Scrumptious Sourdough
Whole grain Sourdough Starter
I make different starters, which I've kept going. Some are whole wheat, all purpose flour or four grain flour. It's a good idea to have an all purpose flour starter (ordinary roti ka ata) on hand, as it is easiest to manage, and can be used to create other starters.
The starter pictured above is made with the Daali Earth four grains whole grain flour; though I have to be on my toes to get my supply here in Islamabad!)
I use a kitchen food scale to weigh the flour and water; this will be very useful to you in getting the proportions right.
To maintain the starter I sent you, here's what you'll do:
-
Remove half the sourdough (discard or use to make roti, pancakes etc)
-
Add equal quantities of water and flour.
-
I use measuring cups to scoop out approximately one cup of flour. This is around 140 g.
-
Weigh an equal amount of water (lukewarm, not cold or hot).
-
Mix thouroughly, aerating the mixture.
-
Cover loosely (with a cloth or thick paper towel).
-
Keep at room temperature.
-
Repeat every 12 hours (if stored at room temperature)
-
To refrigerate, you can feed the starter every week.
DISCARDING STARTER: Nobody likes throwing out food. So I mix my discarded starter with some flour and let it rest.
Daily, I take out a bit of the dough, form it into thick flat roundish pieces in my hands and put it in a hot frying pan very lightly oiled.
Covering the pan thirty seconds or less, I then turn the dough over, lower the heat, then cover.
After a minute or two I turn off the heat and leave it.
By the time the rest of the breakfast is ready, my freshly baked stovetop sourdough flatbread is ready to eat! (see picture above)
This way, the dough gets really sour, which I love. To reduce that, you can add more flour.