To not understand sourdough starters and how the world works?

[TeaSqueezingpos]

I just can’t wrap my head around the fact you can mix together a mixture of flour and tepid water, and leave it out in a lukewarm environment for up to 2 weeks, adding more flour/water and giving it a mix.. and we call it edible.

but if I left out of a mixture of anything else for 2 weeks it absolutely wouldn’t be edible would it 🤣 what makes it so different? Why is that bacteria safe but the bacteria that grows on my already baked bread.. or any other food/sauce ect not safe?! Like pancake batter.. you wouldn’t eat pancake batter that’s been left in the worktop for over a week?!

I just don’t understand and I don’t think any amount of explaining will convince my brain that it’s normal.

I want to try it, but I’m scared of killing my family with a horrendous bacterial disease in the process.

Just to be boring, it's not just the bacteria in food that can be harmful. It's the toxins the emit as they live (or when they die) that are also harmful.

Not really an issue for sourdough. But the TL;DR is that cooking isn't the magic wand some think it is.

(This is one of the things I learned in later life that completely changed my behaviour).

Soda bread was traditionally made with soured milk. Nowadays people use buttermilk but I can attest soured milk is delicious and not weird tasting. There is a whole movement to increase fermented foods in our diets because they are good for gut health. Personally love some kimchi.

This.

Our local cafe even does sourdough croissants & they’re awful.

God I love sourdough. Our local bakery sourdough bread is just magnificent. Then it should be at £4.75 a loaf.

I make Kefir - leave milk to ferment with kefir grains on the counter.

Yogurt - similar.

Saukraut...similar.

And like a poster above I've been looking up Crowdie....

yes i just add to it. i only discard some if my jar is more than half full, to allow space for it to double in size.

Yeah I don’t understand mouldy cheese or uncooked fish either 🤢

I honestly wished I'd known about the benefits of things like kefir/natural/Greek yoghurt before last year - I got a horrible stomach bug which caused me quite a few issues afterwards, but regularly eating any of those seemed to really help settle it down. It even seems to help with when I'm feeling very anxious, somehow...

Just wait until you discover Surströmming and Hákarl.

See now I’ve had to google and oh no, just no 😬🤢

See, this is why paying attention in GCSE Biology was a GOOD idea ...

OP, do you eat cheese? yoghurt? drink beer? wine? kefir? Where do you stand on kimchi or sauerkraut? What about shop-bought bread which has also had a fermenting agent in it?

Also, you will suffer zero ill effect from eating a bit of shop-bought bread that has a little bit of blue or green mould on it. You might not like it but it really won't harm you. (Although, of course, bread mould is different from the live yeasts that are in a sourdough culture... you don't make the distinction.)

I discard regularly to keep my starter in good shape. The discard makes lovely crackers.

And yoghurt is gone-off milk

I don't discard. I've cracked the timetable so I feed just enough over the week to make the weekend loaf, than begin again with about 80ml of leftover starter.

I keep mine in the fridge too - on occasion it's been left for months (by which point it has totally separated and looks like toxic waste) before being revived with some fresh flour and then the next day makes bread that tastes just as good as when it's been refreshed weekly. I swear it's indestructible when kept in the fridge.

Oh no, I genuinely like it.

Sorry if this has already been asked but can you please share your recipe and instructions? I love making my own bread but sourdough scares me 🤣 I make milk kefir which I guess is similar with the feeding etc xxx

Ditto. An easy sourdough recipe would be much appreciated.

Well, my no knead sourdough method (hasten to call it a recipe) is as follows:

Get a nice big bowl. Chuck (very approximately) 600g strong white flour and 300g wholemeal spelt in there. I also chuck some pumpkin seeds in. Appropriate amounts of salt. Throw all your sourdough starter in (except the bit you keep back). Add warm water if necessary, but you don't want it too soft- it mysteriously gets more liquid overnight. Fold with a big spoon until all mixed in. Leave overnight. The next morning dollop onto a floured baking sheet and bake in a good hot oven.

Yeah, bread is weird all round. "Let's selectively breed a grass until the seeds get really fat, then bash the seeds till we have a powder, then mix that with water till we have a paste, then cook the paste and eat it". And people think this is somehow "natural". A "staple", even. Very odd. (See also: drinking the milk of another species, when well past infancy).

I'm definitely not an expert and I'm sure people will disagree, but this is what works for me:

to make the starter on day 1 just add a few tbsp plain flour and some water to a jar. i dont measure this but basically youre looking for a consistency where if you put some on a spoon and turn it over it takes around 3 seconds to drip

each day feed it a bit more with some more flour/water, looking for the same consistency

continue until your starter is bubbly and smells 'yeasty'. you may get a 'false rise' after a few days where it looks/smells like this, but it isn't ready yet. it probably won't be ready for 10-14 days ish

every night leave out with the lid loosely on. once your starter is 'active' you can start storing in the fridge with the lid tightly on when you aren't baking, and don't need to feed in this time.

when you're ready to bake i make my dough with 100g active starter, 330g water, 500g flour (strong white bread), 10g salt. mix, cover, leave for 30 min - an hour.

then do your first set of stretch and folds (stretch the dough up from one side then fold it back in then repeat from the next side). i like doing 20 for my first set. then cover again and leave for 30 min then do 4 stretch and folds. repeat the covering/leaving for 30 min/4 stretch and folds around 2-4 further times. then cover and leave for around 3-5 hours.

then you want to shape your dough into a ball and put in a proofing basket or if you don't have one a bowl and leave in fridge for around 8 hours or overnight.

when ready to bake preheat your oven with your dish inside (i use a le creuset dutch oven) at 230 degrees

once hot, put the dough in the dutch oven and score the top. bake with lid on for 30 min

then reduce heat to 200 degrees, bake for a further 20 min with lid off

LET COOL FOR A FEW HOURS BEFORE CUTTING OPEN

Sorry this was long! I used tiktok and reddit to learn how to make sourdough so would defo recommend. there's a girl on tiktok that teaches you how to make 'simple' sourdough which is where i started and i basically adapted it from there.

bread is delicious and a great source of carbs! obviously it isn't naturally occurring but is made from naturally occurring ingredients.

Yeah, bread is weird all round.

Cooking is "weird" - outsourcing your digestion to external contractors.

Still, it keeps the gut tiny, thus allowing more space for brains and - critically - walking upright.

I only make what I need. One loaf uses 80g starter which I make by adding 60g starter 60g water 60g flour to create about 150g starter or a little more. I use 80g, put the rest in the fridge until I need to make a new loaf. There is a tiny bit left in the pot which I just wash out.

Not so sure on the gut thing. Walking upright started about 6m years ago and cooking 1.5m at most.