I've been given a sourdough starter

[Sourdoughnovice]

And I have absolutely no idea what I'm meant to do with it! I want to use it in my bread maker but I'm overwhelmed with all of the advice online and don't really know where to start. Any advice?

Mix it with a couple off eggs, milk and flour and make some sourdough pancakes.

I think you need to feed it daily, flour and water. I did sourdough years ago but my recent knowledge is only from instagram that’s the breadth of my knowledge there….🤣

Don't accidentally drop it on your brand new living room carpet like I did.

That would also happen to me. 🤣

I don't think you can use it in a bread maker? Sourdough needs plenty of time to rise, and bread machines rise dough artificially quickly.

Enjoy making things with the discard as well as making bread from it. Sourdough muffins, crackers, crumpets and brownies were regular makes here when I was in my Sourdough Era!

Feed it equal amounts of water and flour every day, so like, 25g each flour, starter and water, in a jar with a loose lid. It should get bubbly and double in size in a few hours. When it does, it’s ready to use.

I kept one jar for the discard, and made drop scones with it, just spooned into a hot pan. Or crackers for cheese (recipe online).

I don’t know how you’ll get on with a bread maker. You will need to experiment. Put the usual amount of flour and water in first, then a cup of the starter (when it’s really bubbly). Keep some back for the next pot. See what happens.

Nooo only when you want to use it. It is very happy sleeping in the fridge for a couple of weeks at a time!

Sourdough is a slow way of making bread. I have one that lives in my fridge. I take it out the morning I want to make it and reinvigorate with some flour and water. Depending kn what I'm making it can take a day. It doesn't take much work - mainly leaving it to do it's oen thing.
The weekend bakery is a pretty good place to look.
I have a fool proof recipe if you want. Coukd post tomorrow

You also don't need to discard.

Thank you. The bread maker I have has a sourdough setting but no idea how it will work!

Please do post the recipe.

I have a Panasonic bread maker with a sourdough setting. The recipe book it comes with uses yeast in the sourdough recipe so I don't think it's easy to make true sourdough in there.

I have been looking into making my own sourdough for a few months now but I keep getting overwhelmed by all the instructions online

Yes you can!

I have experimented with this and have it down to an art now.

The night before you want to bake a loaf, feed your starter. Take 60g of starter, add 60g of flour and 60g of water. Mix, cover, put in a cupboard. Discard or use any leftover.

The morning of the bake put the ingredients in the bread maker and press start on the dough function. The recipe I use is as follows;

• 100g starter
• 40g olive oil
• 10g salt
• 20g sugar
• 350g water
• 600g bread flour

once your dough is made you can remove the paddles and leave it in the bread maker to prove or take it out and put it in a crock pot/casserole or whatever you use. Leave it to prove for 6 hours at least. Then bake. The bake function on the bread maker will do or you can bake for 30 minutes with a lid on and 30 minutes without in a regular oven.

The bread doesn't last as long as supermarket bread so if you aren't likely to use it all within 48 hours then slice it and put it in the freezer and it will toast perfectly.

Your leftover starter can go in the fridge in a pot with a lid until you're ready to bake again.

Sourdough starter does not need feeding daily (that would be an enormous amount of food waste in the long run): keep it in the fridge, take it out the day before you want to use it and feed it, and when it’s bubbling, put half back into the fridge and use the other half. If your breadmaker has a sourdough setting, read the instructions 🤣🤣🤣. But the other thing you can do is make bread as normal, using yeast, but also adding your sourdough starter. That way you get the flavour without so much hassle.

I have some in a jar in my kitchen.
Day 1 I add a tablespoon of water and.flour and mix
Day 2 I pour into a bowl, add 500g flour, 325g water, 7g salt. Mix and cover and leave overnight.
Day 3, take out a small spoonful and put back into the jar, and pour the dough into an oiled casserole pan and leave for 3-4 hours and then cook for 30 mins in a hit oven.
Then restart the next day at day 1
It took me 3 weeks to make the starter from scratch. I make a loaf every 3 days and if I have to miss one, I just pop it in the fridge until I get home and then restart.

Sometimes I need to do several cycles of feeding to reawaken it out of the fridge. Then I have too much so I make the pancakes with the discard.

Someone at work is about to give me some of their discard. Do I need to sterilise a jar or will a normal lidded jar which is washed and clean work?

A normal clean jar is fine

Once you have a good starter, it can stay in the fridge as pp have said. When you start your own, you do need to feed it with water and flour every day until it's lively. Then it just goes in the fridge until the day before you want to use it. Any jar will do.