Bien Cuit's Zachary Golper Shares His Tips For Making A Sourdough Starter

Baker Zachary Golper of Brooklyn's Bien Cuit has a macabre sense of humor.

"I used to — this was a very cruel thing — I used to have my bakers open the poolish container and stick their face in there. They'd get a huge blast of carbon dioxide. They never liked that. They'd always look at me and go, 'Why'd you make me do that?'" Golper laughs.

Poolish is a bread starter made of a one-to-one ratio of white flour and water and a bit of yeast that ferments for 15 hours. Once any dough begins to ferment, it releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which is harsh on the nose and throat if inhaled. A trained baker like Golper knows to blow away any of the gas before taking in a deep whiff of the starter to check on how things are bubbling along.

But we're not here today to talk about poolish. We're here to talk about how to make and raise your very own sourdough starter. We chatted with Golper about the key elements to starting a sourdough mother.

The old mantra "what grows together, goes together" is the thinking here. Golper says that best results in a starter are yielded when locally sourced grains work with local strains of yeast, and he doesn't mean picking up a packet from the grocery store down the street. Local strains can be found on the skins of seasonal fruit grown in your area. Alternatively, yeast and bacteria are always floating around in the air, so you can essentially leave your starter uncovered for a bit and let nature take its course.

Golper says that he stresses locality not for the buzzword, but "for the simple biological fact that what can survive in your region, that's what's going to grow in the sourdough starter. If it doesn't already exist in your region, it probably isn't going to exist in your sourdough starter."

Golper says that grapes are ideal for sourdough-making because the skins are covered in yeast. This makes late fall during the grape harvest the best time to maintain a starter. However, if you don't live in an area where grapes, apples or even apricots thrive, the local yeast that floats in your very air should suffice, although it may delay the process.

"Under those circumstances, I would strongly suggest trying to use local grain, even if it's a year and a half old," he says. "Try to use local whole grain. The more bran there is on it, the more of that yeast you're going to be able to inoculate."

Bacteria is essential to keeping a sourdough starter alive and well. Soap is anti-bacterial. You do the math. After washing your designated sourdough container, be it a mason jar or plastic tub, the first time with soap, all other washes should just be done with water and clean towels.

"I don't want it to taste like sauerkraut. I want it to taste like yogurt or crème fraîche," Golper says. Despite the name, sourdough shouldn't make you pucker. A good balance of lactic acid in your dough will offer the pleasant tang of yogurt. You can predict the level of sour from simply smelling the starter from time to time (just remember to blow that carbon dioxide away!).

Golper tells us that he's had to smell many a starter in his day. Past students of his will bring their starters for his nose to test.

"There was one time it was literally the worst smell I've ever smelled in my life. It smelled worse than a dead human body. It was horrible," Golper recalls. "This guy said it was a starter he's had for years and I was like, 'Wow, your bread tastes real bad.'"

Did your starter deflate or get too stiff? Does it smell a little too much? It'll be okay because Golper says that starters are "surprisingly resilient." Re-feed your starter with some extra water and you'll be baking in no time. Do keep in mind that a regular feeding schedule is crucial to a good starter.

"If you don't have a regular feeding cycle for your sourdough starter, then the yeast doesn't have a metabolism that it's living by," he says. "If it doesn't have that, then you can't necessarily expect to get great results in your bread."

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Now that you're equipped with the power of knowledge, start your own starter. Below is an abbreviated version of Golper's recipe for a sourdough starter. Find the full recipe and variations in his book Bien Cuit: The Art of Bread.

All of these steps happen at room temperature with cool (18°C/65°F) water, unless a change in temperature is indicated.

Ingredients

Directions

Smoosh the grapes into the flour and mash it all together. Then let it sit in a lidded container for 3 days, untouched.

Directions

Directions

Directions

Ingredients

Directions