Sourdough from Scratch | The Fresh Loaf

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone ever made the Ankarsrum Sourdough Starter? I was finally able to get a ceramic container and made it this morning, as school is almost done (Yay! Doing a happy dance!).

This is the recipe:

2 dl (1 cup) lukewarm water, 37°C (98°F)

200 g (1 cup) flour

100 g (1/2 cup) grated raw apple

So I realized after I mixed it up that I probably should've peeled the apple before grating it. There are festive red specks in the starter.

I'm pretty excited and hope it works. I'm looking forward to making some sourdough bread in 5 days or so.

Never made a starter other than my first using flour and water only. From what I understand, the skin of the fruit is where the yeast resides so peeling the apple may not be what you wanted to do. The red flecks will eventually disappear as you feed and use/discard the starter. Unless you are supposed to keep feeding it apples for some reason.

You only need flour and water to create a viable starter. The wild yeasts you want are in the flour (and were on and in the grain before it became flour). The apple will add some acidity but it's really not necessary. Many people make Yeast Waters by mixing water with some kind of fruit and leaving it to ferment but this is different. Raisins work well for yeast waters, the wild yeasts being on the surface of the fruit. If your apple was picked naturally then its skin will likely have wild yeasts on it. If it was shop bought then it has likely been washed and cleansed in some chemical and then waxed so no yeasts. Either way, the apple is redundant. You may end up with wild yeasts from the apple mixed in with wild yeasts from the flour and if they are different yeasts they will compete each other for the available food. Since you will likely be feeding your starter regularly with flour rather than with apple, it makes sense to use only the wild yeasts from the flour itself as those yeasts, will, over time, come to dominate the mixture anyway. Overall you will get to where you want to be, but in my opinion, if you add anything to the mix that competes with the natural yeasts in the flour then you just make the process longer. Flour + water +temperature + time = viable starter in 4-5 days ATB EP

I made my Starter 16 month ago with flour,water and green grapes, but only 6 sliced green grapes and my Starter is active and happy.

The grapes dissapeared after a while.

Have fun baking with your starter)

The apple was not purchased commercially, I go directly to a local farm for apples during apple season. I will assume that the "wild yeasts" are still on it -- so I'm glad I didn't peel the apple.

The starter instructions state to use apple only once, the regular weekly feeding is just flour and water.

I always learn something new on this site. Thanks for the responses!

if using the cup measurements. Cups vary but I tend to use 125g for a cup of flour. Flour 200g will make a thicker starting medium. No biggie, just something to think about when comparing. Water tends to separate. Also not a biggie. Stir often and don't overfeed. It's a waiting game. :)

When I stirred the starter last night I could not believe all the bubbles already. Is that because I used freshly ground Kamut flour?

I just stirred the starter again and there are bubbles on top of bubbles on top of bubbles. It smells sour already too. I'm surprised at all the activity since it's only day two.

Mini Oven, it's neither runny nor thick, and there is no signs of water separating out. I'm guessing that's a good sign. :)

Usually day two is bacterial activity. It may die dowm again for a few days before picking up with the yeast activity then causing the bubbles.

Today there was some liquid on top of the starter. There aren't as many bubbles, but there is still quite a bit of them. It still smells sour -- reminds me of being a kid and feeding my mom's sourdough.

Mini Oven, I went ahead and added extra flour when I feed today. Will take your advice and start weighing the flour. Can't wait until I can start making sourdough bread!