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APOLLONIA POILANE: When
you're baking bread,

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you have four ingredients--

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water, flour, salt,
and a rising agent.

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That rising agent is
either yeast or a starter.

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People think of sourdough
as a type of bread.

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But here, sourdough is
actually the rising agent.

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When you use a sourdough,
you get the richness

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and the heritage of the
different generations of loaf's

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it has fed.

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What we're going
to create right now

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is a little bit
akin to the journey

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my grandfather
embarked on in 1932.

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Today is a starting point
for your journey creating

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sourdough.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Today we're going to make
the sourdough starter.

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This process takes
five days to complete.

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And we are going to start it
off by mixing yogurt, water,

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and flours to create
a start point.

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In this recipe, I
use and ingredients

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that we don't use at Poilane.

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I use yogurt think about the
yogurt as an ingredient that's

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there just to
kickstart your process.

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It helps boost the fermentation.

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In this recipe, I use
both wholegrain flour

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and all-purpose flour.

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The reason why I mix both is
to recreate the style of stone

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ground flour we use at Poilane.

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If you're starting this recipe
at home for the first time

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you can use glass,
stone, or a plastic cup

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for these first fermentations.

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What is important
at this point is

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that you use a scale
as you start getting

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your sourdough starter going.

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Weighing ingredients
allows for more precision

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than measuring by volume and
will make for a better starter.

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So I'm going to use yogurt.

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You want to have
this rich culture

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yogurt you will add water to.

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The water is at
room temperature.

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And that should be about
20 to 25 degrees Celsius.

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I use a whisk to put these
two ingredients together,

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especially if you're
using a Greek yogurt.

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It'll just make
your life easier.

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And then I'm going to add
the two types of flours.

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This is the all-purpose flour,
and then the whole-grain flour.

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I'm going to bring this
together using a spatula.

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You should be mixing
for a couple of minutes.

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And we're looking for the
ingredients to come together.

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As you twist and
turn, scoop it, like I

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would scoop some ice cream.

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And bring it together for all
of the ingredients to bind.

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If you are working in a
really hot environment,

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you may need to add a little
bit of water, say a spoonful.

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As this comes
together, it will have

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a texture in the spectrum
of a thick yogurt

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and a doughy texture.

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And you're just going
to let it rise there

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for 24 hours at 20-25
degrees Celsius,

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covering it with a cloth.

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And this sourdough, what
looks right now like a ball

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will flatten out and rise.

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The cloth allows a little
bit of air to go through.

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We're always trying to balance
between air, which slows down

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the fermentation, and the
lack of air, which fosters it.

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20 to 25 degrees Celsius
may be not your normal room

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temperature.

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And if that's the
case, try and look

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for spaces that are warmer.

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I've been told stories
about Italian mammas that

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keep the sourdough
under their bed

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because that's the warmest
place in their home.

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In my kitchen, I have a little
nook which is draft-free.

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And that one tends
to be the place

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I keep my sourdough
because I know that it

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will stay a tad bit warmer.

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This sourdough is really fresh.

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And you want to have it
mature a little bit so

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that it develops more flavors.

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And so tomorrow, by
adding flours and water,

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we will get that much
more richness to it.

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So I've covered my
sourdough starter.

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And I'm going to take
it to a warm place

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and let it rest for about
24 hours until day 2.

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So this is a starter that
has risen for 24 hours.

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Now, it does have some
stickiness and some bite

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as I'm moving it.

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It has a little
bit of resistance.

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And this is what
we're looking for.

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I can feel some
elasticity in the dough.

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Something you might
encounter if you're

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in a very warm environment is
that it will rise really fast.

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If it's gone overboard, then
you have to start over again.

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If the room is too cool and
the starter didn't rise at all,

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then in that case give
it a little more time

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and keep it an extra
up to 24 hours.

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If it still doesn't
rise, discard it.

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Don't be discouraged.

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Sourdough really is a journey.

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And if your loaves don't come
out perfect the first time,

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then it may be the second,
the third, or the fourth time.

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Another way that you can tell
if the sourdough is right

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is by smelling it.

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First you smell
flour, pastiness,

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and then you smell a
little bit of the lingering

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sense of the yogurt.

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But really here, I think
the visual cue at this stage

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is more important.

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That's a texture and a volume.

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This sourdough starter,
once you started it,

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you need to keep it alive.

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If you don't feed
it, then eventually

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it will die out because
the little microorganisms

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inside of this sourdough
don't have enough food.

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So now we're going to feed it.

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I like to start with
room temperature water.

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And I'm going to add it slowly.

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I add again a mix of all-purpose
flour and some whole-grain.

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Adding these ingredients
is effectively

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feeding the starter.

