Fried Sourdough Starter Recipe — Meadowlark Journal (2024)

FAQs

Can you fry up sourdough starter? ›

Making Fried Sourdough Starter really couldn't be easier! You'll find the full recipe quantities and instruction for how to make this recipe with and without caramelized onions below in the recipe card. This recipe begins with preheating a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat with 1 Tablespoon avocado oil.

You can start feeding the sourdough once you see lots of bubbles. To feed your sourdough, I recommend a 1:2:2 ratio. This means that for every 25 grams of sourdough, I'm feeding with 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water.

The oldest sourdough starter that is still being used daily belongs to a bakery in Chorzów, Poland, dating back to 1842. The statistic states that the bakery in Chorzów, Poland, has the distinction of possessing the oldest sourdough starter that is still actively used on a daily basis.

A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a culture which is kept and fed with water and flour at equal weights. Like for instance 5 oz water to 5 oz flour. A 166% hydration starter is fed with equal volume of flour and water, which most typically is one cup of water (8.3 oz) and one cup of flour (5 oz).

If you think you killed your starter with heat, always use a probe thermometer to take the temperature in the center of the starter. If it is below 130F/54C it is still alive, even if it was exposed to a higher oven temperature for a short time.

All-purpose Flour

It strikes a perfect balance of softness and structure, making it an ideal choice for various recipes. Due to its wide availability and affordability, all-purpose flour is often my top recommendation for creating and maintaining a sourdough starter.

It seems so wasteful... But unless you discard starter at some point, eventually you'll end up with a very large container of starter. Also, keeping the volume down offers the yeast more food to eat each time you feed it; it's not fighting with quite so many other little yeast cells to get enough to eat.

All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour, which is a blend of hard and soft wheat, is a popular choice for feeding sourdough starter. It provides a good balance of protein and starch, which promotes a healthy fermentation process. Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content compared to all-purpose flour.

For most bakers, the answer is a clear no. Maurizio Leo, author of the award-winning bread cookbook The Perfect Loaf, still uses the first starter he ever made; it's now 12 years old. And while he's sentimental about that starter, he says its age doesn't really impact his bread.

This is the most ancient leavening agent used by humanity. It can be considered as a proper living organism. The mother-dough is made of a mixture of flour and water fermented with bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Acetobacter and Saccharomyces. To create it and keep it alive requires patience and constant care.

What is the dark liquid on sourdough starter? ›

This thin liquid (called “hooch”) is merely alcohol and water generated by your starter's wild yeast as it feeds. Hooch is a visible cry for help: Your starter is hungry. Once you get it back on a regular regimen of care, it should recover just fine.

Things that WON'T kill your sourdough starter

METAL: Stirring your starter with a metal spoon or placing it in a metal bowl won't kill your starter. While we don't recommend making or keeping your starter in contact with reactive metals like copper or aluminum, stainless steel is harmless.

Once the sourdough starter is established on day 8, all you have to do is just give it flour and water. You no longer need to discard half of it.

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

Yes, there are actually several health benefits to using sourdough discard in your cooking and baking. Sourdough discard is rich in probiotics, which can help promote a healthy gut microbiome and improve digestion.

You can always use this discard by directly mixing it into a dough for baking. Your discard, as long as it's in good shape, will leaven any bread dough just as well. The discard is just like a levain you would make for a recipe. The only difference is it's the same makeup as your starter.

May support gut health

Although the beneficial microbes in the starter tend to be lost during the baking process, the fibre and plant compounds, called polyphenols, become more bio-available. These act as an important fuel source for our gut microbes, which explains why sourdough is a gut-friendly choice.

What is sourdough discard? As the name implies, sourdough discard refers to a portion of the sourdough starter that is set aside. This step is undertaken prior to feeding – adding fresh flour and water – to regulate its growth and rejuvenate the acidity levels.