The Sourdough Project: Week 1

What is Sourdough?

• Sourdough is a type of bread that uses the fermentation of yeast to form the dough of the bread. The yeast comes from fermented flour and no yeast is added to the dough.

What is a Sourdough Starter?

• A sourdough starter is a combination of flour and water that allows wild yeast to grow until it is able to make the bread rise. Wild yeast is already located in flour. So this combination needs no added yeast to grow. Natural enzymes within the mixture break down the flour into glucose which the yeast then consumes. Eventually, the yeast will produce carbon dioxide which is why bubbles form in the sourdough starter. Once the yeast are fully grown within the starter, it can be used to make sourdough bread.

My Sourdough Starters

• My starters consist of a control group that has no added fruit and the blackberry group, which I added blackberries to. The blackberries I used in this experiment are the brand H52 and are produced in Mexico. They were bought from a local grocery store in Raleigh, NC. I began my starters on August 27th at 12:21 am.

	Control Starter	Blackberry Starter
Day 1: 8/27 12:21 am	A layer of liquid formed on the top of the starter No sign of rising and falling Smells like vinegar/buttermilk	A layer of liquid formed on the top of the starter No sign of rising and falling Smells like vinegar/buttermilk
Day 2 8/28 1:04 am	Sticky consistency  No signs of rising and falling No layer of liquid at the top	Runnier than the control group No signs of rising and falling A layer of liquid formed at the top
Day 3 8/29 12:50 am	A layer of liquid on top Smells like buttermilk Runnier in consistency than yesterday No sign of rising and falling	A layer of liquid on top Smells like bread No signs of rising and falling

Citations

• https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/what-is-sourdough-benefits-of-sourdough-bread/
• https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337