the primary place
10:43where your yeast comes from is it's
10:45already in this bag.
10:47The second place the yeast comes from is
10:49it's in the air. So when you're mixing a
10:51sourdough starter, some people will say
10:54you need to leave it open to the air so
10:56that all the yeast that's in the air can
10:58get into your sourdough starter. Very
11:00very little of the the yeast that
11:04ultimately is in your starter comes from
11:06the air. You could make a sourdough
11:09starter by completely sealing up your
11:11jar airtight. It's a completely anorobic
11:13process, meaning it doesn't need oxygen.
11:15It does not need yeast from the air. You
11:18don't need to leave the top open. You
11:20don't need to put it outside. You don't
11:22need to try to attract yeast into your
11:24jar of your starter culture. And then
11:27the third place where yeast comes from
11:29is from the baker's hands. This is
11:31interesting. There have been some
11:33studies that show that uh people who
11:36work in bakeries for long periods of
11:38time actually have yeast all over their
11:41bodies and they'll have yeast in their
11:42hands and they'll have enough yeast in
11:45the crevices of their hands where you
11:47could actually theoretically take
11:50sterile flour and if somebody rubbed
11:52their hands on that sterile flour, they
11:54have enough yeast on their hands that it
11:57would you'd be able to create a
11:58sourdough culture off of a baker's
12:00hands. I tend to wash my hands a little
12:02bit more frequently and I don't bake
12:04bread that often so I don't think I
12:06could start a sourdough culture off of
12:08my hands. But you'll hear people say
12:10that as well and that has been proven to
12:12be true. But 99.9%
12:15of the yeast that we need for our
12:18sourdough culture is already attached to
12:21the flour.
12:28Now, let's talk about making the
12:30starter. The recipe and process that I
12:32use is from Chad Robertson's Tartine
12:35Bread Sourdough Baking Book. This has a
12:38recipe and a process for how to create
12:40the starter on page 45. This is also
12:43available on the Tarte Bakery website.
12:46You can find the recipe for the basic
12:48country loaf, which is the standard
12:50recipe in this book. It also has in that
12:52recipe how to create the starter. It's
12:54the same thing that's in the book.
12:56That's what I'm going to be following
12:57here. He does not give precise
12:59measurements for a couple of the
13:01ingredients. So, I'm going to add some
13:02specific measurements here in the video
13:04to help out the beginners who wouldn't
13:07know what a handful of flour would equal
13:10in terms of grams, for example. So,
13:12let's follow this recipe.
13:19As I mentioned, there are two
13:20ingredients we need to make our starter.
13:22We need flour and water. Now, according
13:25to the tartine recipe, the flour that's
13:27recommended is a 50/50 mix of bread
13:30flour and whole wheat flour. Now, I
13:33recommend following this mix to get your
13:36starter going. Once you get your starter
13:39established and you want to maintain
13:40your starter on an ongoing basis, you
13:43can change up your mix of flowers if you
13:45prefer, but really to get it
13:46established, I strongly recommend
13:48following this mix. So, what I'm using
13:50is for my bread flour, I'm using Central
13:54Milling Company Organic Artisan Baker's
13:56Craft Flour. This is a bread flour from
13:58the Central Milling Company. And for the
14:00whole wheat flour, I'm using Central
14:02Milling Company organic whole wheat,
14:05high protein, medium grind flour. So,
14:1050% bread flour, 50% whole wheat flour.
14:13Now, we're going to need to add this
14:16mixture into the starter every day for
14:18say 7 to 10 days. So, what I recommend
14:21is rather than dragging out two bags of
14:23flour every day, is make a blend of this
14:26to start. So, I'll do that right here.
14:28So, what I prefer to do is to use these
14:30plastic containers. This holds about 3
14:32cups or 750 ml. And I'll mix up 50% of
14:38the bread flour, 50% of the whole wheat
14:40flour. I can fit about 350 gram of flour
14:43in here with a little bit of spare room.
14:45I know that from experience. So, I'm
14:47going to add 175 g of bread flour
14:56and 175 g of whole wheat flour.
15:05Now, this is a premix. I leave a little
15:08bit of room in the top. And this will
15:09last me for about a week of feeding the
15:11starter. So I leave some room in the top
15:14so that I have room to shake shake shake
15:16and mix these together. So what I'm
15:18doing is creating my 50/50 blend of
15:21bread flour and whole wheat flour. Now I
15:24don't need to get my bags out every day.
15:26I don't have to spill flour everywhere.
15:28This is a much cleaner, easier way to do
15:30your daily maintenance of your starter.
15:33So we have our 50/50 mix of our flowers.
