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A little leaven
Nov. 19th, 2022 09:26 amMatthew 13:33 -
He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."
I recently made the decision to try making my own sourdough starter. The process starts easily enough- you take equal parts flour and water in a glass jar, mix into wallpaper paste, and leave out overnight. The next day, it's already foaming and bubbling! So you take a little of that original piece and put it in a fresh jar, add equal parts flour and water, and stir it in. This is feeding your starter.
The rest you can throw away, use in a recipe specifically for 'discard', or use to make even more starter if you need a lot of it.
I was excited for the bubbles. Yeast, right? But they had no ability to make bread rise. If I wanted sourdough flavor, I had to use the discard and add commercial yeast to the flour and other ingredients to make a loaf. On its own, it wasn't strong enough. It smelled right and it tasted right, but it wasn't ready.
My first set of directions said it could take a week. Okay. One week of feeding until the sourdough starter would rise on its own. I could do that.
Except it didn't happen. It got liquid on top (called 'hooch', a sign the starter is eating through all the available sugars and wants more). It was gooey and soft and squishy. It refused to rise.
I did research. I found out it could take longer- three or four weeks, maybe! I changed the water I was using. I fed it more- more often and greater proportions. Instead of a 1:1:1 ratio, I was feeding it 1:4:4. Still equal amounts flour and water, but the starter was hungry. It needed more. I fed it twice a day and it still got a tiny sliver of that 'hooch' on top that said it was hungry. No matter how often or how much I fed it, it refused to rise. The jar never grew any more full.
Just when I was fretting because I'd be away on a camping trip for a weekend and couldn't be there to fuss over it multiple times a day, I looked at my starter in the morning and it wasn't just bubbly, it was foaming over like over-risen dough. No hooch, just airy bubbles.
I took a spoonful and placed it in a glass of water and it floated! It was strong enough and airy enough to float upon the water!
There was just one benchmark left. I fed it again and checked on it regularly through the day. And a few hours later, not only had it risen, but it had doubled its size! I had a true, mature sourdough starter. It didn't slowly go from no rise to perfect rise in stages, but straight from nothing to everything.
A mature sourdough starter is robust- it can be stored in the fridge and fed less often. It can be dried out and rehydrated. You can divide it and feed all the divisions and give a dozen times the original away to others to use for themselves.
A measure of leaven can indeed grow to lift up sixty pounds of flour.
But it takes time. You start with humble beginnings. You feed it constantly. You fret about the waste, the unproductive leftovers that still need help from other leaven to turn into good food.
And then, overnight, the magic happens. The tiny seeds of yeast in the flour finally get strong enough to overcome the weight of the flour, the presence of bacterias that might have slowed it down, the temperatures and variables in your air and water and house. You have something that can make bread for multitudes.
Jesus told us that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast. I look at my starter and I see the lessons of the Church. A new yeast needs feeding. A lot of feeding. While it's young and uncertain, it may need support to do its job, to make bread and pretzels and muffins for sharing. But if you keep feeding it, eventually it reaches a point where it grows and can stand on its own. Suddenly. Like magic.
And you don't know how long it will take. It could take a week. It could take a month. It could be longer. It's discouraging. You have to keep going even when it doesn't look right at all. You have to have faith.
If you keep at it, your faith will be rewarded. You, too, will be fed.
He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."
I recently made the decision to try making my own sourdough starter. The process starts easily enough- you take equal parts flour and water in a glass jar, mix into wallpaper paste, and leave out overnight. The next day, it's already foaming and bubbling! So you take a little of that original piece and put it in a fresh jar, add equal parts flour and water, and stir it in. This is feeding your starter.
The rest you can throw away, use in a recipe specifically for 'discard', or use to make even more starter if you need a lot of it.
I was excited for the bubbles. Yeast, right? But they had no ability to make bread rise. If I wanted sourdough flavor, I had to use the discard and add commercial yeast to the flour and other ingredients to make a loaf. On its own, it wasn't strong enough. It smelled right and it tasted right, but it wasn't ready.
My first set of directions said it could take a week. Okay. One week of feeding until the sourdough starter would rise on its own. I could do that.
Except it didn't happen. It got liquid on top (called 'hooch', a sign the starter is eating through all the available sugars and wants more). It was gooey and soft and squishy. It refused to rise.
I did research. I found out it could take longer- three or four weeks, maybe! I changed the water I was using. I fed it more- more often and greater proportions. Instead of a 1:1:1 ratio, I was feeding it 1:4:4. Still equal amounts flour and water, but the starter was hungry. It needed more. I fed it twice a day and it still got a tiny sliver of that 'hooch' on top that said it was hungry. No matter how often or how much I fed it, it refused to rise. The jar never grew any more full.
Just when I was fretting because I'd be away on a camping trip for a weekend and couldn't be there to fuss over it multiple times a day, I looked at my starter in the morning and it wasn't just bubbly, it was foaming over like over-risen dough. No hooch, just airy bubbles.
I took a spoonful and placed it in a glass of water and it floated! It was strong enough and airy enough to float upon the water!
There was just one benchmark left. I fed it again and checked on it regularly through the day. And a few hours later, not only had it risen, but it had doubled its size! I had a true, mature sourdough starter. It didn't slowly go from no rise to perfect rise in stages, but straight from nothing to everything.
A mature sourdough starter is robust- it can be stored in the fridge and fed less often. It can be dried out and rehydrated. You can divide it and feed all the divisions and give a dozen times the original away to others to use for themselves.
A measure of leaven can indeed grow to lift up sixty pounds of flour.
But it takes time. You start with humble beginnings. You feed it constantly. You fret about the waste, the unproductive leftovers that still need help from other leaven to turn into good food.
And then, overnight, the magic happens. The tiny seeds of yeast in the flour finally get strong enough to overcome the weight of the flour, the presence of bacterias that might have slowed it down, the temperatures and variables in your air and water and house. You have something that can make bread for multitudes.
Jesus told us that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast. I look at my starter and I see the lessons of the Church. A new yeast needs feeding. A lot of feeding. While it's young and uncertain, it may need support to do its job, to make bread and pretzels and muffins for sharing. But if you keep feeding it, eventually it reaches a point where it grows and can stand on its own. Suddenly. Like magic.
And you don't know how long it will take. It could take a week. It could take a month. It could be longer. It's discouraging. You have to keep going even when it doesn't look right at all. You have to have faith.
If you keep at it, your faith will be rewarded. You, too, will be fed.
