Sourdough Success!

Yay! My sourdough experiment (scroll down for the post) actually worked! Yesterday morning, I took out some of my active culture, and started preparing it to make bread. The rest I put into a jar and I am storing it in the fridge.

I took out 1/2 cup of the active starter, added flour and water, and let it proof for 12 hours. Then I added more flour and again let it proof for 12 hours. This morning, I added water, salt, and more flour, spoon kneading it for as long as I could. Then I turned it out onto a flour-covered board and kneaded in the rest of the flour to make a nice soft dough. I formed two round loaves and then let them proof once more for about 2 hours, until they doubled in size. I then put them in a cold oven and set the temp to 375 degrees. They took about 50 minutes to bake.

The result looks pretty darn good, if I don't say so myself. :-) It also tastes pretty darn good too! It's amazing that you can take flour and water, add a little patience, and have a self-rising concoction that's also good for you: I learned that not only does starter have wild yeast, but it also has lactobasillis (that good bacteria found in yogurt) in it.