Delicious Sourdough Part One: The Bug

Before yeast came in packets from the supermarket, bread bakers had to develop and nurture their own culture of wild yeasts. Today we call this kind of bread sourdough, and as the name suggests it as a uniquely sour, beer-y taste.
If you want to make delicious sourdough - and trust me, you do - be warned that it is quite labour intensive (though not much more so than regular bread) and you have to do it at regular intervals or else your yeast culture, or 'bug', will die. That said, after being given my first sourdough culture over a year ago, sourdough baking has simply become part of my life's routine and I easily bake 90% of my household's bread every week. You just need to get in to a rhythm.


Making the Bug:
The easy way:
Find a friend who has one and ask them to give you a cup. Hit me up for some, I will be happy to oblige. Or else you'll have to go....

The hard way:
- Mix 1 cup flour and 1 cup water together in a clean jar (you can use either high grade, plain or wholemeal flour). Cover with a something that will permit the bug to breathe, such as newspaper or cloth secured with a rubber band.
- Leave it in a warm-ish place for it to go sour, i.e. for the wild yeasts on the flour to multiply. After a few days it should be smelling nice and sour, at which point you should start feeding it.

It can be quite easy for the bug to turn bad. If there is any pink or grey gloopy stuff or mold in the bug, chuck it out and start again. Trust your sense of smell - healthy sourdough bugs smell nice and edible, not cheesy and disgusting.If it goes wrong, try sterilising the jar and the implements you use, or keeping it in a cooler or warmer place. There are other methods of making the bug which involve using potatoes, milk, sugar, and sometimes commercial yeasts, so if you're getting no joy from the simple recipe above give these a try.

Keeping the bug happy:
Your bug is a living organism (actually, many many living organisms). It needs air and food to survive and multiply. Keep it in the jar with the permeable covering to ensure access to the former.
For the latter, mix in equal parts of flour and water at regular intervals. Just how often and how much will depend on how much bread you want to make, and how often. For instance, I keep my bug on a kitchen shelf, and feed it every 1-2 days with two thirds of a cup flour and the same amount of water, and make two large loaves every week. If you keep the bug in the fridge, you can feed it less frequently but you will need to take it out the day before you make bread to re-activate it.
By the way, if your bug separates out, leaving a clear-ish liquid on the top that smells like alcohol, do not panic. Sourdough yeasts convert some of what they eat in to alcohol, hence the smell. The liquid is entirely normal.

Next up: the bread....