Prawns and Hummus: Sourdough start-up loans

I always wanted to try sourdough, but I was put off by the long starter-making and difficult preparation of it. However, I got an excellent excuse to engage when a local bakery, The Artisan Bakery (check them out they're brilliant) gave away starters and held a competition to make a loaf. I didn't win obviously, I'm completely useless but I learnt a lot about it in the process.
Sourdough gets its characteristic tangy flavour and ciabatta-like texture because it rises from its starter made simply from flour and water which grows a culture of bacteria and natural yeast. This bacteria produces lactic acid and when it contacts the gluten from kneading it makes lots of carbon dioxide which gives it a big bubbly rise.
In terms of making you have to be prepared for experiments and disasters. The starter can be a stiff dough to thin batter, mine is often akin to a sponge cake mixture. Therefore, you have to be fluid with the recipe, and try different amounts and times to find the best method for you. The recipe I used today uses wholemeal flour, so the texture is more dense and the sour flavour is lessened from the taste of the grain. If you wanted to, you could experiment with a wholemeal starter or even rye. I hadn't ever actually made my own starter *at time of writing*, I was given a small pot which I have kept going since September, but it's died (or was rather killed by neglect) and I had to start afresh, their pot had been from a starter that was started 6 years ago! If you want to make your own starter then you just have to mix strong flour and water until you get a consistency which is slightly thinner than an American pancake batter (the thinner the mixture the less water you will need in the dough). When you start it you have to be on the ball, keep it at room temperature and refresh it everyday by which I mean tip out half the mixture and add extra water and flour until it is revived to the roughly the same volume it was before it was refreshed. Don't be daunted by scum- this is just alcohol that forms from the yeast's fermentation process and you can either stir it back in or tip it off. Once it is very sour and bubbly it is active, and see below to see how to keep it, though bare in mind, Sourdough starter isn't a pet and certainly doesn't need fastidious care.

I recommend that you don't try sourdough until you can do basic loaves so you have a general feel of dough and rising.
The guidelines I am following are specific to Shropshire's baking roots, so if you want to try San Francisco or Italian, the troubleshooting of this recipe won't be as relevant.
Wholemeal is harder to work with than white, so you should try white first.
Flour every surface that the dough comes in contact with liberally with flour, as the dough is very tacky and can't hold its own shape well.
Make sure the dough isn't contacting a lot of air when it proves as it develops a very dry skin that can be very problematic. With its long prove, it can dry even with its bowl covered with clingfilm- as a solution, I'd suggest rubbing over a film of oil on the surface of the dough.
I recommend leaving it to prove overnight to develop its flavour and texture more. Natural yeast works much slower than yeast you might buy in a packet so it doesn't rise enough in a few hours which would be sufficient for regular bread but overnight gives it a massive prove.
Buying equipment such as wooden bannetons are useful but expensive, a floured tea towel in a bowl will work just as well.
Keep your house fairly warm while making it. I don't mean blowing your heating bill, but have the room the dough is rising in free of draughts.
Kneading should be done for about 10 minutes. Put some music on and pretend your pounding David Cameron's face until the dough is very smooth and elastic. Pressing the surface of the dough ball should spring back. Try not to add too much extra flour if it becomes sticky, the dough will clean up after itself after it's been kneaded for long enough.
Don't be afraid to slash the bread quite strong, as it won't affect the bread if it's a very thin slash, but don't be too deep either as the bread will collapse in the oven. Use a very very sharp knife as this will cut the surface without applying collapse-risking pressure.
Have the oven pre-heated during the second rise. I used to be fanatical about putting ice or a shallow tray of water into the oven to provide steam; real bakery ovens are routinely injected with steam. These days I don't bother, you'll never really recreate that steamy environment and I don't find it makes a lot of difference anyway.
To refresh a starter, either stir in the film of alcohol that has developed on top or pour it out along with half of the starter from the jar and add more water and flour until it is back to the same consistency. This must be done either the night before or a good half a day before you start making your bread.
If you want (and I presume you do) to keep the starter for a long time without using it, it wouldn't be a good idea to keep it out on the side at room temperature because it will remain too active: what you must do is have the starter almost as thick as a dough which means it will be less bubbly and lively and keep it in the fridge. At this temperature it will only need to be refreshed once a fortnight and every time you do refresh it ensure you take it back to its thick consistency. Don't worry, any attempts mould may plan to inhabit the starter will be futile- the pH is too low. If any mould does grow, you may need to call an exterminator and a prodigious lawyer as you've probably grown a highly dangerous superbug. To use the starter from the fridge refresh it the night before but make it nice and runny (though not too runny or it doesn't have enough resistance to double in size as it should) and leave it at room temperature to reactivate it to proofing glory. If it doesn't double, which is the best indicator that it's ready to use, refresh again and leave it until it's at the right activity.

