For Early Summer! Rosemary Bread Starter
- 1 enough to fill about 1/3 of the jar Fresh young rosemary sprigs
- 1 enough to fill up to 1/5 cm from the jar opening Water
- 1 tsp Sugar
- Swish some boiling water around in a jar with a hermetically sealing lid to sterilize it, then let cool.
- Quickly rinse the young rosemary sprigs to wash off any dirt.
- Put the rosemary in the jar, then add the sugar and water.
- Seal the lid, then lightly shake the jar by turning it upside down and right side up again.
- Store in a location where you can maintain a temperature of around 25C.
- Once or twice a day, lightly shake the jar by turning it upside down; let the contents settle, then open the lid to refresh the air.
- If you use freshly harvested herbs, in about 3 days, it should start to fizz.
- Shake, wait for the contents to settle, then open the lid.
- If there's a popping sound when you open the lid and you see the liquid fizzing up vigorously, the starter is done.
- You should aim for it to be ready in 5 days, but mine was done within 48 hours using freshly harvested young sprigs and stored in a perfect fermenting environment.
- When the starter liquid is ready, remove the rosemary and be sure to store the starter in the refrigerator.
- Take 3 more days to make a starter sponge for bread baking.
- It has a wonderful aroma, and it's most suited to making focaccia, pizza, fougasse, or any other bread that's chewy, without being too heavy.
- Characteristics of rosemary starter: It not only gives off a nice aroma when you are kneading the dough, but each mouthful of the bread fills your senses with a rosemary essence.
- It has a chewy, rather dense texture.
- Expect it to take a bit longer than other starters for the dough to rise.
- No matter what kind of rich blend of ingredients you use for the dough, rosemary starter is not suited for making fluffy, soft bread.
- When I made rolls, they cracked and were quite dense and chewy, not fluffy.
- The type of bread you can bake with it might be limited, but the aroma is superb.
enough, enough, sugar
Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/143292-for-early-summer-rosemary-bread-starter (may not work)