Maintaining your Bread Starter

When making bread, the best taste and texture come from using your own starter. A starter is a live culture living in a flour and water mixture, that you replenish and use each time you bake. There are many methods and detailed instructions for making and maintaining bread starters. Most are too complicated and work-intensive for me. However, here are a couple of great web sites that are helpful.

http://www.breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-method/
http://www.grouprecipes.com/89655/no-knead-sourdough-bread.html

Assuming you have been given a live starter, here is how to maintain it.

Keep it in a 1-quart flip-top (French) jar in the frig. Keep the lid clamped but don't use the rubber jar ring so that a tiny bit of air can get in.

Feed the starter once a week or every few weeks. Add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water (or equal amounts by weight which means slightly less water).

Some insist on purified or bottled water (let stand overnight or boil) and some say it doesn't matter. I just use tap water.

You can use unbleached, rye or wholewheat flour, but generally stick to the same flour as is in the starter already. The microbes are used to it. You can slowly switch a starter from one kind of flour to another. You can use the starter for any kind of bread or the same kind as the starer.

Stir well. Some say use a wooden sppon or chopstick but short contact with metal is okay).

Dump some starter down the drain if there is too much in the jar. Don't fill the jar more than half full because the starter needs room to double or even quadruple). The amount of starter you produce will depend on how much you need for your recipes. For my bread recipes, you only need 1/4 cup.

If the starter has been neglected, feed it 2 or 3 times before using it to bake bread.

After feeding, put the jar back in the frig overnight or, if baking within a few hours, leave it out on the counter. It should double within a few hours at room temperature. Some starters are very thin and bubbly. Some starters are very stiff. They will have a very strong brewery smell.

A few hours before baking, bring out the starter and bring it to room temperature. After feeding it, use it within one day or within a few hours if at room temperature.

Once you are ready to bake, stir the starter with chopstick to remove the bubbles. Measure out a generous 1/4 cup --- you can use a metal spoon and measuring cup. Mix the water called for in the recipe (reduced by 1/4 cup) and starter in a measuring cup or bowl. Add to the flour and salt mixture.