Recipe - Sourdough Bread Starter

Sourdough Bread Starter

Ingredients:

2 cups water, ( 105 degrees )
1 tsp. sugar
1 pk. dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour

In a glass bowl, add, sugar, yeast, flour and than gradually add the water while stirring to come up with a batter. Cover the container with a clean cloth and let it sit in a warm place ( between 70 - 80 degrees ). Bubbles will start appearing. You need to stir the, mixture once a day for 4 to 5 days. Once it is covered with bubbles, you'll need to feed it every day if your leaving it on the counter. You do that by removing a cup of the starter and discarding it or giving it to a friend, than add 1 cup of flour and one cup of water ( 105 degrees ) and stir and let it sit on the counter for approximately 2 hours. You can than bake with it, refrigerate it or let it sit on the table ( if you do let it sit on the table, you'll have to repeat the feeding the next day ). If you keep your starter in the refrigerator, you have to take it out of the fridge, let it come to room temperature over night, than add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water ( 105 degrees ) and let it sit for about six hours, than you can use it to bake your bread. Than you have to replace the amount of starter you used. If you used a cup, than you add a cup of flour a cup of water and stir, let sit for about 4 hours and than back into the refrigerator until the next time or when it needs to be fed. The starter if not being used for baking, it will need to be pulled out of the fridge about every 4 days and fed ( 1 cup flour & 1 cup of water, stir and let sit ), before returning it to the fridge. If you forget about your starter for awhile, you'll need to add a cup of flour and water and sit on the counter for a day and you'll need to repeat that for 3 or 4 days until it gets back to strength. If you know that your not going to be using it for awhile because your on a business trip or vacation, put it in the freezer and pull it out 2 days before you want to use it, let it defrost than feed it and let it sit over night. If your starter gets a pinkish color, throw it away and start all over making a new starter. Yes a starter is a lot of work, but i think it's worth it in the long run. My wife doesn't think it's worth it to her, but she says, if you don't mind doing it, than i don't mind eating the bread. This starter can be used for any bread calling for a starter. I use it in my sourdough breads, my Amish dessert breads, etc.