Sweet Yet Sour

This is a picture of my sourdough start. It lives in a ceramic pot in my fridge. I say “it lives”, because I consider it a living thing. It’s almost like having a pet. Let me explain…

Sourdough start is a lot like yeast, it has bacteria in it that helps bread to rise. It is generally used in place of yeast, although I do have several recipes that include both sourdough start and yeast.

This particular sourdough start was given to me by my mother. It was entrusted to me only after I had proven that I was responsible enough to properly care for the start. So I received the start after my cat Simon was diagnosed with feline diabetes and had to be given insulin and pills twice a day. It was then that I received the precious start. (That was almost 7 years ago, and both Simon and the start are doing just fine.)

This particular sourdough start has been handed down in my family for generations and is said to have come across America on the Oregon Trail with one of my ancestors. So the basis of the start is old. I received about a cup of the start from my mother, the way that it was passed on to her, and I use and care for the start.

With the sourdough start I received a packet of recipes and some instructions called, “The Care and Feeding of Sourdough Start”. Seriously, it’s a pain-in-the-ass bread making pet. The start must be used and “fed” at least every 10 days or its power will diminish and I will have to beg my mother for more. So far, it hasn’t come to that, but I have to say that every once in a while I go over the 10 day limit.

Here’s an example of what can be done with sourdough start:

These are sourdough English Muffins, which I made yesterday, much to the delight of my husband. They’re really great. The recipe that I have calls for 1 cup of sourdough start for the muffins. So, I take out a cup of start from my ceramic pot and use it in the muffins, and then to “feed” the start, I put back in 1 cup of flour and a little less than 1 cup of milk. The start then gets mixed well and put back into the fridge for another time.

It’s actually very versatile stuff. I have recipes for sourdough pancakes, chocolate cake, English muffins, potato bread, sandwich bread, etc.

It is possible to make your own sourdough start; I found a recipe for it in a Frugal Gourmet book once. But really, I am quite lucky to have my own family’s passed down start; it feels nice to know that I have something that has been used by many generations of my family.

If you would like to make your own, let me know and I can find the recipe for making the start, but I would not reecommend it for anyone but a serious baker. It does really need to be cared for properly and takes a fair amount of dedication. (I remember once that my mother was requested to send a bit of hers to a friend on the east coast; it was quite complicated and involved dry ice and overnight shipping.)

Anyway, this sourdough start is my other pet, besides the greyhound and the two cats. I feed and care for it and it helps me make great bread and other stuff. In fact, it may have even landed me my husband. Mike adores the English muffins and the potato bread I can make with it, so he may have married me in part because he’s a bread fiend and I have sourdough start…