Get me (sourdough) started
April 7, 2020 5:54 PM Subscribe
I’m making sourdough starter for the first time, using the approach posted on the blue recently. However, being a set of instructions in tweet form, it’s really light on details, and seems different enough from other sourdough starter recipes that I’m finding it hard to know what to do next.
I got my small jar of raisin/flour/water mix set up on Sunday. Today, it seemed to have popped off sufficiently, so I took a tiny bit and mixed it with fresh flour/water. 8 hours later, it’s all bubbly and yeasty. Yay! But now what? That’s where his instructions end. All other starter recipes I’m seeing involve cups of flour and weeks of percolation time. The “raisin water” starter recipes also seem vastly different. So I don’t know what to do next. Am I supposed to dump a bunch of flour and water in? When? Then what? Challenge level: I don’t have a kitchen scale where I’m quarantining. I’m a moderately experienced baker but have never done sourdough so feel free to talk to me like I’m a dingus. Also, Twitter threads confuse me, which might be relevant here.
I got my small jar of raisin/flour/water mix set up on Sunday. Today, it seemed to have popped off sufficiently, so I took a tiny bit and mixed it with fresh flour/water. 8 hours later, it’s all bubbly and yeasty. Yay! But now what? That’s where his instructions end. All other starter recipes I’m seeing involve cups of flour and weeks of percolation time. The “raisin water” starter recipes also seem vastly different. So I don’t know what to do next. Am I supposed to dump a bunch of flour and water in? When? Then what? Challenge level: I don’t have a kitchen scale where I’m quarantining. I’m a moderately experienced baker but have never done sourdough so feel free to talk to me like I’m a dingus. Also, Twitter threads confuse me, which might be relevant here.
It sounds to me like your starter is pretty healthy, and this is the point where you could use it to make bread. If you want to keep it going, you can use some of it, and reserve some to feed every day, equal parts flour, water and starter -- the measurements don't have to be exact but closer is better. Or you can keep it in the fridge, and take it out once a week to warm it up and feed it. That takes a little more planning when you want to use it.
posted by mammoth at 6:04 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mammoth at 6:04 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
I've been thinking about starting a sourdough starter, and I came across this article that might be useful to you just because it has pictures of different stages of the starter. She also discusses ratios of flour/liquid to use when you "feed" the starter (which might help you avoid scales?).
posted by correcaminos at 6:08 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by correcaminos at 6:08 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: To be clear- I have like 2 tbsp of starter right now. Everything I’m seeing for transitioning into breadmaking involves big ol starters. HOW DO?!
posted by quiet coyote at 6:16 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by quiet coyote at 6:16 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Raisins have a lot of natural yeasts, which kickstart the fermentation process. Straight flour and water starters need time to onboard and cultivate environmental yeast.
So yes, make bread with what you have. Keep feeding the starter with flour and water to keep it going, or just start fresh next time you want to bake in a day or so. I go by consistency more than weight. Like thick pancake batter. Bubbles mean it's ready to use, or at least ready to put in the fridge so it doesnt get gross. I take mine out the day before to let it wake up before I use it.
posted by ananci at 6:21 PM on April 7, 2020
So yes, make bread with what you have. Keep feeding the starter with flour and water to keep it going, or just start fresh next time you want to bake in a day or so. I go by consistency more than weight. Like thick pancake batter. Bubbles mean it's ready to use, or at least ready to put in the fridge so it doesnt get gross. I take mine out the day before to let it wake up before I use it.
posted by ananci at 6:21 PM on April 7, 2020
Everything I’m seeing for transitioning into breadmaking involves big ol starters. HOW DO?!
I used the same method you did! I got my starter into its current Giant Chonk formation by basically feeding it more than I was discarding every day. So of your two tablespoons, I actually probably wouldn't discard any, but put in like half a cup of flour and half of water, stir it real good, and check tomorrow. Then maybe discard like a quarter of a cup or so, and add a lot more flour and water, and so on. I was very chill and neglectful and generally sort of chaotic about this process and in a few days I've now got most of a pint jar full, so you should be fine :)
posted by kalimac at 6:31 PM on April 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
I used the same method you did! I got my starter into its current Giant Chonk formation by basically feeding it more than I was discarding every day. So of your two tablespoons, I actually probably wouldn't discard any, but put in like half a cup of flour and half of water, stir it real good, and check tomorrow. Then maybe discard like a quarter of a cup or so, and add a lot more flour and water, and so on. I was very chill and neglectful and generally sort of chaotic about this process and in a few days I've now got most of a pint jar full, so you should be fine :)
posted by kalimac at 6:31 PM on April 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
I added a scant cup of flour + half a cup of water to mine, stirred it up, and waited for it to get bubbly again - took about a day and a half. I’ve been feeding it 2x/day for 3 days now and I think it’s nearly ready to bake with.
posted by coppermoss at 6:37 PM on April 7, 2020
posted by coppermoss at 6:37 PM on April 7, 2020
Most sourdough recipes call for starter that is 50:50 water:flour, by weight. However, as you don't have a scale, it's about 1:2/3 flour:water v/v. So, to your ~2 tbsp starter, add 2 tbsp flour and ~1 1/3 tbsp water. Just measure what you have every time you feed it, and add the same volume of flour and ~2.3rds that volume of water.
