The below is a digital copy of the Activation Instructions I send out with all my orders!  If you have any questions please check out my Frequently Asked Questions or, or my newer Sourdough Starter Tips and Troubleshooting page email us at info@kensingtonsourdough.ca.   

If you are brand new to sourdough baking you might also check out my page What is a Sourdough Starter? (And why you should want One!)

Instructions

Thanks for your order from Kensingtonsourdough.ca!

The Story of your Starter: This starter was born in 1849, from a bread starter carried by Basque gold miners to San Francisco at the start of the Gold Rush. The (boring) starter they brought mixed with the unique San Francisco yeasts and lactobacilli, and, according to the miners, suddenly became sour, chewier, and delicious. Local bakeries quickly began using this starter, and one of them kept the same starter going continuously from the 1850s to just a few years ago! Before they closed, someone snuck some of this starter out (shhh!) and brought it all the way to Toronto’s weirdest and most fun little neighbourhood, Kensington Market, where it now happily lives churning out loaf after loaf of amazing bread. Are you ready to get your little monster out of its cage? Remember: sourdough needs courage!

150 Year Old San Francisco Sourdough Starter Activation Instructions

(Too late to turn back now!!)

You need: 1. A clean jar or bowl (not metal they say, I don't know why). 2. Clean, lukewarm water. If you have a water filter or source of pure water use this. 3. All-purpose flour.

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DAY ONE: Mix 1/2 cup lukewarm water and your package of starter powder in a bowl for 2 min, then add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour. We want a thick paste like consistency, so add more flour if needed to get it. Cover bowl with cling wrap or parchment paper. Put it in a semi-warm place, i.e. the oven with the light on.

 

Put a piece of tape over your bake button! You will forget and preheat your oven to 500F. I did this and felt guilty!! Note: some ovens get very hot (100F or more) from just the light. If you suspect you have an over-enthusiastic oven light use the top of your fridge instead, which will work just fine.

 

DAY TWO: Just stir - Kinda vigorously. Re-cover with cling wrap or parchment. Back to the oven or fridge top.

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Note:  We want a THICK starter.  For the remaining days slowly mix in the water second, and only stir in enough to end up with a fully hydrated but thick consistency.  It should be much more like a paste than a soup!

 

 

 

DAY THREE:  There might be bubbles now, and maybe even a bit of a sour smell. Stir in a 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and up to 1/2 cup pure lukewarm water, stirring thoroughly. Cover and back in the oven.

 

DAY FOUR:  1/2 cup flour and up to 1/2 cup water.  Say something pleasant to your starter.  Back to the oven home. 

 

DAY FIVE:  DUMP HALF OF YOUR STARTER INTO THE GARBAGE.  Just do it, be merciless.  Add 1 cup flour to the bowl and (up to) 1 cup pure water and place back into the oven.  

 

Did you know that there are 5 billion Lactobacilli (and 50 million yeasts) in a single tablespoon of active sourdough starter?  Everyone of them is starving for their favorite meal (flour and water yum yum) and if there are too many of them there just won’t be enough food in the bowl. On day five we are taking a half-starving bloated peasantry of starter, culling the herd, and creating a lean mean starter army.   If you haven’t figured out by now, serious things are happening in your kitchen.   Reminder:  Keep it thick! It should be at least a bit hard to stir.

 

DAY SIX: Add a half cup of flour, (up to) half cup of water, stir, oven, this is easy, be patient…  

 

DAY SEVEN:  Discard, feed, wait, and….CONGRATULATIONS at this point you probably have a fully active starter!  How can you tell?  1.  Bubbles, and, 2.  When you discard then feed it, it doubles in size over the next 6-8 hours.  Note 1: See Page 2 “How to Discard and Feed” for instructions for feeding on Day 7 and every day going forward.    Note 2:  Waking up to an overflowing starter jar messing up your kitchen is an important rite of passage!  Do not be mad at your starter!  Note 3: after it doubles (or triples) it will gradually shrink again.  This is normal! 

Maintaining your Sourdough Starter

 

How to Discard and Feed: Discard first, down to approx. ½ cup (~100 grams). Your starter will like to be fed a 1:1:1 ratio of starter flour and water.  Some people do this by scale weight (by volume you will be adding less water than flour) but frankly just use your eyes and go by consistency and you will also be fine.   Depending how much you used baking you will likely be throwing out starter before feeding to keep it to a manageable size. Don’t want to throw away starter?  How about delicious green onion pancakes!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVx2oFFptG0 

 

If you bake a lot:  Keep in on the counter, cover with parchment paper.  Or in a slightly warmer spot like on top of the fridge.  Or sleep with it next to your body to make sure it's not cold at night, as did the San Francisco Gold Rush miners in 1848 (note: they really did this).  Discard then feed it daily, at around the same time.  

 

If you bake infrequently:  Keep in the fridge, also covered with parchment.  1-2 days before you bake you will pull it from the fridge and get it active again.  How?  Discard then feed it, put an elastic band at the level.  See if it doubles in 8 hours.  If so… it’s Active!  If not… feed it again!  If unused, discard then feed it once ever 1-2 weeks.   For more on this see The No-Feed Sourdough Starter Method.

 

BAKING: There is so much sourdough information online it can be overwhelming, but a lot of the sites and videos are great for beginners.   Just dive in and go, even if not everything makes sense when you read the recipe.  From my experience a lot can go wrong but the bread will still taste great.   Courage, my love. Some things will only make sense with dough stuck to your fingers.  

 

Here is a recipe I like... they say it's best to do the same recipe again and again to really learn, and I think that’s good advice.  I wouldn’t be surprised if your very first attempt is delicious though: Weekend Bakery Pain Naturel: https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/sourdough-pain-naturel/ 

 

Lots of people love the NYT no-knead sourdough bread (there is sometimes a pay-wall): https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018028-sourdough-no-knead-bread

 

No Scale?  My dad uses https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread-224367

 

Want something more challenging and really fun? My favorite is the Foodgeek Sourdough Bread Recipe for Beginners  https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-recipe-for-beginners/   Be sure to watch the video first!

 

QUESTIONS:

 

What if it doesn't work?    It will.  If not for some fantastic reason then I will refund or replace no worries.  I want you to send me a photo of a fantastic and maybe slightly misshapen loaf that you made from this starter.  Anything that  gets in the way of that is no fun for either of us!  Keep it very thick and remember to discard and you will be fine.

 

Do I need to buy a (dutch oven, lame, bench scraper, proofing basket, bag of fancy flour, etc etc):  NO! These things are fun to have, but it would be silly to delay baking until you have them.  I have made a guide for things that I use that I hope is helpful: kensingtonsourdough.ca/pages/things-to-maybe-buy-but-not-necessary

 

I screwed up one of the steps!  You probably didn't.  The sourdough little soldiers are really resilient.  Unless you baked them at 500F for half an hour like me they are probably still ready to get active. 

 

Something else? Want more? Want me to send a packet to someone as a fun gift?  Want to leave me a review? (please leave me a review!!) Visit me online at KensingtonSourdough.ca and use code GIFT20 for 20% off future orders.  Also you can always email me at ben@kensingtonsourdough.ca, or see me in person in Kensington Market, Toronto Ontario.  Finally please follow me and tag your creations to @kensingtonsourdough on Instagram.  I love seeing them!  Good Luck and  Happy Baking!