In 2009, Debra Wink, a member of the King Arthur Baking Circle and microbiologist, experimented to find the best way to "fool-proof" making a sourdough starter from scratch. She found that using unsweetened pineapple juice for the first two feedings created a lower pH environment which helps the right bacteria and yeast to grow. (You can find her detailed research and instructions on the Fresh Loaf website.) I followed her method to create a vigorous and healthy starter almost 2 years ago. It's still going strong. If anyone has problems creating their starter using water, consider trying unsweetened pineapple juice for the first two feedings. That may be the key to your success. We (the education team at KA) met with Debbie a few months ago, at the start of the project that ended up spawning this blog post, among other content pieces (yet to be published). She was an incredible wealth of information, and this post incorporated much of what she said. There are so many different ways to create your own starter; the pineapple juice method is one, this is another, and there are many more out there. The important point about baking with sourdough is - stay loose. Be flexible. There's no one right or wrong way where sourdough is concerned... whatever works for you is good. Thanks for posting this info. here - the more we all share, the better! PJH

• Reply