Sour dough

A true sourdough starter is only flour and water (sometimes other ingredients)

but no yeast, and can last for years, even decades. Some buy dried starters, that are ready to activate in a few hours--this is a good shortcut, or you can make your own, catching the wild yeasts indigenous to your area.

For a non-yeast sourdough starter:

Mix 1 cup non-chlorinated water

and 1 cup white or rye flour (organic if possible).

Mix in a glass bowl or jar, loosely cover, and set aside for 2-3 days.

If you're lucky, the mixture should be bubbly and fermented in about

3 days (or more). At this point you can feed the starter by adding

1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water, mix, and set aside again til

bubbly. Try setting container in a warm part of the house to speed

up fermentation.

When the starter is ready (after first feeding):

Use 1 cup (3-4 dl) of it in your bread recipe without adding yeast.

Your bread might need a much longer rising time before it's ready to bake.

To keep the sourdough starter active, feed it an additional 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour every 2-3 days. Either use 1 cup of starter in your recipe every few days, or toss out that 1 cup so you don't build up so much starter that you can't use it all.

Ways to get some sourdough starter:

1. Get a cup of starter from a friend or another baker. You take a cup of the starter and add flour and water to make more of it.

2. You can make a starter with normal packaged yeast you buy at the store (see recipe below).

3. Or you can buy a packaged sourdough starter mix at a grocery, by mail-order, or in IKEA if living outside Scandinavia.

Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat Bread

1 package Active Dry Yeast

1 cup Warm Water

1 teaspoon Salt

(2/3 cup Sourdough Starter)

1/2 cup Honey

1 1/2 tablespoons Shortening

4 cups Whole Wheat Flour

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water.

Mix yeast, honey, salt and shortening with 3 cups flour.

Add more flour as needed to make a stiff dough.

Knead 150 strokes on a floured surface and place in a greased bowl.

Cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.

Punch down, let double again. Punch down and roll into tight loaf.

Grease and flour a loaf pan. Let double in pan.

Bake at 210 °C/400 °F. for 35 to 40 minutes or until very dark golden brown (The bread should sound hollow when thumped).

Alaska Sourest Dough

Sourdoughs were originally produced by wild yeasts. The wild yeasts on the west coast and in bay area produce a unique flavor in breads, which can be recreated with using vinegar.

1 package Yeast

1 tablespoon Vinegar

2 1/4 cups Warm water

1 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Sugar

2 cups of flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.

Add sugar, vinegar, salt, and all purpose flour.

Add remaining water until a creamy batter is formed.

Place in a glass bowl, cover and let sit until it starts to ferment(About 3 days).

It will take on a powerful boozy smell.

Stir again until creamy and measure out what is called for in the recipe.

Replenish starter with equal amounts of flour and water.

Store in the fridge and bring to room temp before using.