Easy sourdough starter, the homemade yeast that you can make yourself

Total: 120 h Diners: _

Whether out of necessity or sheer boredom, after almost three weeks of isolation and thanks to the trillions of recipes and tutorials circulating on the net, almost everyone has taken to making bread at home. But with all of us getting all at once, supermarkets have run out of yeast to make bread and bakeries that used to sell you the yeast they used without any problem are now forced to manage the one they have as a treasure. Plan B if there is no yeast, is to make a sourdough and then we are going to tell you how to do it.

Ingredients

Flour, preferably wholemeal Water, preferably mineral Sugar, agave syrup or honey, half a teaspoon

Tools

A large glass jar

What is sourdough?

It is a kind of homemade yeast that allows the fermentation of bread doughs without using pressed yeast or dry baker’s yeast. This is achieved by “waking up” the inactive yeasts that are present in the flour itself through a very simple process but which requires some patience, as a few days are necessary.

How to make sourdough for homemade bread?

Before telling you the steps to follow, a series of clarifications, the first is that not all doughs evolve equally fast, since the speed depends on the type of flour used and the temperature.

A sourdough made with whole wheat flour that can develop at a temperature of 25-30ºC is almost certain to come to fruition and in a few days, however if it is cold, it will cost more or it is even possible that the natural yeasts fail to activate. In summer it is easy, but these days when the heat is not yet noticeable, we will have to be careful to find a warm place where we can let our homemade yeast to develop without difficulty, it can be next to a window where the sun shines, on a radiator, near the engine of the refrigerator … if you have a cat will give you all the clues you need because they know those places in the house better than anyone.

As for the water to use, many sites recommend using mineral or filtered water, but if you only have tap water you can use it if you pour it in a glass or pitcher and let it sit for a while until it stops smelling of chlorine.

Another important detail is the hygiene of the process, we must use clean containers and utensils at all times to prevent our dough from being contaminated with undesirable bacteria.

Day 1

In our clean jar we pour 50 g of flour with 50 g of water and half a teaspoon of sugar, honey or agave syrup, we mix very well with a spoon and we cover the jar supporting the lid on it, without screwing or closing it hermetically.

Day 2

After the first 24 hours, it is normal that no changes are appreciated, if only a slight change in the color of the mixture and some fine bubbles.

Day 3

After another 24 hours you should start noticing changes in the form of tiny bubbles and an acid smell reminiscent of the smell of commercial yeast. This is a sign that the process is going well. We add 25 g of flour and 25 g of water that we will mix with the dough that we already have.

On the contrary, if we notice a rotten smell or see some kind of mold are symptoms that we have been contaminated and it is time to throw everything away and start over.

Day 4

With 24 hours more, the dough will be full of bubbles so it will have increased its volume and the smell must be acidic, but not foul. We refresh the dough again by adding another 25 g of flour and 25 g of water. Normally before refreshing the dough is usually throw an amount of dough equal to the weight of flour and water to be incorporated, this is done so that at the end of the process we do not have a lot of sourdough, but if the container in which you are developing it is very very large and there is no risk of overflowing when it starts to grow like a beast, it is not necessary to throw anything.

From now on it is convenient to mark with a marker the height of the dough in the pot after cooling it.

Day 5

The natural yeasts will have already awakened and our sourdough will have doubled or tripled its volume – so that there is no doubt about how much it has grown, just look at the mark we made the day before. At this point, we can use part of our natural yeast to make our sourdough bread and save the rest for future occasions.

How to preserve sourdough?

Before storing the sourdough we will make a new refreshment adding flour and water in equal parts to complete the amount that we have withdrawn to make our bread and let it stand again until we see that bubbles come out. At that moment we can close the jar by screwing the lid and keep it in the fridge until we have to use it again.

How to use sourdough?

When we are going to use the sourdough that we have in the fridge we must take it out in advance so that it gets to room temperature and the yeasts wake up and we must make a new refreshment to replenish the amount we use, when we see that after the refreshment the bubbles start to come out, we cover it and put it back in the fridge.

If we are not going to use it frequently, it is advisable to take it out and refresh it at least once a week, this will prevent it from spoiling and it can last for years.

Equivalence between yeast and sourdough

To make bread with sourdough it will be enough to replace the yeast indicated in the recipe with our homemade yeast at the rate of 120 g of sourdough for every 500 g of flour requested by the recipe. That is, if we want to make a bread recipe that calls for 500 grams of flour and 12 grams of fresh yeast, for that bread we would use 500 g of flour and 120 g of sourdough, and having a little more dough, the bread we get will be slightly larger.