Pantries and Preparedness. Sour dough starter.

Nanna Chel got me started with sour dough. I was really hesitant at first.  But now I think it is so easy and such a huge asset.  Once you are up and running you just eliminated ever having to buy yeast again.  I find I have much more success now... I never was very good on baking with yeast.  Now I make bread, rolls, focaccia, scrolls, buns, Naan bread pizza bases and each week I seem to learn something else.  If you have hungry tummies in your family and lunch boxes to fill this is for you!  The savings are immense.

Sticky Buns.

Cheese and Bacon Scrolls.

This weekend I woke my starter up and made up a tray of Vegemite scrolls. For the US ladies think of making bacon and cheese scrolls, pizza flavoured schools, cheese and onion or whatever combinations your family might like.
I saw that these vegemite scrolls were $4 each in the local bakery.  So that is $48 for twelve.  I think they are only costing me a few dollars to make and therefore I am saving over $40 with just this one thing.  Added to that the fact that I send Andy's lunches to work and I know that this saves so much per week!  Yeast products all seem to freeze very well and then re heat as if they have just come out of the oven which is another very handy bonus.

Cheese and Vegemite Scrolls.

I often say that each time we learn a new skill we increase our preparedness.  I love something that will save money and benefit all round. This really seems to be one of those things.  So here is a little tutorial on how to get started.

First of all I know nothing at all about making starter from scratch. My starter came in a dry form from Nanna Chel.  I have, in turn, dried some of mine and sent it on to some of you and have seen some very big successes!

Dried starter. It doesnt look like much! 

I am no expert at this and it seems to me it is a bit art and a bit science. So I don't think there is a right and wrong way.  This is just how I have learned to do it and it works for me.

First some basics you need to know.  I avoided using metal bowls and spoons as I heard not to use them...  I have heard heavily chlorinated water is not so good.  You use bread flour (or bakers flour) as this is higher protein and the starter apparently loves protein.

So lets assume you have some dry starter.  You take that and add it to a third or a cup of water and a third of a cup of bread flour. Stir.  Let it sit on the bench somewhere.  In about eight hours feed it the same quantities again and stir. Keep it covered so dust won't get in but so that it can breathe.  I use a paper towel or a cloth. Jane made me some beautiful cloth covers, they look like shower caps and work perfectly.
Repeat this process. Eventually you notice a couple of little bubbles. This is when it has woken up!  Keep feeding!  Sooner or later you will get lots of bubbles!  Now you have an active starter!
You have to give it a name.  That's a rule apparently!

Happy starter! 

I would keep feeding your starter. One you have larger quantities you can be adding more flour and water at a time... i.e. half a cup of flour and half a cup of water. The water to flour ratio will always be the same.

If starter is out of the fridge you will need to feed it a couple of times a day. If you want to put it to sleep you put it in the fridge. It needs to be covered but be able to breather. I cover with glad wrap and poke a hole in that.  In the fridge it will sleep for a week. But once a week to you need to get it out and let it wake up to be fed and nurtured!   It will wake up when it is out and comes back to room temperature. Then you need to feed it!   It is kind of like having a pet.

This all sounds mysterious and ridiculous until you do it. You soon get the idea as it tells you what it needs.

When it is mildly bubbly think of it as happy.

When it is REALLY bubbly (you can get to the stage you have bubbles large and small and kind of on top of each other) think of your starter as hungry!  

Hungry starter! This is also how your sponge should look.

Once you have really active starter that gets bubbly quickly after feeding your re ready to get cooking.
Overall, bubbly like above is what you want to get your starter to.  Once you have this you really are set. 

I like to have at least a cup and preferable a cup and a half or so of starter to start a recipe.  You need enough that you are also going to reserve some to keep going for the future. 
I use two bowls.  I put about half a cup of starter into one bowl and feed that.  This will be kept. Set it aside. 
The rest (which is at least a cup full) you make a sponge. The sponge is the fist stage of baking.  To make your sponge feed it a whole cup of flour and a whole cup of water and stir.  Let it sit and become very bubbly.  Hungry bubbly!  
I will normally take my starter out of the fridge the night before I want to cook.  I will give it a feed once or twice. 
The next morning it will be good and bubbly!  So I will make my sponge when I get up in the morning.
After a couple of hours I will make my dough.
The recipe I use is based on a recipe from a blog I followed called Gully Grove.  
To your sponge add a dash of salt. I don't like salt so I use a pinch.  A small spoon of honey.  A few globs of olive oil.  Then about three cups of bread flour.  Mix and knead or put this in your mixer.
As your amount of starter will vary so will the flour. I retain a bit of flour and add it in as I can see if the dough is to wet or too dry.  You soon get to know what dough should feel like.  It is smooth and stretchy.  
This is all very forgiving. If you think it's too dry add a little water, if it's too wet add a little flour. 

