December 1, 2015 - 8:20pm
My old starter died RIP Eric. Sydneysiders - anyone willing to sell some of theirs, please? (Sydney, Australia)
Dear all, I am sorry to say that my starter 'Eric' is in the yeast heaven. I just came back from family visit trip to Europe and I cannot revive my frozen starter :(. Unitill now I managed to freeze some of the active starter and give it proper feeding when I was back to revive it. It was working the trick until this time. Now myself and hubby has to rely on the expensive loafs or yucky bread from the supermarket... You probably know the pain... I know it is a long shoot, but I would like to try anyways. Would anyone from Sydney (Australia) on this forum would be willing to trade a little of their starter for a small fee? Pretty please? Or even post it from other states? Thank you and happy baking! Cheers, Karolina
Share
while you bake some yeasted loaves for yourselves while waiting.
It isn't that difficult in a kitchen that already has experienced sourdoughs. Put a few spoonfuls of flour in a dish, cover with chlorine free water stir and add some more water if needed to make a soft paste or batter. Cover loose enough to keep flies out and let gas escape and tight enough to prevent too much evaporation. And off you go!
A warm first day helps up to 34°C and then let it putter for days at 24 to 26°C. Meanwhile toss it a spoon of fresh flour after the first 2 days and add a spoon or two of water if you need to. Stir 4 to 6 times a day, and remove anything trying to grow on top. You'll know you're getting there when the starter starts to darken a little bit (depends on the type of flour) and stop separating, then wait for that tell tale aroma before removing a generous spoonful to feed.
Use a fresh ground whole flour for best results.
Thanks Mini Oven for the comment.
The yeasted loaves do not taste the same, unfortunately. Partly probably because I guess I don't have good recipes for the bread, partly because lack of time. I loved the idea that when you bake sourdough you can divide the process into stages, not everything at once like with yeasted bread.
Eric was made out of the rye flour, then converted into the wheat flour. My husband is not a big fan of rye bread, do you think I can culture starter straight from the wheat flour? Would that impact his 'stability' i.e. bouncing back properties? Starting starter at this time of the year (summer in Australia) when the temperature is ca. 30C could be challenging, hence my question.
Thank you anyways for the advise, if nobody is around I have to start again from the scratch. :(
so 30° C is just fine. Use your wheat flour. Try it anyway while you wait. It might be faster than the postal service. :)
Still got any frozen sourdough or is it buried as well?
I will do that, thank you. Unfortunately all frozen sourdough is gone and 'dead'. I am feeling sad that after nearly 2 years I lost it... Oh well, starting from the scratch...
... you've done it before and in a weeks time you'll have something viable which will only get better with time - and if you still have it defrosted and not thrown it out , a dolop of the old one in the new one might help it along (unless it's actually fungus/putrid!) - you never know - if nothing else, you can still say its a continuation :-)
Get a bag of stoneground organic wholemeal flour if you can to give it the best chance of getting going.
-Gordon
Awesome Abbey,
This is awesome! I love the recipes from the Bourke Street Bakery book and often experiment with them. I also live relatively close (Glebe) so I would be great if I can meet you somewhere tomorrow? Maybe it is better if you initiate convo on whatts app (0432066726) so we can make arrangements for the meeting. Super happy, you made my day! Christmas came early :) haha
cheers everyone for the suggestions!