What is a Natural Sourdough starter?
A natural sourdough starter is something you need to have when you make sourdough bread without adding yeast to it. You need to add the starter to your dough so it will prove (prove means letting the dough sit for a few hours and expand). Using a natural sourdough starter also provides the bread with an old fashion sourdough flavour.
What is Sponge?
Sponge is basically your sourdough starter. You can add this in your dough instead of adding yeast. The sourdough starter is the one you keep in the fridge for next time, and the sponge is the one you use when you are making the dough.
What is Resting?
Once you mix in all your ingredients and form a dough, make it like a ball shape and let it rest for an hour before you start moulding the dough. If you start moulding the dough without resting it, it will be very stiff and have a chance of having big holes inside the bread after it is baked because you didn’t get rid of the bubbles.
What is proving/ proofing?
After you finish moulding the dough, let it sit for an hour so it will puff up bigger. We call this proving or proofing.
What is Hooch?
Hooch is a layer of liquid that contains 12% to 14% alcohol and smells like beer. It will build up during fermentation while you keep your sourdough in the fridge and give out a stronger sour flavour for the dough. You can either stir it back in if your starter is a bit dry or pour it out if your starter is too wet. Sometimes if your container is not clean enough it might have some mold in it, just get a clean spoon and scrape a bit more starter off the top then it will be fine.
One cup of water is 240 grams
One cup of Sponge is 260 grams
One cup of flour is 120 grams
One teaspoon is 5 grams
One tablespoon is 15 grams