When you are happy with your dough sit is somewhere warmish and cover it. Let it more or less double in size.  Usually I let it sit for most of the day in my lounge room window.  If the weather is cold I would warm the dish first, sit it on a hot pack or some other method to keep it a little bit warm. 
Then you want to shape your dough.  Yesterday I rolled it out to make scrolls. 

 I covered it in vegemite and sprinkled it with cheese to make scrolls.  You can make a load of bread, a flat bread, rolls, a free from loaf... whatever you want really.  Whatever you are making form it as you want then let it all rise again.  As yeast loves warmth I try to get warmth into my baking tins and dishes.  While Im forming my dough I might have my dish warming in the oven, or I might fill it with hot water and let it sit.  Then I will dry it and pop in my dough and wrap it up to keep the warmth in.  You could sit it in the car or in a window.   Once again you sigh will double.  Then you are ready to cook!  

My vegemite scrolls after rising. The pan went from sparse to full! 

As a loaf of bread it is going to take about 20 mins to half an hour to cook in a fairly hot oven.  If it looks cooked and sounds hollow it is probably good. If in doubt a few more minutes won't hurt. I always pre heat the oven.  Keep an eye on things, you will soon learn your cooking times. 

The starter I retained is still on the bench.  I will feed it and sometimes keep it out and feed it up to increase the volume. Then I put it in the fridge until I want to make something else.  Overall I will try to always feed it and end up with at least a couple of cups of  so I can always make something and have enough to retain some.  So you have an endless cycle!  Remember to get your starter out of the fridge at least once a week!
Some people throw starter out as they feed theirs and do not want to make anything. I don't know why, I don't, I am glad to have more!  If I end up with heaps I will just make something! 

In my index I have a sourdough section. So far I have posted the recipes and methods to scrolls, sticky buns, bread and Naan bread.  They have mostly been based on the recipe I just explained. 
You can find recipes for sour dough easily. I don't bother I just use any yeast recipe and use my sour dough instead. You will just need to allow for the flour and moisture in your starter... usually it will mean I add a bit more flour to the recipe or a bit less liquid. It is easy to know what a dough should feel like.... just go ahead and use any recipe and add what you need to get your dough lovely and smooth. So far everything has worked so well.  Always remember to make your sponge first then make your recipe! 

My next recipe I want to make is Fruit loaf or fruit buns.  As I try new things I will just keep adding them to the Sourdough section.
I really thought this was all very complicated until I tried it and saw the amazing results.  The savings are huge.  I look at the prices in the stores and see wholegrain loaves for $8!  ONE bun is $4 and you can make a dozen for that!  I can make 12 Naan breads for less than the price of a packet of two.  Actually it is the fancy breads like focaccia, turkish,  wholegrain rolls etc that you save so much as they are so cheap to make but the shops charge so much for them.

If you are a participating Bluebird and would like some starter I will be glad to send you some and glad to send it anywhere in the world!  If I don't get too many requests I will offer again in a couple of weeks to others who do not comment.   I hope that sounds fair.  I am grateful for all my readers but Bluebirds has become a little community of help and support due to the ladies that comment, add tips, offer prayers and encouragement and answer questions.  I am so grateful for everyone who does that.
I appreciate it more than you could know! Thank you!

email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com

My last week of working on my preparedness has been interesting!  I am looking at my new bathroom space and shelves as a big help. All my supplies of shampoo, soaps etc will be organised and we will also have a cabinet for medications and over the counter type stuff.   This will be a big improvement.  All my towels will also be in the bathroom and free up my linen cupboard so I will be able to re organise that as well.  It is all progress I guess!  Progress is good!

Have a very good new week!  xxx