15:36I label my container here so I know that
15:38I have 50% of the artisan baker's craft
15:41flour, 50% of the whole wheat flour. The
15:44second ingredient that I need is water.
15:53So, people often ask the question, what
15:55type of water is best to use for your
15:57sourdough starter? The answer is you
16:00should use noncllorinated
16:02water. Now, there are many different
16:05ways to get noncllorinated water. What I
16:07just did is I have chlorinated water
16:09coming through my tap from my municipal
16:11water supply, but I have a filter on my
16:14refrigerator that filters the chlorine
16:16out of it. So, I have noncllorinated
16:18water. Now, you can take chlorinated
16:20water, you can let it sit on your
16:21countertop overnight, and the chlorine
16:23will airate off of the water. You can
16:25boil it and you can boil chlorine off of
16:27the water. You can buy bottled water.
16:30You can buy spring water. You could use
16:32distilled water. People don't recommend
16:34using distilled water because that's
16:36stripped all the minerals out of the
16:38water. And then one other thing to
16:40remember is that if you're using
16:42municipal water and you're filtering it,
16:44you should find out what type of
16:45chlorination is in your water because
16:47there are two types that are used at
16:48least in the US now. One is chlorine and
16:52the other is chloromine. Chloromine is a
16:55combination of chlorine and ammonia
16:57that's actually more stable than
16:59chlorine, but it's harder to get that
17:01out of your water. So, if you have
17:03chloromine in your water, the only way
17:06to get that out is by boiling it for, I
17:08believe, 20 minutes. You could check
17:09with your local municipality to see what
17:11they recommend for removing chloromine
17:13from your water because it's not
17:16filtered out through normal household
17:17filters and it does not airate off by
17:20leaving it on your counter and it does
17:22not boil off by simply bringing it to a
17:24boil. You have to boil it for a longer
17:26period of time than that. Now, some
17:29people will say that they read on the
17:30internet or a friend told them that they
17:33can use chlorinated tap water to create
17:35their starter and it'll work out just
17:37fine.
17:38If you use chlorinated tap water to
17:40create your starter, the goal of your
17:43starter is to basically grow bacteria in
17:45a jar. And if you add chlorine into your
17:49jar where you're trying to grow
17:50bacteria, it's just like adding
17:53household bleach to your starter, which
17:56according to the label says kills 99.9%
18:01of germs and bacteria. Why would I want
18:03to put that in my starter? It doesn't
18:05make any sense. Make sure your water is
18:07not chlorinated. Other people will say,
18:09"Well, my friend said they just use tap
18:12water in their starter."
18:16Tap water can mean a hundred different
18:18things. Some people's tap water comes
18:21from a mountain spring. Some people's
18:23tap water is from a well that's been
18:25filtered through reverse osmosis
18:27filtration. Some people's tap water
18:29includes chlorine. Some includes
18:31chloromine. Some doesn't. So, when
18:33people say they use tap water, just
18:34ignore that because it doesn't mean
18:36anything. Everybody's tap water can be
18:38different. Figure out what's in your
18:39water. Take the chlorine out. It's the
18:41best way to do it.
19:00Now, we talked about the type of flour
19:02that we want to use. So, we're using
19:04half bread flour, half whole wheat
19:05flour. But what we didn't talk about is
19:07where your flour comes from. Now, this
19:10is where things get really interesting.
19:12Now, there are about a half dozen
19:15different strains of yeast that you'll
19:17find in a w sourdough culture and there
19:21are probably 30 different strains of
19:23lactic acid bacteria in sourdough
19:26cultures from all around the world and
19:28there are people who research this. So,
19:30when you create your first sourdough
19:33culture, as I mentioned, the vast
19:35majority of the yeast and lactic acid
19:36bacteria is coming from the flour that
19:39you're using. Now, when I created my
19:41first starter, I used mostly King Arthur
19:44flour. King Arthur is a popular flour
19:46company in Vermont in the United States.
19:50So, I used King Arthur flour. So, my
19:53yeast and lactic acid bacteria came from
19:56King Arthur from Vermont and from I'm
20:00guessing the East Coast. I don't know
20:02exactly where all the flour comes from.
20:04They could be sourcing it from all over
20:05the US typically. Let me just call this
20:08my east coast flower. And then I fed
20:11this over time with other flowers, but
20:13mostly King Arthur flowers. So, this is
20:16what I call my Cleveland starter. This
20:18is CL. That's the short name for the
20:22airport code. That's what the young
20:23people down in the 216 call it, CLLE.
