Any other sourdough owners out there?

We do Sourdough bread is one of the pinnacles of human achievement.

I have had mine since the early aughts, at least. We make pizza dough with it every Friday. It's only been tossed and restarted from "safety" crumbs twice. Once when the jar got mold in it, and once when I had it waiting it in a measuring cup while I soaked the jar, and my husband accidentally threw it away.

It's 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough ordered through Friends of Carl Griffiths.

If you ever spill sourdough on the counter and it dries, you'll understand why they used to chink log cabins with this stuff.

My oldest kiddo does, brings it home on breaks from college. Got it from someone's grandma, told it's over 20 years old.

My sourdough is several years old. I make homemade bread, pancakes, and pizza dough.

Making starter is on my to-do list - I've never tried sourdough anything. But in the dark recesses of my mind, I imagine it coming to life and trying to eat me while I sleep.

Me.

I've had to restart mine a couple of times. The most recent time was because going through airport x-ray half a dozen times killed the old starter. That was a sad day.

Great idea Mooky.

I've always wanted to get on board with you sourdough folks, but I'm afraid! Julia Child says "Don't be afraid of the dough." But I am!

You can buy it online as well. This is where we got ours. Since then, it's gone through a bit of manipulation, but it was terrific right from the start.

We use the 1-2-3 no-knead method. Watched it on youtube. Wonderful stuff. Yum!

I was going to start my own starter on January 1 of this year because of mccardey, Stacia Kane and Ari Meermans, but until I can reliably use my hands enough (carpal tunnel) to open the Mason jar, I'm not going to try.

But I'm reading and learning.

MookyMcD said:

Just wondering who else keeps that part food, part pet that is a jar of starter.

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Bolding mine. I LOVE that description!

Devil Ledbetter said:

If you ever spill sourdough on the counter and it dries, you'll understand why they used to chink log cabins with this stuff.

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Ain't that the truth! I have a jar in my frig, although I made so many loaves up until a couple years ago I got burned out BIG TIME on the work and now rarely use it. I have to restart it whenever I do decide to use it.

Funny though, I love sourdough bread, but can't stand sourdough pancakes!

MookyMcD said:

It doesn't require hand-holding, but if you can get your hands on some starter I will be happy to give you my e-mail and get you through your first few feedings and diaper changes.

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I'll be counting on you during those first nervous days! I do actually want to try this. You have inspired me to give it a try!

I do! I love sourdough. It's taught me a lot about how bread dough functions in general too. Now I can bake without a recipe and not fear.

I recently perfected a cinnamon roll recipe using it that makes the softest cinnamon rolls. I'm still trying to figure out how to cut down times before sharing it with anybody though. As it stands now it takes 48 hours from when I first inoculate my boiled water/flour mix, till the rolls come out of the oven. Granted most of that time is waiting for the yeasty beasties to multiply sufficiently, but still. There must be a better way.

mmmmmm.... sourdough. Great, now i'm craving something I cant even make in this swamp state!

I'm very tempted to start this now. Sounds awesome!

Our sourdough is approximately three years old.
It's called Karli II.
As its ancestor, Karli I., and a few unnamed predecessors, it was started from scratch. Here in Vienna, this works best in summer: sun and patience, mixed with some rye flour and water, will usually do the job in about 3 – 5 days.

Lilly

Medievalist said:

I was going to start my own starter on January 1 of this year because of mccardey, Stacia Kane and Ari Meermans, but until I can reliably use my hands enough (carpal tunnel) to open the Mason jar, I'm not going to try.

But I'm reading and learning.

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I know this is an older post, but I kept my starters in tupperware. The kind that just has a couple of tabs on the lid that you flip up to take it off? So it's easy on the hands. (And I started mine in Pyrex bowls, and kept them there for a long time.)

I'm ashamed to admit, though, that I let my starters die. I'd started storing them in the fridge so they only needed feeding once a week, and I realized that I just wasn't using them that often (I generally make my supersoft bread recipe--my family, sadly, wasn't that into the sourdough) and space was/is at a premium in our tiny fridge.

I'm considering starting another one at some point soon, because I did like having the option, but honestly, every sourdough recipe I've tried aside from breads has been fairly blech (the sourdough cinnamon recipe I tried was inedible) (I hasten to add that recipe did not come from anyone here).

I haven't thought of starter in years!!! Off to email mom and I'll probably be back!

Mikilao said:

mmmmmm.... sourdough. Great, now i'm craving something I cant even make in this swamp state!

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It says you're in Florida? So am I, and I make sourdough. What are you having problems with?

Jean-Paul died of maggots about a year ago. Ringo's been going strong since then, though. He even survived his first Passover. We made pizza just the other night.

Snowstorm said:

Funny though, I love sourdough bread, but can't stand sourdough pancakes!

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It could just be the specific flavour profile of your sourdough starter.

My starter is very active (it doubles or triples in a couple of hours) and has no sourness to it at all. Well, minimal. I make bread, and if there's any still around in three or four days, it starts getting a bit sour then. Prior to that, though, there is *no* sourness to it at all. I use it in chocolate cake, pancakes, whatever, and nope, no sourness.