A starter of my very own!

One of the best aromas in the world, is the smell of freshly baked bread. This new year has been filled with simple white loaves, whole wheat bread and even flax seed and oat bread… but nothing really quite hit the spot. I was searching for that true tasting bread, and I luckily discovered that tonight. After a week of growing and feeding a starter of my very own, I finally got to bake bread that I’ve created from the ground up, and let me tell you: the wait is worth it! The only ingredients that went into this bread are water and flour (no yeast, sugars, etc… well some salt but that’s negligible) and they’re allowed to feed off each other for about 8 days before turning into a masterpiece.

I started the whole process 8 days ago by combining 1 tsp of whole wheat flour with 1 tsp of water. They foamed up within the following 24-36 hours and thats when the feeding began. Everyday I fed it more or less double the amount of the previous day(ill add  a chart later on) and then left it out ontop of my fridge to grow. The starter can now stay in my fridge and be fed 1 cup flour + 1 cup water every two days after being halved (throw half away).

In order to bake my wonderful bread, I added 1 cup of my starter (the starter recipe produces way more so u never really run out) to 1 cup flour and 1 cup water and allowed them to sit out in a bowl for almost 24 hours. Then I added 1 1/2 cups of water, 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 1/2 cups of bread flour (for white bread add 5 cups of white flour only) and barely mixed it. I allowed it to sit for about 20 minutes, added 2 tsp of salt (may actually need more so you can experiment based on personal taste) and then kneaded it for another 20 min (7 if doing it by mixer… which is practical, but u never really get a “feel” for making bread). The dough was then transferred to an oiled bowl and allowed to rise in a warm place for about 2 hrs. Baked in a 425F oven for about 40-45 minutes with steam (ie some water in a pan at the bottom of the oven) until the loaves are golden brown. Enjoy!!!!!

Starter recipe:

day 1 = 1tsp whole wheat flour + 1 tsp water
day 2 = 1 tsp whole wheat flour + 1 tsp water (24 – 36 hours after starting, once the previous amount has frothed)
day 3 = 2 tsp whole wheat flour + 2 tsp water
day 4 = 4 TBSP flour + 4 TBSP water (doesn’t need to be whole wheat anymore)
day 5 = 8 tbsp flour + 8 tbsp water
day 6 = 3/4 cup flour + 3/4 cup flour
day 7 = 1 cup flour + 1 cup water (starter can be placed in the fridge on this day)