You should commit to making sourdough once you've made it once, as the starter is great after being refreshed and kept for weeks, you could even give some away!
1)Refresh your starter a day or half a day before you make it by adding a few more tablespoons of water and flour until it reaches your desired consistency. Leave it out of the fridge until you use it.
2)Combine 500g of strong white flour (or 250g sw and 250g strong wholemeal ) with 100g of the starter, 325 ml/g of water, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (you can vary this fat- shortening and delicious lard works well) and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Be careful that the salt doesn't contact the starter directly. Also if you're making a wholemeal bread consider sprinkling linseeds, wheatgerm or anything else you might want to make the bread grainier, and more substantial.
3)Mix the ingredients together, adding more water or flour until it reaches a wet dough.
4)Knead it on a floured wooden surface like a large chopping board until smooth and elastic. You can also knead it in a bread machine or stand mixer. Don't be tempted to add too much extra flour- to give the bread a lovely open texture you need a loose wet dough and you will simply have to go by eye and more importantly by feel to get there.
5)Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for about half a day or overnight. It should be well-risen, strong-smelling and doubled in size. Do not continue until that dough has doubled. If you have a busy morning and cannot get back to tend to the dough until you're back from school or work, it might be a good idea to retard the rising by keeping the dough in the fridge. This will stop the dough from over proving.
6)This bit's the hardest:turn the risen dough out on a well-floured surface. Ease the sides of the dough out and pull back to the centre and repeat until you have a defined seam and smooth top that doesn't flop too much. The dough is very wet and shapeless so you have to be patient and gentle and keep repeating the seam-making to have a tight shape.
7)Place the dough in a bowl lined with a very well-floured tea towel, seam-side up and cover the seam side with oiled cling film. I also did an oblong loaf on the baking sheet that had been dusted with lots of flour and covered with a floured tea towel. This method is more likely to have a bread that will go flat in the oven, but if you can get an oblong loaf right it looks very attractive.
8)Leave it to rise again for a long second prove, about 2-3 hours until it again doubles in size which of course depends on the heat of your house.
9)Turn the bowl over and drop the bread deftly onto a lightly floured baking sheet and remove the towel carefully. Dust it with more flour. Simply remove the towel for the oblong loaf. Slash the round loaf with 2 vertical and 2 horizontal slashes. Slash the oblong loaf with three, equally-spaced, slightly slanted horizontal slashes. A lame is perfect, a serrated blade works fine.
10)Bake it in a pre-heated oven (160 degrees Celsius) for 40 minutes. It should lift of the sheet easily and sound hollow when tapped if it's done. If the crust is browning quicker than the interior is baking, cover it with tin foil. Knowing when it's done is difficult so the only way to know is from experience unless you don't have an irrational fear of thermometers.
11)Leave to cool and serve. A good sourdough has a speckled top (I've provided a picture below) from airholes being trapped under a skin of gluten and large, shiny air holes. The taste will vary, mine didn't taste strongly sour as I didn't prove it for very long, and it had a more regular air structure gas wholemeal bread is always less airated. If it's not perfect right away persevere! Keep refreshing your starter as it will only get a better taste and you'll make better bread!