Secret Sourdough Starter

Do you want to know the secret to good bagels, or any good bread? Sourdough starter. It’s absolutely essential when baking amazing bagels, so you should find the best! I interviewed my dad about his sourdough starter, because he’s an incredible baker and pretty obsessed with his starter — he’s been carrying it around for more than 20 years! Read our Q&A:

What is starter?

It is wild, natural yeast, which "lives" in a culture of flour and water. It is a single-cell organism, called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, which needs food (flour), warmth, and moisture (water). It converts its food—sugar and starch—through fermentation, into carbon dioxide and alcohol. It's the carbon dioxide that makes baked goods rise, and the acidity from this process gives bread additional flavor (the "sour" in sourdough).

What’s the difference between sourdough starter and yeast?

Nothing! They are both yeast. It’s just that you get a better result with homegrown sourdough starter, which prolongs the baking process. Alternatively, you can use commercial instant yeast, which is faster but results in an inferior bread product that may wreak havoc on your gut and not taste as flavorful.

Why is starter important?

Starter allows dough to rise and makes bread taste better. 

What makes a starter better? 

Sourdough starter is free, unilimited (as long as you feed it), and will make bread products taste significantly better than commercial yeast. There are some studies that have shown the bread baked with homegrown sourdough starter is more healthful as well.

How do you take care of your starter?

You should feed your starter with a mix of 50/50 flour and water every few days, or if refrigerated, once a week. Be careful NEVER to put it in contact with anything else, especially salt. Whatever your starter touches must be perfectly clean or your starter will die.

Where did you get your starter?

From sourdough.com, an online store that sells sourdough starter that the baker collected from around the world. My particular starter came from a bakery on Ischia island, Italy, a small island off the coast of Naples, Italy.

How old is your starter?

I have had mine for almost 20 years, but is apparantly much older, possibly even a hundred years old or more, since it came from a long established bakery.