This starter comes together in two stages: first, you’ll create the seed culture, then you’ll convert it to a mother starter. In the first stage, you aren’t making the starter that actually goes into your dough; you’re making a starter (the seed) that makes another starter (the mother), from which you’ll make your final dough. There are many ways to make a seed culture. The simplest is with just flour and water. This does work, but not always on a predictable schedule. I’ve seen methods on the Internet calling for onion skins, wine grapes, plums, potatoes, milk, buttermilk, and yogurt. These can all serve as fuel for the microorganisms, and all of them also work for making a seed culture. But ultimately, a starter (and bread itself) is really about fermented flour. So in this book the goal is to create the conditions in which the appropriate organisms can grow and thrive so that they can create great-tasting bread. The following method produces a versatile starter that can be used to make 100 percent sourdough breads as well as mixed-method breads (breads leavened with a combination of wild yeast starter and commercial yeast). However, if you already have a starter or used a different method to make a starter, feel free to use it. The starter can be made from whole wheat flour, unbleached white bread flour, or whole rye flour. (Rye bread fanatics tend to keep a ryeonly starter, but in my opinion a wheat starter works just as well in rye breads.) If you already have a finished starter, whether whole grain or white, it can be used as the mother starter for any of the formulas in this book, as directed in the various recipes. You may wonder about the inclusion of pineapple juice in the early stages of making the seed starter. Pineapple juice neutralizes a dastardly bacteria that can sabotage your starter (this bacteria, leuconostoc, has been showing up more often in flour and I have written about it extensively on my blog; see Resources, page 205). If you’re the mad scientist type, as so many bread baking enthusiasts are, feel free to experiment with other acids, such as ascorbic acid or citric acid, as in orange juice or lemon juice. One final word of advice: If your seed culture doesn’t respond in exactly the way described, on the exact schedule predicted, just give it more time. In most instances, the good microbial guys eventually prevail, allowing the seed to thrive and fulfill its mission.

Ingredients

　　2 tablespoons (1 oz / 28.5 g) filtered or spring water

　　1/2 cup (4 oz / 113 g) Phase 3 seed culture

　　Measure out 1/2 cup (4 oz / 113 g) of the Phase 3 culture and discard or give away the remainder (or save it for a second starter or as a backup). Add the new ingredients to the 1/2 cup Phase 3 culture and mix to form a soft dough. Again, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the culture becomes active. It should swell and double in size. It can take anywhere from 4 to 24 hours for the Phase 4 culture to become fully active. If there is still little sign of fermentation after 24 hours, leave it at room temperature until it becomes very active, continuing to aerate the culture at least twice daily. The seed culture should register between 3.5 and 4.0 if tested with pH paper. (Wipe a small dab on the paper and match the color against the guide.) When the culture has grown and smells acidic (somewhat like apple cider vinegar) or has a pH of 4.0 or lower, you can either proceed to the next stage or place the seed culture in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

　　"Reprinted with permission from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day: Fast and Easy Recipes for World-Class Breads by Peter Reinhart, copyright © 2009. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc." Photo credit: Leo Gong © 2009Peter Reinhart is a baking instructor and faculty member at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was the cofounder of Brother Juniper's Bakery in Santa Rosa, California, and is the author of seven books on bread baking, including Crust and Crumb, the 2002 James Beard Cookbook of the Year and IACP Cookbook of the Year, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and the 2008 James Beard Award-winning Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.