Sunday, January 18, 2009

Time to "Put My Money Where My Mouth Is"

It's very easy to make theoretical generalizations. My goal with this Urban-Subsistence-Living blog has been to put heads together in order to figure out a way whereby self-sufficiency is achievable inexpensively in an urban environment. I have been in the enviable position of being able to come up with lots of ideas, without having to see if they really work. Well, the economic slow-down has caused my own income to drop significantly. I hope that I won't be forced to use all of these ideas in order to survive, but what better way to put them to the test, then to have to depend upon them.

Yesterday, I decided to try making a sourdough starter. I thought that this would be a more self-sufficient way to make bread than having to depend on store-bought yeast. First, I did a little research. Then I assessed what I had in the house. I had a few small pieces of cooked potato, salt, sugar, honey, and flour. I wanted to make only a little, so I adapted the recipe suggestions to what I had. I combined about some salt, sugar, honey, flour, two potato pieces, and warm water in a coffee cup and covered it with a saucer. Then I set it in a warm oven (about 90 - 100 degrees), which I have had to rewarm periodically. I see that I am having some success, because it smells a little sour and it is beginning to bubble just like the pictures. It is supposed to grow for two days, so I have one more day to go.
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Both photos are from a great site called "Wild Yeast. The 3 small loaves are from the following post: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/29/maintain-starter/. The bubbling starter is from http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/
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Here are some links on how to make sourdough starters in various ways.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sourdough-Starter-IV/Detail.aspx
http://http//www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/29/maintain-starter/
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/breads/sourdough/sourdough-basics1.html
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/breads/sourdough/sourdough-starter5.html

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

The photos in this post (sourdough starter and three loaves) were taken by, belong to, and are copyrighted by me. They appear on my blog, Wild Yeast. While I do license my content to others under a Creative Commons license, there are a few stipulations, including attribution, that I ask you to respect. You can find the requirements here; thank you for updating your post ASAP to respect them.

Thank you,
Susan

LucyS said...

I am so sorry about that oversight. I have now credited the photos in the way you have requested on your site. I hope this is OK. You have a great blog, with a wealth of information on baking with sourdough.

Unknown said...

My grandmother used to make "starter" out of potatoes ... and then when she would make bread, instead of using water, she would use the water in which she cooked the potatoes. Her bread was always light and fluffy ... and delicious!

Can't wait to see how it works for you!

Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com

LucyS said...

Tonight is baking night. I've been increasing the dry ingredients all day, including a little oil, and some salt, and the lovely mass keeps making bubbles and smelling like sourdough, so I'm optimistic. I like the idea of using both potatoes and potato water. Most of the recipes talk about just the water. In mine, I had only two small potato pieces, but it seems to have worked.

LucyS said...

Well--The first try was a bit dense, but delicious. The second time, I tried using some fresh apple, because I did not have any potato or potato water. This was not a success. It tasted odd, and did not rise very much. Last night, I tried a new starter, using rye flour and potato water. Tonight, I went back to the Wild Yeast Blog and re-read the directions for making a starter and realized that I had not gone long enough with the initial stages. I was not "feeding" the starter with flour and water every 12 hours. It does help to read the instructions.

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