Basic starter / starter material for a sourdough
In memory of my father-in-law Peter Hawner (master baker and confectioner).

Material needed:
A plastic or glass bowl and wooden or plastic cooking spoons are best.

Day 1:
50 g rye flour
50 g warm water

Mix the two ingredients with a wooden spoon in a clean, boiled, tall glass – until there are no more lumps.
lumps are left
and leave loosely covered at room temperature (25 to 30 degrees would be ideal, but not in the sun) for 24 hours.

Day 2:
To the mixture again
50 g rye flour
50 g warm water

It is best to add the water first, then the flour, mix everything well and cover again – as on the first day,
at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 3:

The dough is now working nicely and has risen, so it may have to be moved to a larger bowl.
The mixture now also smells nice and sour, the so-called sour mash smell.

Now add
100 g rye flour
100 g warm water

It is best to add the water first, then the flour, mix everything well and cover again.
at room temperature for 24 hours.

After these 24 hours, your leavening is ready and you can use part of it (depending on the recipe for the sourdough) for further processing.

Recipe here in the blog.

The other part is simply stored in a clean, boiled jar with a lid in the fridge. There the
the leaven loses some of its volume – that’s normal.

If left unused, the starter should be fed after about 1 week.
The consistency should be nice and creamy and bubbles should have formed (it is alive).

To feed, add 50 g of warm water and 50 g of rye flour to approx. 15 -20 g of the starter.
Everything is allowed to stand, “work” and rise at room temperature for about 12 hours.

Afterwards, some of the risen dough can be used to make a sourdough again.
or the jar can be covered and put in the fridge again – until the next bread baking or feeding.

In this way, a part of the leaven lives on forever…

Give it a name – it is now a roommate.

I called my treasure “Professor”…