Sourdough bread
What is sourdough starter? It's a mixture of flour and water (1:1 ratio, by weight) that has the right kind of lactic acid bacteria and wild yeasts living in it. How do I keep it alive and maintain it? It needs to be fed with more flour and water (always 1:1 ratio, by weight.) Activity of the microbes increases with temperature. In the fridge, they work very slowly, and can remain alive without being fed for several weeks. At room temperature, they need to be fed once a day. If you bake every day, you can keep the starter at room temperature, and feed it once a day and bake once a day. If you don't bake every day, you'd be wasting a lot of flour feeding the starter every day. So it makes more sense to keep it in the fridge, and only feed it 12-16 hours before you want to use it. Recommended procedure if you bake less than daily: Keep a small amount (about 50g) in a contained with a lid in the fridge. 12-16 hours before you want to bake, take it out of the fridge, and add ...