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I am giving more food, more
sugars to the microorganisms

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that are going to feed off of
it and create CO2 so that we

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can start having fermentation.

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On day 2, as I'm adding
the water and flour,

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I stick to the spatula.

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And you start off slowly
and delicately just

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tucking in a little bit.

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What I do is I go on the
side and I bring a little

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to the center.

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I turn the bowl so that
it can be thorough.

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And at this point, you
have a mass here where

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you can see the lumps of flour.

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But it's more or less together.

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And at that point, you can delve
in and give it some energy.

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So I can start holding
the bowl on the side

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and really scooping
and mixing thoroughly

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to make sure that we
have not only a nice mix,

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but give it energy.

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And I don't want to
sound esoteric here.

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But really, when
you're baking, you

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are giving an energy and
an impulse to your dough.

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And the sourdough
is no different.

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So to create the
starter, at some point

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you need to give it
a little bit of love.

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Show it that you want it to
create this beautiful batch.

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And also make sure you don't
have any more flour pockets.

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So the mixing here
is a little harder.

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And you can see that I'm
holding both of my hands.

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And I'm trying to do it firmly.

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It's not perfect.

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Here we have much
more of a chewing gum

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that you've chewed
for a little too long.

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It may look a little lumpy.

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That doesn't mean that
there is flour pockets.

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It's just that
it's dough that has

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had a little bit
of time to ferment

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with some fresh ingredients.

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There we go.

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So I'm not going to
mix this further.

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Scrape down the sides.

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That's just to save
yourselves little parts

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that my dry out before
they get into the dough.

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There we go.

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See, it's a little sticky.

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And that's a good sign.

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So I'm finished mixing it.

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It looks dense and ready to
rest for another 24 hours

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at room temperature.

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I'm going to cover it
up once again because I

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don't want it to crust.

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If your dough crusts because
the environment is too dry,

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just mix it in.

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Usually it's not hard enough
that it doesn't re-hydrate.

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So I cover it up.

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And I'm going to bring it to
a warm place for another 24

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hours.

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On the third and
fourth days, scoop out

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about a cup of your starter
into a separate bowl

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and feed it in the same
way as you did on day 2.

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Discard the rest of your
starter at this point,

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as it is not ready to bake with.

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Discarding will help
keep your starter

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from getting too big
with each feeding.

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So here's our starter once it's
rested for another 24 hours.

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We're on day 5.

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And you can see the surface is
speckled with little holes--

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the carbon dioxide
that's airing out.

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Texture-wise, it's very fragile.

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So if I touch it, I can feel
that there is a lot of air.

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I'm not really
touching the surface

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here because I don't want
to kill the structure.

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This is really what we want.

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We want these
little air pockets.

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At this point, the
sourdough is done.

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So we're going to
do two things here.

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We're going to use half and set
it aside for our bread recipe.

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The other half, we're
going to keep and feed

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so that you can carry on keeping
your sourdough in perpetuity;

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carry on baking loaves; carry
on sharing your sourdough,

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if you want to share
it with friends;

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or do another recipe
calling for some sourdough.

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So once you've
started the sourdough,

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the dirty little secret here
is that you must keep it

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like a pet, like a plant.

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And every day or two, you must
discard a portion and feed it.

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If you're going to go away
for more than 48 hours,

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maybe you can have a friend
feed it and give them

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your exact measurements.

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Or maybe you can travel
with your sourdough.

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Or you might find
a sourdough hotel.

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There used to be
one in Sweden where

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people would feed your
sourdough while you were away.

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But the bottom line is,
this is a live organism.

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And you can't just let it go.

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If you keep on
doing this process,

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you'll be able to
keep it forever.

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You can share that
sourdough with friends.

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You can make other uses of it--

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say, in pancakes, a rye
bread, a wheat bread.

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But keep a piece so that you
can have a sourdough starter

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for the following batch.

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The sourdough starter you have
should be kept in a warm place.

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It doesn't have to
be incredibly warm.

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The warmer it is,
the faster it'll grow

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and the more regularly
you have to feed it.

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You might even want to
take a sheet of paper

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and write down the feedings.

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If it's super-hot, you
can refrigerate it.

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If that's the case,
then just make

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sure that you seal the top so
it doesn't absorb all the smells

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of your refrigerator.

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But also, and mainly,
so it doesn't crust.

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So this sourdough, the
best way you can show it

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love, the best way you
can keep it is by baking.

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Because when you bake
with the sourdough,

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you will be able to tell what
it has given to the loaf.

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As we feed the
sourdough, as it grows--

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it will develop, much like at
Poilane, a distinctive flavor.

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It will show the different
flours to different batches.

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Maybe some years you'll
wind up on a flower blend

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that will have different
flavors than from another.

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And that can only
enrich this environment.

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And this is why each
sourdough is unique.