20:27But what I'm going to create now is I
20:29want to create a California starter. I
20:32want to experiment and see if I buy
20:34flour from California, would that
20:37actually create a different strain of
20:40yeast and different strains of lactic
20:42acid bacteria than I than what I have
20:44here in the CLE. So, my new starter is
20:48going to be called Cali. I was going to
20:51write California on here, but I didn't
20:53make enough room on my tape. So, this
20:55one's called Cali. And what I'm going to
20:57do is use only flour that comes from
21:01California. These are from the Central
21:03Milling Company in Paluma, California.
21:06And I'm assuming that this flour was
21:09sourced from California. If it wasn't,
21:11don't tell me because I want to believe
21:12that. And most importantly, I want my
21:14starter to believe that the water that
21:17I'm using is filtered water from
21:19Cleveland. But I assume that that
21:21wouldn't impact the outcome because
21:23you're not getting yeast or lactic acid
21:25bacteria from the water. It's all coming
21:27from the flour. I'm going to keep the
21:30lid on this so that I'm not introducing
21:33local yeasts and lactic acid bacteras
21:36into this as much as possible. And
21:38lastly, I really want to convince this
21:40starter that it's in California. So, I
21:43grew my hair out long. I'm trying to
21:45learn how to surf. I really want this
21:47starter to think it lives in California.
21:49So, we're going to create this
21:50California starter today in Cleveland,
21:52Ohio.
21:58Okay, we're ready to mix up our starter.
22:00You need a vessel that you want to mix
22:01it in. I recommend these straight sided
22:04canning jars. These are called ball jars
22:06from the United States. This is one pint
22:09or about 500 ml. Uh I prefer a straight
22:13sided vessel so that you can get your
22:15spoon in there to scrape down the sides.
22:17I originally tried using something like
22:20this. This is really tough because you
22:22can't get your spoon in there to scrape
22:23it down and the starter gets all gked up
22:26and crusty around that lid. So, don't
22:29over complicate things with that. You
22:31could use a clear plastic container. You
22:34could use something like this. You'll
22:36want to have something that you could
22:37put a loose or tight fitting lid on. So,
22:40I use these plastic lids that you can
22:41buy separately with these canning jars.
22:44These come with the two-part metal lids.
22:46I don't like the two-part lids. I just
22:47buy these plastic replacements. So, the
22:50first step is to combine flour and
22:52water. The recipe calls for a very
22:54imprecise measurement. He says to fill
22:57up the container halfway and then add
22:59handfuls of flour until it creates a
23:02thick batter. That's a very imprecise
23:05measurement system. So, what I would
23:07recommend is let's start with 75 g of
23:10flour and 75 g of water.
23:15So, I have my flour blend here.
23:23Now, this quantity is somewhat arbitrary
23:25just based on my experience, but I'm
23:27recommending 75
23:29g of flour.
23:32And I have my filtered noncllorinated
23:35water. I'm adding 75 g of that.
23:41There we are. So, we have a total of 150
23:44g of new starter in a clean jar.
23:49Now, I'm going to mix this up.
23:52You want to mix this really thoroughly.
24:03And it should create what Chad Robertson
24:06calls is a thick batter with no lumps.
24:09So, I can see there are no lumps in
24:11here. But what's a thick batter? I mean,
24:14a thick batter is a very subjective
24:16term. Here's how I define a thick
24:17batter. I can go like this. I can turn
24:20this upside down and it won't pour out.
24:22That's a definition in my book of a good
24:24mix for a starter.
24:29So, that's it. That's all there is to it
24:31for mixing your flour and water. Now,
24:33I'm going to put a lid on this, but I'm
24:35not going to seal it tightly. So, I'm
24:36going to let a little bit of air in
24:38here, even though it's not required.
24:39This would work in an anorobic
24:41oxygen-free environment. But I screw
24:43this lid on. Then I just back it off
24:44slightly to leave a little bit of air
24:46space in there. So I don't want foreign
24:49objects kind of falling down into my
24:51starter dust or things like that cuz
24:53that could introduce other pathogens in
24:55here. But I'm going to leave a little
24:56air space to let some of the carbon
24:58dioxide out and let a little bit of
25:01oxygen in there even though you don't
25:02need oxygen. Now, the recipe says keep
25:05this in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3
25:09days. Very important. Why is it
25:11important to keep it in a cool place?
25:13Because I'm trying to grow my yeast and
25:15my lactic acid bacteria and there are
25:18other bacteria in the starter right now.
25:20You might not realize it because when
25:22you buy a bag of flour, it's white and
25:25it looks real clean. Flour is a raw
25:29food. It is not a sterilized food. So,
25:32you're getting basically whatever was in
25:34the wheat field is in that bag. And it
25:37can include all kinds of other bacteria.
