#QuarantineCooking: How to Lasso Wild Yeast for DIY Sourdough Starter

 

 
This week in Quarantine Cooking our spunky homesteading Realtor Mariah Bradford tells us how to make sourdough starter by lassoing wild yeast out of the air just like Laura Ingalls.
 
Whether it's stress baking or bored baking, suddenly everyone is making sourdough while sheltering-in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic. And you want to join in, we know you do.

But what if you don't have yeast? Not to worry! Mariah shows us how EASY it is to start your sourdough starter with just two ingredients: flour and water.

Watch her Quarantine Cooking video here, guest starring Mariah's vintage Wedgewood stove. ("I love that stove more than I could love a newborn baby.")

Then let us know how your recipe turns out. Send your "it's alive!" photos and videos to  [email protected] or post on social media with the hashtags #AbioProperties  #QuarantineCooking.

Now, let's get to wrangling that wild yeast. Quarantine cooking, yee-haw!
 

 

Ingredients + Supplies

•  2-4 cups unbleached flour
• Tap water that you dechlorinated by boiling and letting cool
• Clean wide-mouth glass jar
• Cheese cloth to cover the jar (optional)

 

Directions

• Step 1:  Add 1/4 cup unbleached flour and 1/4 cup dechlorinated tap water to your clean jar. Place it in a warm spot. Cover with cheese cloth if desired. Stir multiple times a day. Within 3 days, you should see bubbling. If not, move your yeast baby to a warmer place. You might see a crust forming on top. That's good. Just stir it in.

 

• Step 2: Feeding time. Once you see bubbling, add 3/4 cup unbleached flour and 3/4 cup dechlorinated tap water. Leave it in a warm place and stir several times a day.

 

• Step 3: Around Day 4, when the starter is bubbly and fluffy, add more flour and water. The amount you add depends on your container size and how much sourdough starter you want. Add 1-3 cups of unbleached flour and an equal amount of dechlorinated water.

 

• Now your sourdough starter is ready for bread, waffles, pancakes, pretzels, whatever! If you aren't ready to make dough, place your starter in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. To awaken your starter, feed it equal parts unbleached flour and dechlorinated water, give it a stir, and place it in a warm spot.

 

While your yeast is cultivating, gather or order online the items you'll need for making dough:

• Dutch oven/heavy cast iron pot (about 5 qt)
• Rice flour
• Parchment paper for lining your Dutch oven
• Banneton proofing basket. It gives structure to the dough during its final rise. (optional)
• Cheap plastic shower cap (in lieu of plastic wrap to cover the dough - optional)

 
Next up in Quarantine Cooking: Part 2 - Doin' the Dough!
 

 

More #QuarantineCooking:

• Sous Vide Pork Chops in Balsamic Rosemary Reduction
• Bubbe Hilda Bearman's Matzo Ball Soup