He’s not an old, crusty Alaskan bushwhacker, gold miner, or trapper. But he is crusty, and he is old. His name? Sourdough Sam! What is he? He’s an Alaska sourdough starter.
With each passing month this winter we are learning more and more about him. As the most recent addition to our family, he is getting ample attention:
- we feed him (flour and water once per week)
- we keep his home clean (once a month we take him out of his jar, clean it and put him back in)
- we work him out and exercise him (stir him up with flour and water and bake with him)
- we let him rest (when he’s fed, exercised and cleaned, he goes in the fridge to rest)
Sourdough starter is used in place of yeast to leaven bread. Sourdough bread has great health benefits, is fairly easy to make, and is a fun project for kids, families, and adults. My kids had a ton of fun just coming up with a name for the sourdough starter- finally settling on “Sourdough Sam”.
They are continually asking, “Mom, have you fed Sam yet?” because I promptly killed the first sourdough starter I obtained a few years back by absentmindedly forgetting about it in the fridge. Of course, my kids were very small back then and it was enough of a workout each day just to get my family fed, let alone having to feed a bread sponge!
Who doesn’t like fresh, homemade breads? To get it where we live though, one must bake it from scratch. I am sad to report that eclectic stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s do not exist in McGrath. Visiting these types of stores on trips to the lower 48 sends chilling thrills of excitement down my spine. The aisles are adorned with such variety, such quality, such uniquely wonderful products. Shelves are beautifully and magnificently chocked full (well…that was pre-Covid). It is something many take for granted in the states, but not the our family. We drool, yes drool, in the middle of the stores when we shop.
In our community we have one small store called the AC (Alaska Commercial Company) and it is the size of a 7-11 or Wawa if you’re from the east coast. As grateful as I am for the AC and their selection of merchandise, the bread selection is a bit of a “wonder”. White enriched breads sporting something like a five-year shelf life are prominently situated in their cellophane bags -It’s food, or supposed to be food. On occasion Dave’s Killer bread varieties appear on the shelf- but don’t hold your breath. Many trips to the AC this past year were met with bare shelves barely holding weaner buns. Therefore, homemade bread is a staple at our home.
Is sourdough bread carb heaven? Well…yes! But here are some reasons why homemade sourdough bread can be healthier for you verses traditional yeast breads.
- No preservatives, all natural
- Probiotic qualities help gut flora
- More easily digested
- More nutritious
Here’s why-sourdough bread is made by the fermentation of dough by naturally occurring bacteria. This process causes the bread to rise, so traditional bread yeasts are not used (or less yeast is used) in the bread dough. The lactic acids produced during the fermentation process help aid digestion by making the vitamins and minerals more available to the body for absorption. The sourdough starter is a live, fermented culture, and when mixed with flour and warm water creates a sticky dough. The dough rises and then is formed into whatever shape you desire, and then its baked in the oven producing a wonderfully fresh bread “lump” as my son calls it.
If you have read down this far in the blog post, good job! You may have noticed that in the photo above, Sourdough Sam (pear shaped jar) is pictured with his friend (pint mason jar)! Her name is Sourdough Sally, and she is very, very old…in fact it is said she is over 100 years old. Her lineage allegedly dates back to the early days of the Alaska frontier and her ancestors were carried around by pioneering men and women, who wore warm fur parkas as they trudged along remote trails across what was then known as the Alaska Territory.
Some friends in Wasilla gave her to us in January and despite her age, she is tangy and sour. Mixed with a little sugar, flour and baking soda she makes THE best sourdough pancakes a person has ever tasted.
There are a bunch of good sourdough bread recipes all over the web. We began using the King Arthur website recipe. However, I like to make up my own recipes, so we quickly began morphing that original one into our own family Sourdough Sam recipe.
I’ve made yeast breads for years, and I have perfected many types. Our sourdough lumps are actually made with a tiny bit of traditional yeast because it takes less time. I typically have a million things to do in a day, and it speeds up the rising time. Yes, the purists will cringe and that is okay.
Here’s our recipe:
Mix 1 cup starter with 1 cup warm water, 2 teaspoons salt, and about 4 cups flour. We use a mix of unbleached white flour and freshly milled red hard wheat flour. Mix it up. It will be sticky. Lightly grease a bowl, plop in the dough lump, cover with some plastic wrap, and let it rise for at least an hour. With floured hands remove from bowl, roll around on lightly covered floured surface to form a ball lump, and place on a cookie sheet. I let it sit for 15 minutes, then bake it up at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes (depending on the size and shape of the lump). It should sound hollow when tapping it when it’s done.
Note: it takes longer to bake a loaf of sourdough verses traditional yeast breads as they tend to be quite dense. Don’t hear the hollow sound yet? Keep baking. I didn’t with cut loaf pictured above and it turned out underbaked-look at the cut loaf and notice the texture difference slightly below the midline of the cut section and you’ll see the undercooked portion. Despite being overcooked, it was still very tasty.
Here’s one suggestion for where to find a starter recipe to get you going. I like their suggestions and they keep it simple https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2019/03/beginner-sourdough-starter-recipe/
Well, what are you waiting for? Go on and get baking!
Alaska Wilderness Mom 