25:41Let me just put it that way. Those are
25:43in my starter now. So, what's going to
25:44happen here in the first few days of
25:46your starter is there is an epic battle
25:49going on in this jar where the yeast and
25:52the lactic acid bacteria are trying to
25:54fight off all the other bacteria that's
25:57in that uh flour. And you want the yeast
26:01and the lactic acid bacteria to win that
26:03race. So what what you want is a
26:05relatively cool temperature. I'm going
26:07to put this in an upstairs room here
26:09where my temperature is about 69° 68° F
26:13or 20° C. What that'll do is it'll let
26:17the yeast get established and it'll slow
26:19down the development of some of these
26:21other bacteria and allow the yeast to
26:23get a little bit of a head start because
26:25the other bacteria far outnumber the
26:28yeast cells. If you put this in a warm
26:30environment, sometimes bad stuff will
26:33happen and all the other bacteria will
26:34take over before the yeast has a chance
26:36to establish itself. So that's the
26:38reason we want a cool environment. You
26:40also want to keep it in a dark place.
26:42Similarly, just to keep that sunlight
26:44out so you don't get the sunlight
26:46accelerating the development of
26:47everything, anything. So I'm going to
26:49cover this with a dark towel. I'm going
26:51to put this in one of my cool rooms and
26:53we're going to come back and check this
26:55each day. But this will take about two
26:57to three days where you don't want to
26:59touch this. You don't want to stir it.
27:01You don't want to do anything to it. I'm
27:02going to open the jar once a day. I'm
27:04going to inspect what's in there. I'll
27:06show you how it looks. But you don't
27:07want to add anything to it. You just
27:10want to let it sit for about 2 to 3
27:12days.
27:19Okay, it's day two. It's been 24 hours
27:21since we mixed our starter. Let's take a
27:22look. Now, the first thing that I do is
27:25I want to smell this as soon as I open
27:27this jar.
27:29Now, this still smells like bread flour.
27:31It smells like wheat. I'm not really
27:33smelling a lot more than that in here
27:34now. But, as we look in here, let's see
27:36what it looks like. Now, as you look
27:39down into this jar, you'll see some dark
27:41areas. That's just a shadow coming
27:43through the side of this jar because of
27:45this printing on the jar. That's not a
27:48discoloration of the starter. It's all
27:50the same basically cream color. It's
27:53just casting a shadow on it. So, what I
27:55do see here is what I expected is I see
27:57a few bubbles. That's a good sign.
27:59Bubbles means life. There's some life in
28:01our starter, but it's pretty flat. The
28:04smell hasn't changed very much. Pretty
28:06much what I would expect after 24 hours.
28:08Let's check this again tomorrow.
28:15It's day three. 48 hours since we
28:18initially mixed this. Let's take a look.
28:25Now we've got some action happening
28:27here. This is a good sign. So this will
28:29typically happen around day three or day
28:31four. This is where this battle among
28:33all the microbes that are in here is
28:35going on. And you're seeing this frothy
28:38bubbling on the top of this. Very
28:40typical after 2 or 3 days. And now let's
28:43look at the side view. There's something
28:45really important here. You can see those
28:47small streaks on the side of the jar
28:49show that this actually rose and fell.
28:52Now, that's just evidence of a lot of
28:54bacterial activity happening in the jar.
28:57And this is what people call is evidence
29:00that the bad bacteria is burning off.
29:03You'll see this frothy, thin, milky type
29:06of froth on the top of it. This is very
29:09typical. Now, some people will also get
29:12tricked at this point and they'll say,
29:14"Oh my gosh, my starter, it's been going
29:16for 2 days and it's already doubling in
29:18size. I saw it rise. I'm going to bake
29:20some bread." You don't want to bake
29:21bread with this cuz this still has
29:24foreign pathogens in it that are not
29:26healthy for humans to eat. So, you'll
29:29see this activity and sometimes be
29:31deceived and thinking that this is the
29:33yeast activity. It's not. It's all the
29:35bacteria fighting in here and just
29:38giving off their different byproducts.
29:40So, you don't want to be eating this
29:42stuff on day two or day three.
29:47Let's cover it for one more day. See
29:49what it looks like tomorrow.
29:57Okay, it's day 4. 72 hours since we
30:00mixed this up. Let's take a look.
30:05Now, this smells more vinegary today.
30:07So, that means that the lactic acid
30:09bacteria is now giving off its byproduct
30:11of acetic acid. So, now if we look down
30:15in here, this looks different than it
30:17looked yesterday. It's flattened out.
30:19You see small bubbles all around here
30:22and it's lost that frothiness. That's a
30:24good sign because this is what an
30:27immature starter should look like. just
30:29kind of that flat with those pinhole
30:31sized bubbles on the top. So on day
30:34four, now we're ready to start feeding
30:36this. So this sat for 72 hours from when
30:39we initially mixed it. It may take one
30:41extra day. It may take one less day, but
30:44when it starts to flatten out like this
30:45and look like it's settling in with
30:47those small pinhole size bubbles, we're
30:49ready to feed this and start moving into
30:51the next stage of building our starter,
30:53which is feeding.
