Adventures in Sourdough

I discovered fermentation this last year and enjoying it. My husband wasn't too thrilled about my kitchen pets like I was and the children love to see what our kitchen pets are doing when I care for them. The kefir has lots of uses. Both the kefir and Kombucha have been working well for our health and getting probiotics. Do to finances and the cost of our gluten free bread, I just haven't bought any. We have been craving it and so it opened my eyes to ways I can make bread in our RV without heating it up with the oven. I one day made Gluten Free Fry Bread. It was good and so I continued to search for recipes. And then I found sites about Gluten Free Sourdough. I was thrilled, because four years ago, gluten free sourdough starter had little or no information about it.

Gluten free sourdough is easy to start, just make sure that you will be home and that your distractions are limited. You have to remember to feed it once a day and stir it 3 times a day for 3 to 5 days. After that you can refrigerate it and feed it as you use it. I suggest you read about how to care for it, because I am still experimenting with mine and don't have the answers yet. I am starting out with easy recipes first.

The one thing I noticed is that there are different consistencies with sourdough starters. Some make it up to have more water contents and it is like a pancake batter consistency and some have less water consistency and is like a sponge. During the Alaskan goldmine days, the miners would keep their sourdough starter thick enough to store next to their bodies day and night. I started with a wet consistency and am now thickening it up a little to see where I like it, so I am not sure what ratio to feed mine daily yet. I am on day 4 and thinking that it will be time to refrigerate it now. It is smelling a little drunk now.

The sites that I found to be the most helpful are

Thinner and wetter consistency
http://web.mac.com/simplyalaskan/iWeb/YukonRiverLodge/Blog/FB5D067E-C864-4077-9F78-9E0790557701.html

Thicker consistency
http://www.redstaryeast.com/best_recipes/37/7/GF-Sourdough-Starter

Sourdough for beginners
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm

A good wedsite about sourdough
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/startingastarter.html

The recipe that I stared with was the wetter one from the Yukon River Lodge site. I liked the easy to remember ratio.

What I did:
1 package of active yeast to 2 cups of warm water (the temperature that yeast like). Stir and add 2 cups of rice flour and 2 Tblsp of sugar. Stir again. I started mine in a half gallon size jar with a plastic canning lid placed on top. Don't screw the lid down. You want the gases to escape, but to keep bugs and contamination out. (don't let it come in contact of metal). Store on the kitchen counter top. The first day I stired with a spoon 3 times a day. I made pancakes the next morning, but they were too thin. They were good with lots of holes, so there was still hope. I then moved it into a quart jar and fed it 1 cup of water, 1 cup of rice flour and 1 Tblsp sugar. Stir (or shake) 3 times a day. The third day the consistency was watery so I changed my pancake recipe. I used the starter in place of the liquid portion of the pancake batter. Then it was too thick and so I had to add liquid (milk, water, yogurt, kefir) until I had a pourable thick consistency of the pancake batter. They turned out wonderful and thick. We ate them with and without syrup. Now that it is day 4, the girls want me to make muffins.

I would love to hear about your adventures and recipes you used with your starter. There are other ways to ferment without the bakers yeast using kefir and kombucha, but I was not that adventurous yet.