A natural starter contains wild yeasts instead of the commercially packaged variety. The simplest traditional recipes for natural starters, such as this one, combine flour and water and allow the wild yeasts contained in the air and flour slowly to reproduce. However, wild yeast starters can be made with a variety of ingredients. Some natural sourdough starters are made with a combination of cooked or raw potatoes to which water, salt, and cornmeal or flour are added. Some use a combination of fresh or dried hops, potatoes, and cornmeal. And some use milk, yogurt, and flour. Some bakers use nonairborne wild yeasts, such as those found on organically grown grapes. (If you look closely at a fresh grape, youΓÇÖll notice a thin white film covering its skinΓÇöthis is composed of wild yeasts.)But the following recipe is ideal for the home baker. This traditional starter begins with a small piece of dough made from flour and water. It is fed on a daily basis with fresh flour and water until the ΓÇ£wildΓÇ¥ yeasts reproduce enough so that the starter can be used to make bread. During this slow fermentation process, bacteria in the starter also reproduce and cause the starter to sour. The starter can be maintained indefinitely with twice-daily feedings or allowed to go dormant in the refrigerator and fed only once a week. Some recipes for starter require up to 2 weeks of initial growth, but we have developed a method for making a sourdough starter in 3 days. However, if your starter stubbornly refuses to sour, it may take a day or two longer.
Stir together in a very clean small mixing bowl:
1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup barely lukewarm (about 80┬░F) water
Turn it out onto a clean (unfloured) work surface and knead the dough using the heel of one hand until it is smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Poke 4 or 5 holes in the plastic with the tip of a sharp knife. Let stand at room temperature away from drafts for 12 to 15 hours.
Mix thoroughly into the starter:
1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room-temperature water
Re-cover the bowl and let stand for another 12 to 15 hours. Transfer the starter to a clean medium bowl and continue the feeding by mixing in:
1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room-temperature water
Re-cover the bowl and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours without disturbing it. Look at the starter. If at this point it has not risen and started bubbling, discard it and start over. If it has, continue to feed the starter on a regular schedule as follows. (With each feeding the consistency loosens into a sponge and bubbling activity increases.) Mix into the starter:
1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room-temperature water
Cover the bowl tightly with a fresh piece of plastic wrap and do not poke holes in it this time. Let stand at room temperature until it rises and the surface has bubbles all over, for about 12 hours. Feed the starter once with:
1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room-temperature water
Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until risen and very bubbly, 4 to 8 hours. There should be a faint sour tang in the aroma. The starter is now ready to use in sourdough bread recipes. If the starter does not look very active at this time, continue the same feeding schedule (every 12 hours) for 2 more days until it builds enough leavening strength to rise bread dough.