30:59So now that we're entering the next
31:01phase of building our starter, which is
31:02the daily feeding, we need to understand
31:04the concept of starter feeding ratios.
31:07The feeding ratio is typically expressed
31:09as three numbers. So it's three numbers
31:12in series separated by two colons. And
31:15what this is is the ratio of the first
31:17number, which is your starter that you
31:19want to keep. The second number is the
31:22ratio of flour that you want to add. The
31:25third number is the ratio of water that
31:27you want to add. So if I wanted to keep
31:29equal parts starter, flour, and water, I
31:33would do a one one ratio. That means
31:36equal parts starter, equal parts flour,
31:37equal parts water. The tartine recipe as
31:40you're building your starter recommends
31:42a 1 22 ratio. So we're going to have one
31:46part starter, two parts flour, and two
31:50parts water. Now you have to determine
31:53how many grams do you want in that first
31:55number. That's how you determine the
31:57second number and the third number. What
31:58I recommend is to keep 25 g of your
32:02existing starter. So that's going to be
32:03the one in the 1:22 ratio. So that's 25
32:07g of starter, 50 g of flour, 50 g of
32:10water. The second and third number are
32:13ratios off of the first number. So it's
32:15one part starter, two parts flour, two
32:17parts water. Now, I have 150 gram of
32:21starter in this jar right now. If you
32:22remember, we we began this process by
32:24adding 75 g of water and 75 g of flour.
32:28I only need 25 g of this to continue.
32:31So, I'm going to discard
32:34125 g of my existing starter and I'm
32:38going to keep 25 g going forward. And
32:41you'll get the hang of this. We're going
32:43to do it every day. We're going to
32:44discard a portion and we're going to
32:46keep a portion. So, I need to keep 25 g.
32:49I could create a second jar and take out
32:5225 gram and put it into a second jar and
32:54then go from there. But, I'm out of
32:56jars. So, I need to get this out of this
32:58jar, put 25 g back in, and then start
33:02from there in this same jar. So, what
33:04I'm going to do is just pour this out
33:06into this little red bowl,
33:10completely empty this jar. Then I can
33:12set this on my scale, set the scale to
33:14zero, and then add back 25 gram of my
33:17starter into this, which is all I want
33:19to keep. So, let me do that.
33:23So, when I pour this out, th this is
33:25really liquefied over that 3-day period
33:27that it's been sitting there. So, this
33:29actually pours out almost the
33:31consistency of paint.
33:39So, I've emptied out my jar completely.
33:41I put it into this separate bowl. Now I
33:43can reset my jar to zero
33:46on my scale.
33:49And now I just want to add in 25 g of
33:51this to go forward.
33:55So I have 25 g. That's the first number
33:58in my feeding ratio. That's the 1 equals
34:0025. So now if I want to add two times
34:03flour and two times water to that, I get
34:06my blend. So you can remember we mixed
34:08up our blend here. Very easy. I don't
34:10have to get my bags out. So now I want
34:13to add 2 * 25 flour. So that would be 50
34:15g of flour.
34:19And I want to add 2 * that 25 g of
34:21starter as water. So I'm keeping my
34:23flour water ratios the same. So I add 50
34:26g of water. There we are. So that's my
34:30new feeding ratio. 1 22 which is 2550.
34:3625 g of old starter 50 g of flour. 50
34:40grams of water.
34:42We're going to do this every day for
34:44about a week. And then I like to wipe
34:46off the rim of the jar because you'll
34:48get some really crusty, nasty stuff
34:51around the top of that. You want to keep
34:53the sides scraped down completely.
34:56Really keep that starter down in the
34:58bottom of your jar. Keep your sides
35:00clean. This is a great tool that
35:02somebody recommended. This is called a
35:05spunula, I guess, because its mother is
35:08a spoon and its father is a spatula. But
35:10it basically works like a spoon for
35:12scooping out the flour. And it also has
35:14this flexible tip for scraping down the
35:16sides. Spoon a lot. Perfect tool for
35:19this process. Okay. Now, we also changed
35:23something else here. Now that we fed
35:24this, it's starting to establish itself
35:26as a sourdough culture. So, I don't need
35:28to keep this at a cool room temperature
35:30anymore. I can keep this at a warm room
35:32temperature. So really, the optimal
35:34temperature for a sourdough starter is
35:37between 76° F and 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
35:40That's 24.4°
35:42C and 27.8°
35:45C. So in my kitchen, my kitchen's a
35:49little bit cooler than that, but on top
35:50of my refrigerator, where the compressor
35:53throws off a little bit of heat, it's a
35:55little warmer on top of my refrigerator
35:58than it is just sitting on my
35:59countertop. My countertop is about 74° F
36:02or 23° C. So, I keep my starters up on
36:06top of my fridge. So, now that we've
36:07started daily feeding, we also want to
36:09start to monitor the starter to see if
36:12it's rising. So, after I fed this, I put
36:14this rubber band around here. I just
36:16took a rubber band and colored it black
36:18with marker around here. So, now I'm
36:20going to watch this throughout the day
36:22and see if the starter rises throughout
36:25the day.
