Sour Dough Bread/Kefir
I think I might be doing something wrong with my sour dough starter that I bought from the source in the 12 steps book.
I feed and water it everyday and leave it in a jar on the counter. It has a real fermented smell. It forms a waters, bubbly layer each day. I finally had time to watch the video that came with it and she showed where hers had risen (which mine hasn’t) and mentioned that she pulled it out of the fridge. Did I mess this stuff up already? I followed the directions that were sent with it. On the directions is says you don’t have to refridgerate it unless you need it to rest and aren’t going to feed it everyday.
Can someone help me?
Also, I have a question about kefir. We don’t do cow’s milk in our home. I have been making almond milk for years now. My two youngest children and I have a sensitivity to cow’s milk. However, after reading the 12 steps book I hunted for local kefir grains, found them and have been using them ever since. My two little ones (2 and 3) are developing exema again on the backs of their arms and elbows. They didn’t have this before so I feel certain it’s the kefir. I make it with organic 2% cows milk. In our state it’s nearly impossible to find raw milk and I haven’t been able to locate goat milk even after lots of searching around.
I was hoping that it would not affect them like this (it has affected me at all) since the proteins are broken down in the fermenting process. Baby coconuts are not impossible to find, but they are not convienent. I can buy them at an Asian Market in a case of 9 for $15, but I have to drive about 30 minute to buy them. I don’t have an extra fridge to store them, so I couldn’t buy more than 1 box at a time.
Anyone have any suggestions? I want the health benefits, but don’t want the little bumps on the backs of their arms.
Thanks,
Kari
umm yea—I wouldn’t give your intolerant kids kefir from milk—esp. now that you’ve seen the effects…
there IS water kefir–is there coconut milk kefir? (I’ve been putting off getting this stuff too because my kids can’t have dairy.)
some things that are healthy–can be very unhealthy for your kids’ bodies if they are allergic–it can have the opposite effect of good. you can do probiotics and make homeade alternative milk yogurt with live cultures as an alternative.
Look up water kefir. Actually, check out my friend’s blog –>
http://www.phytophiliac.com/2009/10/non-dairy-kefir-and-yogurt.html
and
http://www.phytophiliac.com/2009/09/water-kefir.html
Ok, so I have tried this sour dough bread now, twice. The first time the bread was really sour (left it to rise too long) and really hard and dense.
This time I watched the video that came with the starter. I followed what she said to the T and my dough is sticky and won’t form a shape. Ugh! I really want to learn to make sour dough bread and get away from the yeast wheat bread, but I just can’t seem to get this right. I am wasting so much flour and time in the process.
What’s the secret?
Kari
I was finally brave enough to buy the starter but after hearing about everyone’s problems I’m getting a bit nervous again!
About the kefir, I have the same problem. But I have seen Goat milk kefir sometimes in the health food store. It isn’t cheap but at least it’s not cow’s milk. Also I noticed recently that the “So Delicious” people have been making yogurt and kefir out of coconut milk. Yeah its kind of expensive but, hey it exists!
I’ve been messing around with sourdough for about 3 years and I have had many frustrating doorstops come out of my oven. Until…..
This is a creepy/hilarious clip but I am sold on the method. I am making 100% spelt sourdough with a homemade rye starter and it is awesome. I have paid $5 for a loaf that doesn’t taste this good. Even my children and husband (who normally turn their noses up to my homemade sourdough) are begging for it. I have been making almost a loaf a day without a lot of time involved. I am even baking a loaf as I write. I will have some delicious sourdough with my salad for lunch. Yum Yum.
Hang in there- it is a lot easier than I ever thought. Check out the video- just ignore the bizarre presentation.
I’ve been messing around with sourdough for about 3 years and I have had many frustrating doorstops come out of my oven. Until…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POnxAoHl1qc
This is a creepy/hilarious clip but I am sold on the method. I am making 100% spelt sourdough with a homemade rye starter and it is awesome. I have paid $5 for a loaf that doesn’t taste this good. Even my children and husband (who normally turn their noses up to my homemade sourdough) are begging for it. I have been making almost a loaf a day without a lot of time involved. I am even baking a loaf as I write. I will have some delicious sourdough with my salad for lunch. Yum Yum.
Hang in there- it is a lot easier than I ever thought. Check out the video- just ignore the bizarre presentation.
Yeah, that video was pretty weird and creepy. But it seems like the DVD that I got with the starter says mostly the same thing. So I’m getting the starter going now and hopefully the bread will work out!
I bought water kefir grains on ebay from kefirlady for $10, but you can get it for free from community exchanges – if you have milk kefir grains, grow/feed the grains so they’d multiply, then share some with someone who has water kefir and he/she will share back. I am starting from scratch, so I decided to buy mine and the seller was very helpful, has been fermenting for years.
Water kefir grains can be fermented in store-bought coconut water (Zico, O.N.E., VitaCoco, etc.), which is what I do. Sometimes I just use sugar, water + extra fruit & lemons (this is what the instructions say to do). Kefir grains feed on sugar, as all probiotic cultures do. (Milk kefir feeds on lactose, which is milk sugar.) Donna Gates from bodyecologydiet.com (an anti-fungal diet) has extensive information on fermenting coconut water, but I would not buy the starter culture from her. Best to obtain some kefir grains.
Is there anything wrong with making my own starter? The recipes I’ve seen just use flour and water/milk/potato water. Am I missing something by using these?
One of my friends is a raw chef and she uses the coconut water in the package for the reasons you described. It’s a rare exception for her to use something that is packaged and not raw, but it does ferment and it tastes amazing. I have found it to be really nice. If you were willing to try milk, this may be an option you enjoy.
Again, it’s NOT raw, but it does provide the benefits of a cultured food.
She made this from grains that were not dairy cultured, that she found through the internet somewhere.
LOL – I just watched the video that Sonja posted a link to. I’m pretty certain that someone is snorting their sourdough starter there:-) But, I am going to give the method a try (and hopefully I won’t keep getting the image of the creepy hand in my head).
I have made my own sourdough starter following this method
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/breadblog.html
BUT, I sprouted my spelt, then dehytrated at very low temperature, ground the spelt kernels to flour, and made my starter from that flour. I only fed the starter with sprouted spelt flour I ground in grain mill, and within a week had a powerful sprouted spelt starter. I could not believe how well this method worked for me, using spelt, and sprouted grain flour at that!
Thank you for the one’s who posted re: coconut kefir. Why in the world would any of us want to go back to using cow OR goat milk?? I’m glad for the post re: using coconut water!
Blessings!
VillaRosa
Do you have access to goat milk? We used goat milk with one of our children because she was allergic to cow milk. She had no problems with it.
In fact that is what my family drinks now, I have to use almond milk, for thyroid reasons.