I've been wanting to try sourdough bread for a long time, since it's a favorite of my husband's. I wanted to make my own starter instead of buying it, so here is what I used:
Allrecipes - San Francisco Sourdough Starter
I watched all 8 videos a couple of times, and then I tried it. I think I took about 10 days from start to finish, and the sour flavor was definitely there, but a little weak. (Which is to be expected, because the older your starter is, the more sour it gets.) Here's the deal, though...apparently 40% of the time, this method does not work because of some kind of bacteria that gets in and kills the yeast before it is ready. Here's another method that avoids that problem:
Breadtopia - Make your own sourdough starter
I think the second one is better overall, but I liked the first one because in the end you actually have bread. :)
I had a lot of trouble figuring this out because EVERYBODY does sourdough a little differently, and I couldn't seem to find any website or video that covered it from start to finish and explained clearly, including how to keep your sourdough after it was ready. So after a lot of reading and actually making it myself, this is what I learned...
Basically, the idea is you have equal parts water and flour (equal weights is better, but you can do equal parts too - it makes the starter a little thinner and easier to work with) and let it ferment for a while. Stir 2-3 times a day, and feed every 24 hours. For feeding, you want to put in enough flour and water to approximately double the
amount of starter that you have. So if you have 1/2 cup starter, you'll
want to add about a half cup of water and a half cup of flour. If you
have too much starter just dump some out, or give some to a friend. Don't put a tight lid on it, make sure that it has some breathing room. When I made mine I put it in the oven with the light on and the door closed and it worked well.
When it's ready, put it in the fridge. You'll know it's ready when it gets really bubbly, not just frothy but bubbly all over (you'll see in the videos). The longer you let it ferment and bubble outside the fridge the more sour your bread should be. (Of course, it will get more sour in the fridge too, it will just take a lot longer.) You need to feed the starter occasionally to keep it alive and active after you put it in the fridge. Once a week is plenty, but the more often you feed it the more sour it becomes. It can last a month or two without any feedings and still be revived for bread making. Make sure you have some extra room in your bowl or jar where you keep your starter, and always leave it capped lightly. If you cap it too tightly the jar may burst.
When it comes time for actually making bread, keep in mind that it may take a LONG time to rise. Don't get discouraged! Here in Littleton bread rises really fast, because of the elevation, so my bread rose in just a few hours, but I would highly recommend just leaving it overnight if you are at a low elevation, shaping it the next day, and it should be ready to bake in the afternoon sometime.
By the way, here is the recipe for the first video - this is the recipe I used for my bread:
2 cups starter
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 cups flour
Additional flour for kneading
Knead until smooth and elastic. Shape into a loaf, and let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 425. If you want a really crispy crust, spray the bread and sides of the oven with water a few times during baking (every 10 minutes for the first half hour). You can also put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven for additional steam, but I didn't do that and I think the crust was just right.
There are a lot of recipes for sourdough out there, and a lot of them include yeast. If you have new starter, you probably want one that doesn't use yeast because your bread won't be as sour - you might not even be able to taste it if you use yeast instead of just starter. On the flip side, if you use yeast it does rise faster. So it's up to you.
If you try it, let me know how it goes, and let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!
