Sourdough Starter

goat · Feb 18, 2008

Here is the sourdough starter recipe that I use. It came from Richard Bolt. I never had the opportunity to eat at his wagon, but I know some who did. I do have a copy of his cookbook, "Forty Years Behind the Lid". Richard Bolt was a genuine chuckwagon cook.

Sourdough Starter

Richard Bolt spent over 40 years as a chuckwagon cook. He cooked for most all the large ranches in Texas, spending his last days at the Pitchfork.

1 pkg Fleischmann's dry yeast
2 pints warm water
ADD
2 tablespoons sugar
2 pints flour
1 potato, cut in fourths

1 Obtain an earthenware crock with a good lid, close fitting but not air tight.
2 In the crock, mix the yeast in the warm water, and add the sugar, flour, and potato.
3 Let this rise until very light and slightly aged. In hot weather, the starter could be ready in 10 to 12 hours. If the weather is colder, it will take longer.
4 Stir this mix often.

Recipe Source

Author: Richard Bolt

Source: Forty Years Behind the Lid

"Sourdough starter is as temperamental as a woman so treat it like your wife-- with tender loving care."

richtee · Feb 18, 2008

Thank you!

jbee-smokin · Feb 18, 2008

Gotta ask the question. What is the potato for, starch?
JB

goat · Feb 18, 2008

potato = starch = simple sugar = food for the starter

jbee-smokin · Feb 18, 2008

Thanks. I'm going to try some.
JB

goat · Feb 18, 2008

I cut this recipe in half, using about 1/4 pkg of yeast and mixed in a 2 qt jar. I used unbleached flour, spring water from a spring here on the ranch and honey instead of sugar which came from hives here on the ranch also.

jbee-smokin · Feb 18, 2008

I like the honey from my hives too. Just not enough of the honey from last season. Oh well, maybe this year.
JB

Dutch · Feb 23, 2008

Thanks for sharing that Goat, I used to use a similier recipe years ago. Got me ahold of some sourdought starter that got it's start 130 years ago. Now that is some dang good stuff. Guess I ought to reconstitute a batch and make me some sourdough flapjacks for breakfast Sunday morning, serve them up a a pound or so of Buckboard bacon-Hmmm-hmmmmm! Dang why do I do this to meself?? I build me up a powerful hunger and I remember that I gotta start a 12 hour fast for some blood work in the morning-

Oh well-

smokin' joe · Feb 23, 2008

I made up a batch of Goats starter on monday. I didnt add the yeast but let it grow naturally on the countertop...fed it every 24 hrs and kept it stirred up nice. Made some biscuits tonite...check out my post with q-view. Thanks again Goat for the assistance.

walking dude · Feb 23, 2008

Goat and Dutch.............how often do you feed it, and with what?

smokin' joe · Feb 23, 2008

dude, this is what I did. On Monday I mixed a cup of flour and a cup of warm water in a tupperware container. added a TBS of sugar and let it sit. every 24 hrs I discarded half of the mix into the sink and added a half cup of flour and a half cup of water. Stirred it 3 or 4 times a day and by this morning it was nice and bubble and frothy...smelled like a sour yeasty beer. Then I added it to Goats recipe for biscuits and voila...sourdough biscuits.

It took 5 days for the starter to be ready to make the sourdough.

Hope that helped!!!

walking dude · Feb 23, 2008

kewl.........i got that part............but i know you only use like a cup or summin when making bread...........but then you have to feed it afterwards........that is my question..........

smokin' joe · Feb 23, 2008

After you make your bread...take the leftover starter and put it in the fridge in an airtight container. Feed it once a week with a half cup of flour and a half cup of water...the starter will keep for decades if you follow that procedure. Proofing the starter once it has been refridgerated is a whole other show...for that let me post a link that may explain it better than I am.

http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

check this out dude it may answer your questions.

dhedges53 · Feb 23, 2008

My mother owned an old Victorian house in Georgetown, Colorado. She started a sourdough "starter", in that home, and has sworn ever since that the older the house, the better the sourdough "starter". Something about a very old house that might contains mold and mildew. Although, in Georgetown, I've never seen "hide nor hair" of mold or mildew, because it is as dry as the desert. But, she swares it's the truth.

Otherwise, I guess, you need a piece of that 130 year old starter.

Just thought I'd throw that out there..

Anybody know anything about "old houses" and sourdough starters?

goat · Feb 24, 2008

Whatever quantity I take out, I replace with equal amounts 1/2 flour & 1/2 water & about a tablespoon of honey sometimes.

Dutch · Feb 25, 2008

Instead of discarding any of my sourdough, I'll pour a cups worth on some wax paper and allow it to dry. When the sourdough has dried out, I'll cumble it into a powder, drop it into a ziptop sandwich bag with the date on it and store it in the freezer.

To reconstitute it, I add the sourdough powder to 1 cup of warm water in a plastic bowl or a ceramic crock along with a tablespoon of sugar or honey. Place it on the counter; covered with a towel, stir it several times a day and in a couple of days it's ready to use in a recipe or continue to feed until you reach the amount of starter that you want.

bigarm's smokin · Feb 25, 2008

I can see that I have been making a mistake for over 30 years. I never did put in equal parts of water and flour, I thought it was too thin. I just made some new starter last week, perhaps I should chuck it and try the thinner starter?

The starter I make always bubbles, smells good, and has the liquer on top, so I don't quite know what to do now? Also, I never was happy with the amount of sour that the bread I make has. It sure isn't as good as the stuff that I got off the wharf in San Francisco??

walking dude · Feb 25, 2008

i dont know if we will EVER get that taste homemade terry..........nothing beats san fran sourdough.......i have a freind that on occasion sends me some.............YUM

goat · Feb 26, 2008

Terry, I really do not mix mine 50/50 all the time. If I think it is too thin, I mix 3/4 flour to 1/4 water. No one ever said that sourdough is an exact science.

Sourdough Starter

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