36:32Okay, I've been watching the starter
36:33throughout the day. We're eight hours
36:35since I did the 122 feeding. This
36:38starter is doubling now after 8 hours.
36:41Here's what it looks like. You can see
36:43the rubber band shows where we started.
36:45It's clearly doubled in height. You can
36:47see I had this on my refrigerator at 77
36:5178° F. That's about 25 25 1/2° C. So,
36:57we're getting a really good rise here
36:59where it's doubling in height. 8 hours
37:02is a little bit of a long time for your
37:04starter to double. We want to see that
37:05happening in about 4 hours, and that's
37:07really the indication that our starter
37:09is ready. But day four is really early
37:12in this process. Normally, this would
37:15take 6, seven or eight days.
37:22Now, it did not happen with this batch
37:24of starter, but another thing that's
37:26very common when you're making a new
37:28starter is that between days three,
37:31four, and five, you'll really get a
37:33quiet period with the starter where it
37:36looks like it's not doing anything.
37:37It'll just sit there flat. Don't panic.
37:41Don't try to do anything to it. Don't
37:43try to add anything to it. Just stick
37:45with the daily feeding maintenance and
37:48just have patience. That's all I can
37:50say. This one happened to be very active
37:52on day four. That's a little bit
37:54uncommon. Usually day four is a quiet
37:56day.
38:02So now it's day five. So the last time
38:04we saw this yesterday on day four, it
38:07had doubled in height after about 8
38:08hours. Now look at it the next day. On
38:11day five, it's completely flattened out
38:14again. You see those bubbles on top?
38:16That's a good sign that it's alive. But
38:18this is the typical starter feeding
38:20cycle. So you feed it, it'll rise over a
38:23four to eight hour period. Then it'll
38:24gradually come back down. Then it
38:26flattens out and bubbles. So when it
38:28flattens out like that, what that means
38:30is it's consumed all the food and it's
38:33ready for another feeding. So this is
38:35what I would call a hungry starter where
38:38it's really flattened out again and you
38:40see all those little pinpoint holes on
38:42the top. So now every day we do the one
38:45two feeding again. So, I'm going to pour
38:47off all but 25 g of this and then add 50
38:51g of flour, 50 g of water. Same thing
38:54that we did yesterday. Now, like I said,
38:56you can use two jars or you should also
38:59weigh your jar before you put your
39:01starter in. I know that this weighs 285
39:03g. So, I can pour this off and I know
39:06that if it weighs 310 g, I have 25 grams
39:10of starter left in it. That's also
39:12another way to get at your starting
39:13point. And then you also want to discard
39:16that remaining starter. You don't want
39:18to keep that. Once your starter is
39:20established after say 10 days to two
39:23weeks, you can start saving your
39:25discard. And there are all kinds of
39:26recipes that you can use for starter
39:30discard. You can find those on the King
39:32Arthur website. They have a a lot of
39:34different ideas for how to use it. But
39:37in this first week or two, you want to
39:39make sure that all that bad bacteria has
39:41burned itself off of your starter. So,
39:43don't hang on to your discard. Just keep
39:45the 25 g and get rid of the rest each
39:47day. I put mine into my compost bin. I
39:50like to think of that as some of the
39:52yeast is being released into the wild
39:54because in the future, its cousins that
39:56remain are going to burn up in a fiery
39:58death in my oven when I use them to bake
40:00bread. So, I like to let some of the
40:02yeast kind of go back to nature by
40:04putting that in my compost.
40:11So, it's been 6 hours since I fed the
40:13starter earlier today. Now, let's take a
40:15look at this because this has now
40:16doubled in 6 hours. Yesterday, it took 8
40:19hours to double. Today, it took 6 hours.
40:22That's what you want to see. That's the
40:24sign of a strengthening starter is the
40:26ability for it to double in height after
40:28a one two feeding, ideally in 4 hours.
40:32We're not quite there yet, but we're
40:34getting there.
40:40Now, here's day six before our feeding.
40:42Let's take a look. Now, what you can see
40:45here is this is very flat, very bubbly.
