Soooo.... I've been feeding my pet starter for the past 2 weeks now.
I started to feed it twice a day about 2 days ago, stirring more often and now, my starter has begun to get puffy and bubbly! So exciting!! There are plenty of recipes for sourdough starters online. You can start the pineapple juice way or using rye flour. I didn't have either. So I did it the most simplest way possible, organic white flour and water in a plastic container on top of my refrigerator. As simple as you can get. I did start out with someone else's recipe but, it was a lot of flour wasted and it wasn't working. So I switched to my own method. Here's the recipe I started with:
3/4 cup organic white All-Purpose flour + 1/2 cup filtered water.
Dump it in a clean glass or plastic jar and stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Cover lightly with the lid or plastic wrap and put in a warm place. Each day, stir and feed your starter the same amount, 3/4 cup flour + 1/2 cup filtered water.
This recipe I used didn't require you to dump half of the mixture out the next day and then feed. Well, that made for a lot of starter. A LOT! So after 5 days, I had tons of sourdough starter, which I eventually dumped into a separate container that I'm storing in the fridge now (we'll get to the saved discard later) until I only had about a cup left in my original container, I switched to dumping half, stirring the heck out of it and adding a generous 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup filtered water warmed to around room temp or a little warmer. I did that for several days just feeding the starter once a day. Once the starter began to bubble more, I began to feed it twice a day with extra stirring. Each time, I dumped half the starter and added 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup warmed filtered water. Probably about day 10, I started seeing the starter bubble more and rise!! Now I just have to watch, keep feeding until the starter doubles each time I feed.
As I mentioned before, I dumped half of the starter each time I fed my fermented pet. I really couldn't just throw the stuff out. The discard lives in my fridge in a separate container.
My other obsession right now is trying to figure out what to make with the discarded starter. It's not ready to leaven bread by any means but it's still great to use instead of throwing it out. I hate waste. So what to do with discarded starter.... I made drop biscuits this morning! Also, you can make pancakes as well, which seems to be the usual way of using starter discard. There are plenty of online recipes for Yukon or Klondike pancake recipes. YUM! But I am a southern gal and I love a good biscuit for breakfast especially if it's a super easy recipe that doesn't need buttermilk.
1 cup sourdough starter discard (fed)
1 cup All-Purpose flour
1 tsp.Kosher salt
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup cold butter
Melted butter to brush on tops of biscuits (optional)
Bake at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Makes about 10 to 12 biscuits.
Pull out your sourdough discard from the fridge the night before and dump out 1 cup into a mixing bowl. Feed the discard with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup warm water. Stir and allow to sit overnight. The next morning, the discarded starter should be a little bubbly but shouldn't have risen.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in the cold butter until crumbly in texture. Add this mix to the starter discard. Mix until combined. The dough will be moist and a little gooey. Allow the dough to sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and pull out a baking sheet and line with parchment or aluminum foil. After 10 to 15 minutes, your dough will look fluffier. Use two spoons and drop generous spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet. It should make about 10 to 12 biscuits depending on size. Brush with melted butter if you like and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. EAT warm with butter and jam!!!
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