# Sour dough starter ??



## claytonpiano (Feb 3, 2005)

I have used this recipe and think it is fantastic.

http://cookingwithlove-grannyg.blogspot.com/2011/01/sourdough-in-pictures.html

It used instant potato flakes. How do you use water from boiled potatoes instead? Do you think you could rehydrate dehydrated potatoes and feed it in the same way? 

I hate buying the instant flakes and want another alternative. I plan to experiment, but wondered if any of you already knew the answer or had experimented in some way.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

I should think just tossing in an equal amount of mashed potatoes should work.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Sounds like my starter. I buy potato flakes strictly for it. Mashed potatoes may work, though.


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## RonTgottagoat (Feb 27, 2014)

I worked at a bakery when I was in culinary school and we did a sour dough. If I remember correctly we started it with flour sugar yeast water similar to making regular bread we kept it on a shelf in a bucket with a damp towel on it After a day we'd take about a 3rd of it to make bread then feed it and put it back we kept it going the year I worked there. I've never heard of using potato in the starter. I don't know if fresh potatoes would work. I don't remember exactly but seem to recall potato being prone to a certain bacteria growth when time temp was not adhered to I would be careful substituting fresh for a potato flake in something like a starter. Just something to consider


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## Lilycatherine (Sep 2, 2011)

Just an FYI.....I have tried all of the things suggested above and they all worked fine for me. I always just used leftover mashed potatoes made from scratch. But I have used the dry potato flakes and potato water too. Perhaps I have just been lucky?


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## SmartAZ (Sep 17, 2006)

The recipe for bread is flour, salt, and water. Everything else is either flavoring or dough conditioner. Grains naturally carry yeast spores, but we use store-bought because it works faster, or sour dough because it tastes better. You always want to use ground ginger and citric acid to promote yeast growth, and lecithin to help texture. Protein, such as egg white, improves keeping.

Sour dough is a mixture of yeast and lactobacillus (yogurt). If you don't like your randomly captured critters, you can buy starters with a better reputation. But technique is more important. Lactobacillus grows slowly, and the acid it produces is what we call the sour dough flavor, so you want to give your starter time to grow, like a week or more. Yeast generates CO2 to give the large voids typical of sour dough. Sugar stimulates yeast and lactose stimulates lactobacillus. (But don't add milk to your starter!)

I have made potato bread and it was ok, but I don't know any reason to add potato to your starter. All you want from a starter is yeast and lactic acid.


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