Fried Sourdough Starter Recipe — Meadowlark Journal (2024)

FAQs

Can I fry my sourdough starter? ›

Making Fried Sourdough Starter really couldn't be easier! You'll find the full recipe quantities and instruction for how to make this recipe with and without caramelized onions below in the recipe card. This recipe begins with preheating a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat with 1 Tablespoon avocado oil.

A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.

The oldest sourdough starter that is still being used daily belongs to a bakery in Chorzów, Poland, dating back to 1842. The statistic states that the bakery in Chorzów, Poland, has the distinction of possessing the oldest sourdough starter that is still actively used on a daily basis.

A 100% hydration sourdough starter is a culture which is kept and fed with water and flour at equal weights. Like for instance 5 oz water to 5 oz flour. A 166% hydration starter is fed with equal volume of flour and water, which most typically is one cup of water (8.3 oz) and one cup of flour (5 oz).

A pinch of salt either in the starter or on top afterward makes it even better. The result is a super fluffy, sour, savory pancake / fried bread that is ready by the time I finish making a pour over coffee. An awesome discovery and great addition to my morning routine - it's like a free instant snack!

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour. Why do you need to use these two types of flour?

Is this normal? Yes, this is a normal byproduct of the fermentation process. If your starter smells like acetone, it usually means that it has consumed all of the available food and it needs to be fed.

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

For most bakers, the answer is a clear no. Maurizio Leo, author of the award-winning bread cookbook The Perfect Loaf, still uses the first starter he ever made; it's now 12 years old. And while he's sentimental about that starter, he says its age doesn't really impact his bread.

Sourdough remained the usual form of leavening down into the European Middle Ages until being replaced by barm from the beer brewing process, and after 1871 by purpose-cultured yeast. Bread made from 100% rye flour, popular in the northern half of Europe, is usually leavened with sourdough.

What is the mother dough in sourdough starter? ›

The mother-dough is made of a mixture of flour and water fermented with bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Acetobacter and Saccharomyces. To create it and keep it alive requires patience and constant care. The mother-dough is a great leavening agent and makes a highly digestible bread.

Over the years, I've found keeping the mixture warm at around 80°F (26°C), and high hydration (100% water to flour in baker's percentages) helps get things started. In addition, while not mandatory, using certain flour also helps increase the chances a starter will take hold quickly (see below).

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

A levain, also called a leaven or levain starter, is an off-shoot of your sourdough starter, and it's a mixture of fresh flour, water, and some ripe starter. This mixture will be used entirely in a batch of dough and has the same fate as the bread dough you're mixing: you will bake it in the oven.

Things that Will Kill A Sourdough Starter

High Temperatures - preheating your oven with your sourdough starter inside can lead to your starter's demise - but it would have to be completely baked for it to be completely unresponsive to some TLC.

If you think you killed your starter with heat, always use a probe thermometer to take the temperature in the center of the starter. If it is below 130F/54C it is still alive, even if it was exposed to a higher oven temperature for a short time.

Instead of throwing away (or composting) your excess sourdough starter during the feeding process, bake with it! Unlock the power of sourdough discard to both enhance your bakes with a subtle tang and make the most of those leftovers.

Melt the butter in the pan on low heat. Once the butter is melted, place the bread slice in the pan, making sure it soaks up some of the butter. Put the heavy lid (or heavy plate) on top of the bread and let it cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.