40:48It's a little more liquefied than we saw
40:50yesterday. That's a good sign. That's a
40:52sign that the starter is strengthening
40:55because it's eating even more and more
40:57of the starches and sugars in the flour.
41:00When it really starts to liquefy, you
41:01get that shimmery kind of liquid on top.
41:04That's the ethanol or the alcohol. That
41:06means that this starter is eating all
41:08the food that it has. And we might have
41:10to actually increase the feeding ratio
41:12at some point if it gets any worse than
41:15this. But it is just now perfectly
41:17eating the amount of food that we're
41:19giving it.
41:26Okay, day six. I fed this starter four
41:28hours ago. Take a look at this. It's
41:30amazing. So, this starter has more than
41:33doubled in 4 hours on day six after I
41:37created it. That is a very quick
41:40strengthening of a starter.
41:42It's uncommon. So, if you're mixing your
41:44starter and it's not quite there yet,
41:46this is what I would typically see day
41:49seven, day 8, day 9, day 10. This
41:51starter really came on strong here. So,
41:54this is really quick for a starter. 6
41:56days to have your starter double in size
41:58like that within a 4-hour feeding.
42:00That's really the test of when your
42:02starter is ready. When it can double in
42:04height within 4 hours after a one 122
42:07feeding, that starter is really strong.
42:29Now, given that it's only day six,
42:31that's kind of early to be using a
42:33starter. I would recommend that you keep
42:35feeding this through day seven, day
42:37eight, day 9, day 10. Usually 7 to 10
42:40days is the recommended time before you
42:42want to use a starter in baking. This
42:44one is doing really well at day six, but
42:47I would still give it a little bit more
42:48time because it's not just the rise of
42:50the starter that you're looking for,
42:52it's also developing the flavor of the
42:54lactic acid bacteria. So, this could
42:56sufficiently rise a loaf right now, but
42:58it might not really have that flavor
43:00that you're looking for. So, I'm going
43:02to keep feeding this for a few more
43:03days.
43:09So, the starter rose and fell on day
43:12six. Now, it's day seven. Now, if you
43:14take a look at this, now you want to
43:16smell this every day as well. The smells
43:18are going to change over time and and
43:20you'll get all different types of smell
43:22in your starter. Some day it smells
43:23beautiful like a yeasty bread factory.
43:27Some days it smells like vinegar. Some
43:29days it smells like stinky cheese or a
43:31locker room. Uh it just goes through
43:34different phases and it'll it'll change
43:36some very different smells over uh you
43:39know dayto-day depending what
43:41temperature it's at. Uh can have a lot
43:43to do with the type of odor that's
43:45coming off of it. Don't panic if the
43:47smell changes. The smell is really not
43:49an indication of whether it's good or
43:51bad. It just goes through different
43:52cycles depending on whether the lactic
43:55acid is dominating or the acetic acid is
43:58dominating or the alcohol byproduct of
44:01the uh yeast is dominating. So, you'll
44:04get some different smells coming out of
44:06your starter. But now you can see on day
44:09seven, this has really flattened out.
44:12Very small pinpoint holes. It's getting
44:13to the point where it's almost starving.
44:15It's just barely making it through this
44:18feeding cycle with enough food. when it
44:20really flattens out and starts to
44:22liquefy like that. So, I'm going to do
44:24another one two feeding today and then
44:26check this tomorrow and see if if we
44:29need to increase the feeding ratio or
44:31not.
44:37So, it's day eight now. The starter is
44:39continuing to strengthen. It's rising
44:41and falling. But take a look at what it
44:43looks like now before I feed it. Super
44:45liquefied on top. That's ethanol or
44:48hooch. That's basically alcohol. That
44:50means the yeast is starving. So, look
44:53how liquidy this is. So, what you can
44:55see here is that this starter does not
44:58have enough food to last 24 hours until
45:01the next feeding using that 1:22 ratio.
45:05It's just barely running out of food.
45:07That's a good sign because it means I
45:09have a strong yeast population. The
45:11yeast has been reproducing through these
45:14seven or eight days. There's just more
45:16yeast in here. So, it's eating more of
45:17the starches and sugars in the flour.
45:19So, we have to think about, do we change
45:21the feeding ratio? So, let's talk about
45:23starter feeding ratios now.
45:32So, now if your starter is doubling like
45:34mine is after a one two feeding, you're
45:37well on your way to having a great
45:38sourdough starter. Now, you move into
45:41the maintenance phase of managing your
45:43starter. And the key thing is to figure
45:45out what you want to do in terms of your
45:48daily feeding ratio. So we built this
45:51starter using a one2 feeding ratio and
45:55that's just barely enough food for the
45:57starter to make it 24 hours. My old
46:00starter Cle from Cleveland, this one
46:03works fine with a one feeding ratio. So
46:07every day I take equal parts starter. I
46:10do 25 grams of starter, 25 grams of
46:13flour, 25 grams of water. It's just not
46:16as strong or as hungry of a starter.
