Let’s start at the very beginning, and that beginning is a starter. (confusing?)
Let’s start at the very beginning, and that beginning is a starter. (confusing?) Most homemade bread recipes start by adding yeast to flour and water, along with perhaps a couple of other ingredients, but what makes sourdough different from most bread is that it uses a sourdough starter instead of store-bought yeast. It’s the sourdough starter – a combination of flour and water that traps wild yeasts and bacteria from the air around you – that gives flavor and rise to sourdough bread. You can buy sourdough starters from some well known bakeries like King Arthur Flour, or you might be lucky enough to have a friend give you some of their starter. But you can also make your own starter from scratch and it’s not difficult at all. It just takes a couple of weeks. Learn all about it in the BJC Cooking School here.