Sour dough starter

Being the avid bread baker that I am, I have been intrigued by sour dough for some time. I tried a few years back, but kept forgetting to feed my sour dough and letting it die. All I can say on that topic is thank goodness that when I have had pets in the past they have been cats that meow and let you know they are hungry!

So hear goes nothing.
Step one, find a suitable container, many people suggest kilner jars. But in truth anything large enough and water tight will do. Something big enough to hold a litre as a minimum and I find that clear is helpful so that you can tell when the sour dough as doubled in size (thus ready to use). I am using a lunch box that was already in the cupboard so  didn't need to buy anything in particular. 1 litre capacity yogurt pots are great also.

The thing to get your head around is to weigh your water, same weight water as four, so use 50g of four and 50g of water. You cant add a table spoon if each as that will give you too much water. If you like to use measuring cups to make things simpler ( I use a measuring cup so I don't have to get my scales out each time), you will need to use half the amount of water to flour e.g. 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of water.

Lots of sour dough recipes say to start, then not feed until the fermentation has begun (bubbles have appeared) but I found that feeding before the bubbles have appeared not only did no harm to the process but also sped it up.

Day one:
50g flour (spelt and rye are good but plain white bread flour will work but take longer to ferment)
50g room temperature water.
Mix this together in your container to form a thick paste/batter without any lumps.

I used my 1/4 cup measuring cup and I filled it to the top with spelt flour, then half filled the same cup with water, this is only a guess but it seemed to be close enough.

Day two:
at the same time as the day before once again 50g of flour and water, mixed.

The first few bubbles started to appear.

Day three:

50g and 50g again (can you see a pattern forming :p) 

Now lots of bubbles are appearing and a tangy flavour should be detectable by smell.

A close up of said bubbles

Keep feeding you started every day at the same (ish) time every day with the same amounts for 6 days. By day six there should be lots of bubbles and the smell should be well developed. The starter should smell sour, beery and tangy, but it should not smell horrible. Also after a feed it should now be doubling in size (like in normal bread making) this can take anywhere from 2 hours to 8. I place an elastic band around my tub where the starter is at a feed, so it is obvious when it has doubled.

It should now be ready to make a loaf! I am going to try and get back to you

Happy cooking
xoxo