46:18It's part of the reason that I built
46:20this new one. So, when you think about
46:22the feeding ratio, what you're really
46:24trying to do is to say, if I want to do
46:26daily maintenance of my starter, which
46:28means I'm going to feed it once a day,
46:30keep it at room temperature on my
46:32countertop, for example. The feeding
46:34ratio is trying to figure out what's the
46:37optimal amount of food that you need to
46:38give your starter until you get to the
46:41next feeding. So, I use what I call the
46:44camping analogy.
46:51So when you think of those three numbers
46:52in the starter ratio 1 22 in this
46:55example, the first number is the
46:57population or the number of campers that
47:00you're sending out on a camping trip.
47:02The second number is the number of meals
47:04that you're sending with them and the
47:06third number is the amount of water that
47:08you're sending with them. So in a one2
47:10ratio for each camper I send two meals
47:14and two bottles of water. For my 111
47:17ratio, I send one camper with one meal
47:20and one bottle of water. These campers
47:23come back and they haven't starved to
47:25death. They're fine using 111 in my
47:27Cleveland starter. My California
47:30starter, this is a little hungrier. It
47:32needs 122. When I send the campers out,
47:35I got to send two meals and two bottles
47:38of water with each one of them. Now,
47:41when these guys came back, they are
47:43extremely hungry as we could see on that
47:45video of what that looked like where all
47:49the the sugars had been consumed and you
47:51can start to see that alcohol forming on
47:53the top. So, then I asked the question,
47:56if two is just barely enough, then I go
47:59up to 133. Or I could go 1 2.5 2.5. But
48:03just to keep it easy,
48:06my next feeding I'll try one part
48:09starter. So, my 25 g of starter, but now
48:12I need to send three meals and three
48:14bottles of water. So, I do 75 g of flour
48:18and 75 g of water. And then I check it
48:20the next morning to see, did I give it
48:23too much food? Did I give it not enough
48:24food? What did the campers look like
48:26when they came back?
48:33So, I did a 133 feeding on this and when
48:37it came back 24 hours later, that was
48:39more than enough food. It was still
48:40actually kind of pasty and I just didn't
48:43like the way that it looked when I ca
48:45when it came back with that 133 feeding.
48:47It was just too much food and and you're
48:50just ending up wasting flour if it's not
48:53kind of coming back in that hungry
48:54state. You want it to be hungry, which
48:56is flat and bubbly, but not starving,
48:59which is hoochie and liquefied. So, I'm
49:02going to go back to the 122 feeding and
49:04monitor this for a while. 122 typically
49:07works. One of the other things that's
49:09happening here, as you could see from
49:10the thermometers that I'm using, this is
49:13at a pretty warm temperature right now,
49:1578 79° F, which is about 26° C. That
49:20also impacts the speed at which the
49:22starter eats the food. So, I'm going to
49:24take this back down to 122 and monitor
49:26it for a while. I just didn't like the
49:28way that it it looked with the 133. It
49:30was too pasty and it didn't need that
49:33much food.
49:58So, if your starter is doubling in
50:00height after say four, five, six hour
50:04feeding consistently at that 1:22 ratio
50:07and your starter is at least 7 days old,
50:10your starter is ready to bake bread
50:12with. I would just try it and see how it
50:13goes. It will continue to strengthen
50:15over time. It really takes, in my
50:17experience, about 30 days for the
50:19starter to come to full strength. And
50:21that's not just the ability for it to
50:23rise, but also the ability to develop
50:25that flavor. the lactic acid bacteria
50:28takes a little bit of time to kind of
50:29equalize with your yeast in your
50:31starter. After 30 days, the starter
50:33really settles in in my experience. So,
50:36good luck with your starter. If you have
50:38other questions, I have three other
50:40videos you might want to check out. One,
50:42how to maintain your starter that goes
50:44through in detail how to do the daily
50:45maintenance. Number two is how to
50:48strengthen a weak starter. if your
50:50starter ever goes through a phase where
50:52it just starts to peter out and lose its
50:54strength. I have some tips for how to
50:56strengthen a weak starter. And number
50:59three is a humorous but educational
51:01video called 50 ways to kill your
51:03starter that talks about all the common
51:05mishaps that people have where they
51:08accidentally kill their starter. And I
51:10show many ways where you can revive a
51:12starter that you didn't actually kill,
51:14but it certainly looked like it. Good
51:16luck with your baking and thank you for
51:18watching my video.

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