Name: Herman Sourdough Starter
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: 4 cups
Ingredients: 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast; 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C); 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup white sugar; 1 cup white sugar, divided; 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided; 2 cups milk, divided

Herman Sourdough Starter

"This is a recipe for a sweet sourdough starter known as Herman. There are a number of things that can be made from it. It's very important to NOT use metal utensils or bowls! It will take 15 days for the starter to mature and be ready to use the first time you make it. After that it can be ready for use every 10 days."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 7 ingredients

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Herman Sourdough Starter

4 cups

Prep30 min

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup white sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups milk, divided

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

653Calories

21 gProtein

9 gFat

120 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

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