Ingredients
- Place 1 cup (5 oz/140 g) of sweet sorghum or teff flour (these seem to work the best to begin the starter) and 1 cup (240 ml) of filtered water in your container. Mix thoroughly (I’ve been using a whisk and it’s worked well).
- 2. Add 1 or 2 leaves of organic red cabbage. Mix those around with the flour-water slurry.
- 3. Cover with your porous material. I use parchment paper pierced with a bunch of tiny holes secured by a rubber band to the jar. A cotton kitchen towel is also good. If you’re using a Cambro bucket, you can cover it with the lid left ajar. You can also l
Directions
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he ideal temperature for yeast to grow at is around 70 to 75 degrees F/21 to 24 degrees C. The colder the environment, the more slowly the yeast will grow. The warmer the environment, the faster the yeast will grow. You need to feed yeast that is in a hot environment more often than you need to feed a yeast at a moderate or cool environment.)
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Stir it every so often–no stress, just when you think about it (although try to stir it at least once during the 8 to 12 hours between feedings).
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About 8 to 12 hours later, feed your starter: add another 1 cup each of whole grain flour (teff, sorghum, brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, garbanzo bean) and water. Mix well.
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Repeat this process every 8 to 12 hours (your starter will do the best if it’s fed more often–i.e., it can be fed every 12 hours but every 8 is better). After about 48 hours you should see some bubbling action in your starter.
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Important: The conditions in your kitchen may require a longer development process. Give it about 5 days before starting to worry or emailing me. Once the bubbling action is definitely in place (wait another full day), then you can remove all of the cabbage leaves. Do not leave the cabbage leaves in there indefinitely.
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Congratulations! Your starter is on now ready for use to make bread.