Disclaimer: Grandma Bonnie's Closet was not compensated for the review of this product. I received a free product in exchange for an honest opinion. The opinions in this post are all my own.
I have been thinking about making my own Sourdough Starter for a few months now. I had found an old recipe of my mother's for Sourdough bread and it brought back lots of wonderful memories. When I received The Touch II Touch Sensitive Kitchen Scale with Microban from Ozeri I knew this was a great opportunity to make the sourdough starter.
The kitchen scale has a modern design that looks great just hanging out on my kitchen counter. The Microban antimicrobial technology helps fight stain and odor-causing bacteria for the life of the scale. It is digital and provides precise results up to 11 lbs (5 kg) in graduations of 1 g or 0.1oz.
With the large high-contrast LCD display, large weighing platform and touch sensitive buttons the scale is effortless to operate.
I needed 4 oz. flour for my sourdough starter. I pressed the start button then selected my unit of measure. I then placed a coffee filter on the scale to weigh. Then pressed the Tare (start) button. The Tare button allows you to subtract the weight of a bowl, plate or other container to determine the weight of the ingredients being weighed. The Tare button is an awesome feature!
The scale also comes with a Calorie Guide and U.S. Postal First Class Letter Rate Guide. Now I can weigh the packages I send to my grandchildren right at home. No more running into town to mail a package.
So, I have got my 4 ounces of flour measured out. I am ready to start my sourdough starter.
Sourdough Starter
Ingredients:
1 cup non chlorinated water
4 ounces flour
1 canning jar quart sized
1 coffee filter
Directions:
Day One: Mix together water and flour. Cover with coffee filter and place ring of canning jar lid over the coffee filter. The coffee filter allows airflow into the mixture but keeps dust or insects out. The airflow is a must to create a good environment for the lactobacilli and the wild yeast that are attracted to it. Set in a warm place. I placed my started above the refrigerator.
Day Two: Remove 1/2 the starter. Add 1/2 cup non chlorinated water and 2 ounces of flour to the remaining starter in the jar. Mix well. Use the removed starter to make pancakes, bread or feed it to your compost pile. This starter is not as sour as the finished product will be. But it is better to be used then discarded.
Day Three - Day Six: follow instructions for Day Two. Each day you will see more bubbling and detect a stronger fermented sour smell. It will kind of smell like baking bread.
Day 7: Now the starter is finished. It should be bubbly with a sour smell. It will grow a bit when you feed it. Now the starter can be placed in the refrigerator and fed once a week. When you remove starter for a recipe just replace what you remove. For example if you remove 1 cup starter add 1 cup non chlorinated water and 4 ounces flour back to the starter.
At any point during making the starter or storing the starter if you see discoloration such as pink, green or black it has begun growing mold. Just discard the starter and begin again.
The starter will have a mild sour taste to begin with as time goes by it will grow a deeper, richer, sour flavor.
I love this kitchen scale already. I have used it a million times in the last week. Now is a great time to begin a healthy diet and start counting calories. With the calorie guide and scale I am sure to succeed.
You can Purchase the Ozeri Kitchen Scale on Amazon.
Happy Bread making.
