The only way to really get your own sourdough starter is to just do it. Put some wheat and/or spelt flour into some water, mix it up, and leave it out. Oh, say a half-cup of flour or more, and maybe a cup of water. You can put it in your oven with the oven light on, or maybe on your back burner. I prefer to cover it with a cloth to keep dog hair, etc. out, but that restricts the flow of your regional ambient bacteria. You'll know it's working when it starts, well, working. It'll bubble and swell a bit. Once it stops or slows way down, put it in a sealed jar in your fridge. When you want to use it, start ahead, add more flour and water, let it start working, then use what you need for your recipe and save the rest in the fridge again.
Oh, that's after cleaning and degreasing it, of course!

Dick

A rule of thumb learned from my Aunt, is to take the starter out of the frig every couple of weeks and either use it or feed it. I have gone as long as a month and my starter has been in our family for 150 yrs.(yes you read this right). Leaving it that long is not a good idea but do-able if one has too. Now rule of thumb "if it is pink you can save it's life. If it's red it's dead, throw it out.

"Aim small, shoot small".....Jim

I confess to have gone as long as a couple of months without using it--but it gets pretty black on top by then. I throw out the icky stuff, and it's still good. I did let mine to way too long and had to throw it all out, though.

Dick

quote:

Originally posted by Dick:
I confess to have gone as long as a couple of months without using it--but it gets pretty black on top by then. I throw out the icky stuff, and it's still good. I did let mine to way too long and had to throw it all out, though.

Dick

A couple of MONTHS without sourdough pancakes?!? Is that LEGAL?!?

Here's another hint. I always keep two batches of my starter: one in the fridge for immediate use, and one in the freezer for backup, in case I forget to feed the batch in the fridge and it goes "belly up". The frozen starter can be kept for several months and still be revived (with no red, pink or black gunk to deal with)! Just thaw it out to room temperature and proceed as usual.

The batch of starter that I have is at least three generations old. It was given to me by a friend who is my father's age (80), and the original batch was started by his mother.

sour-dough P.C. ??? YES.. was it COMMON ??? who knows.. What WAS common was BEER, REAL live yeast beer, so you can/should use that as a leavening agent.. Irish Stout makes the BEST waffles youll ever eat, and a good old English porter makes FINE wheat bread..give it a try , youll be surprised w/ how good it is.. 'Modern' commercial artificially carbonated beers don't work tho...
ANOTHER great reason to brew your own....

MAN ! It took me 15 min. to EVEN TRY to write this post,as I was laughing so hard,Nearlly spit my Lone Star all over Ol'Dawg!!!!! I know that this is an old thread but it's the first time I've read it

quote:

..., to get any of these [starter sponges] to really sour takes time and patience. When you get a real sour starter you will have to use a pinch or so of baking soda mixed with a little water in your recipe (do not put this in your starter jar !) this will neutrilize the acids that make it so sour and also promote a leavining effect.

Here again is the problem with proclaiming "sourdough" to be a definite fact. I've been checking and all I've ever found is the definite use of a sponge, and again the two are not the same. First, as is pointed out, it takes time and patience to get the sponge to sour for the desired effect. Which can't happen if one is using the sponge each day or even every other day to make the bread. Second, if baking soda is needed, well then there's a problem as sodium bicarbonate is a late 18th century invention.

Unless we can find some sort of reference to the earlier breads specific to a sour taste, what authors have mistaken for "sour dough" is merely the continuous use of a sponge, which they assumed was sour, and writers who reference their work continued the assumption.

It's not uncommon for misinformation to be published then repeated.

LD

the sponge is in fact what you get in the morning after you have mixed up your starter and let it sit overnight --it resembles a sponge in appearance what with all it's pock marks and all . as to getting the desired "sour" taste ,yes it is a game of patience to get the right taste,what i do is set my initial starter and stir it daily , feed it every so often until the desired boquet is obtained ,then use it on a regular basis ,if I will not use it for awhile I put it in the cooler ,when i need i bring it up to local temp and set my sponge, A word of warnig I posted earlier is that if it develops noxiuos odors or colors get rid of it ! and make a new one . There are a lot of varied types of starter as well beware that if you make a starer with dairy products or ygurt you must refrigerate it ,nuff said there Now it is a well known fact of us from the far north that when a stater get's too strong you will have a hard time eating it as it will be most disagreeable in taste, this is why the old sourdoughs would put in a pinch of baking soda mixed with water, do not add the soda dry (ask me how i know this one !! LOL ) As mentioned earlier it does produce a leavening effect as well as neutralize the acid produced by the action of the starter. the acid eefect is also the reason for you to use a glass container as a sourdough pot if you use metal the starter will by and by eat it. well now all this talk of sourdough has not only made me home sick but hugry guess i better get a new starter going
thanx smitty