Sourdough Bread --- Crohns Disease

Here is a link that will tell you all about sourdough and even how to get a free starter of "Oregon Trail 1849 Sourdough Starter". I used it several years with both King Arthur bread flour and all purpose flour. It is really quite easy and to me lots of fun.
carlsfriends.net

I make sourdough a couple times a week in bread machine.But have made sourdough bread by hand,just takes a while to raise.Place the dough in the oven with oven light on to keep it warm. Starter is easy to make mix it up and keep it fed.

I made a really nice loaf of Whole Grain, sourdough today. It took me about 3 days to fiddle with the starter, but I finally got it rolling. I used rye flour, and leftover yogurt whey to get it activated. Vital wheat gluten, barley syrup and about 3 different, whole grain flours in the dough. Boy, did it go ballistic! I had to do 3 rises, even with a night in the fridge. I baked it in a Boule shape, in a cast iron, covered vessel with parchment paper. Not a speck of commercial yeast. It will be the guest of honor at dinner tomorrow!

Sourdough often turns out to be wild yeast carried on the wind.
yeast spores are everywhere.
Soured dough is just what it says. It may take several or many starters to get one that produces bread you like. Most taste bitter to me.
If someone has a good flavor starter, get them to pinch off a bit for you and make a batch yourself and save some for starter next time.

Sourdough 101

This is a pretty good explanation of the science behind sourdough. Very interesting!

I get water from our municipality. I fill a gallon jug, rubber band a paper coffee filter over the neck and let it set overnight. The chlorine will dissipate.

I have equally good results with my RO water and city tap water. Might depend on your city, but ours had chlorine. We know have a well, softener, and RO system. terry r.

Hadn't given much thought to the water. We use a charcoal filter under the sink to get the chlorine taste out of our water. Is that good enough, or should I use some bottled water; when travelling we use Ozarka which claims to be 100% natural spring water.

I use a sour starter, I started almost 30 years ago, with no commercial yeast. With proper feeding, and or storage, it is available in a couple of days and can be made daily, if replenished.

You can get a free 1847 starter with a self addressed stamped envelop from ...
http://carlsfriends.net/source.html

You can even make a very tasty, no knead bread with a strong starter and a heavy pot... http://breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-method/ This is even good in an outdoor Dutch oven. terry r.

As far as maintaining a sourdough starter: Once established, I keep it in a pint, Mason jar. Cover it with a paper coffee filter and plastic wrap-put it in the fridge if you aren't going to bake for awhile.
Feed it about once a week. Dump half out, mix 1/2 c AP flour with 1/2 c dechlorinated water, add to remaining starter in same pint jar-give a good stir-cover it up and put it back in fridge.
When you want to use it. Take it out of fridge, follow above feeding instructions, (increase to 1 cup each flour/water) every 8 hours X 3 times-keep at room temperature during this activation phase. Once it starts bubbling, and has a wonderful sweet, yeasty aroma-you're ready to start your recipe.
When you're ready to bake, reserve some of the fed, bubbly starter-back in that same, funky jar, cover and back in the fridge for next time.
This starter will outlive you if properly cared for. It's a good idea to give it a name, (mine is Little Caesar).
This stuff is the original superglue. Clean up any spills immediately.
I cannot keep house plants alive, but sourdough starter is pretty tough stuff. Don't think that it's a high maintenance item. I have forgotten to feed it for two weeks, and it doesn't care. It starts to develop it's own personality-and gets a little cranky in the winter time. But, as the years roll by-you two will learn to happily co-exist. Happy Baking!