Start Me Up

Back in "the day," I posted about how sourdough drives me crazy. Sourdough bread is a bit of a touchy process (especially if you don't bake every day), and as of late, I've been baking a fair amount of pizza/focaccia and using that old standby, instant yeast. Just makes my life easier, as does baking pizza and focaccia, since they're pretty friggin' easy compared to say, baguettes, or other loaves that actually require a modicum of skill to shape.

Of course when you bake sourdough, you use a starter. And I had a really nice, delicious starter going during my sourdough baking days, but with splitting time between DC and NYC, my starter has been faced with months and months of neglect. So, the other day, I did a little experiment to see if I could bring it back to life - once I found it in the back of the fridge!

Here's what she looked like when I opened the container...

Pretty gross, right? By the way, that liquid on top is called hooch, and you got it, it's basically alcohol, but no matter how much of a drunkard you may be, don't drink it...not good for ya.

In order to revitalize a starter, you're supposed to feed it every 12 hours, and you start by getting rid of almost every last drop of that sludge above. This is what I was left with...

Feeding, which takes place every 12 hours or so, is done by mixing that tiny bit of leftover starter with half flour and half water - by weight. Don't forget, a cup of water weighs almost twice as much as a cup of flour. Stir it all together, and this is what you get...

Now, cover that tightly with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for 12 or so hours. At that point, my starter actually showed some signs of life...

Now, throw it all away again, and refeed. Do that again in another 12 hours. And lookee here - after 3 feedings and 48 hours, here's what I ended up with...

A perfectly refreshed, sour-smelling, highly agitated starter. And today I baked some beautiful focaccia using almost all of that starter for my dough. Feed the little bit that's left over (no more than a tablespoon) with that same proportion of flour and water (50 - 50), let it sit on the counter for 4 - 6 hours till it shows some signs of activity, and back in the fridge awaiting either it's next use or feeding. Not really that hard at all, and barely drove me crazy.