Sourdough likes to be fed every 12 hours, but mine seems to survive fairly well if it's only fed every 24 hours. If you aren't going to use it, put it in the fridge.
Here's a super simple recipe (volume based) to try. It uses a lot of starter (2 cups), so it's going to take you awhile to get there.
A more traditional approach is here, but you'll have to convert the weights into volumes. I suggest making a quarter size of this recipe - it's a nice size for one or two people, and won't waste flour.
posted by kjs4 at 6:42 PM on April 7, 2020
Sourdough likes to be fed every 12 hours, but mine seems to survive fairly well if it's only fed every 24 hours. If you aren't going to use it, put it in the fridge.
Here's a super simple recipe (volume based) to try. It uses a lot of starter (2 cups), so it's going to take you awhile to get there.
A more traditional approach is here, but you'll have to convert the weights into volumes. I suggest making a quarter size of this recipe - it's a nice size for one or two people, and won't waste flour.
posted by kjs4 at 6:42 PM on April 7, 2020
You just need to feed it flour and water and wait for a few days as the population grows . Feed 30-70% more than you remove and soon you’ll have a large amount.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:47 PM on April 7, 2020
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:47 PM on April 7, 2020
The Washington Post has an expansion of the tweet, including a recipe:
posted by fedward at 7:10 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ingredients:From that point (after the three or four repeats) you'd use some of your starter in place of some of the flour and water in a regular bread recipe. You may first want to bulk it up by using that bit of starter to make a levain, and then use it the same way you'd use any levain. Like in this recipe.
30g (roughly 1 heaping tablespoon) dried fruit (raisins, apricots, dates, cherries)
40g (roughly 3 or 4 tablespoons) drinking water
40g (roughly 4 or 5 tablespoons) white flour (wheat or rye flour produce more vigorous results)
Directions
1. Combine fruit and water in a jar or bowl. Stir fruit around to release some of the yeast.
2. Add flour to the mixture and stir to create a thick paste
3. Cover the container loosely so nothing can fall in, and store in a warm (not hot) part of your kitchen: Above the refrigerator or in the oven with the light on work great.
4. Allow the mixture to sit for 24 to 48 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Small bubbles should form in the first 12 hours; these should grow considerably as you let the mixture sit.
5. To cut back, take ½ teaspoon of the bubbly mixture, and add it to a new container with roughly 40g water and 40g flour and let it sit until bubbly again. You don’t need to transfer any fruit at this point. Repeat this step three or four times before your first bake with your starter. Always use newly cut-back, vigorous starter for your baking.
posted by fedward at 7:10 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
You will want to add lukewarm water and flour 50/50 by volume - so a cup of lukewarm water and a cup of flour. Its a bit soupier than you would want for a bread dough.
BTW - if you are a real purest you would not use raisin in your starter. You would instead just let your flour soup pick up naturally occuring wild yeasts from the environment. The archetypal story is that sourdough took off so well in San Francisco because the breadmakers worked without shirts and the yeasts transferred back and forth between their skin and the dough
posted by rtimmel at 7:14 PM on April 7, 2020
BTW - if you are a real purest you would not use raisin in your starter. You would instead just let your flour soup pick up naturally occuring wild yeasts from the environment. The archetypal story is that sourdough took off so well in San Francisco because the breadmakers worked without shirts and the yeasts transferred back and forth between their skin and the dough
posted by rtimmel at 7:14 PM on April 7, 2020
When you get to the discarding stage, there are numerous delicious recipes for leftover sourdough starter. Some, like the pancakes and crumpets, you'd only need a little starter to make a few.
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:17 PM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 7:17 PM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Okay so when people say “feed it” they actually mean “throw away most of it (or make something with it) and add more flour/water to what’s left,” right? If I’m feeding a big chonk starter twice a day, doesn’t that mean I’ll go through a ton of flour? It’s been hard to find flour at the store lately.
posted by quiet coyote at 7:36 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by quiet coyote at 7:36 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Update: he has been christened Mike D, the Yeastie Boy
posted by quiet coyote at 7:46 PM on April 7, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by quiet coyote at 7:46 PM on April 7, 2020 [11 favorites]
Okay so when people say “feed it” they actually mean “throw away most of it (or make something with it) and add more flour/water to what’s left,” right? If I’m feeding a big chonk starter twice a day, doesn’t that mean I’ll go through a ton of flour? It’s been hard to find flour at the store lately.
That is what people mean when they say "feed it." And there are ways to keep a starter going without going through a lot of flour.
To explain I'm gonna have to give you a bit of backstory here, so buckle up.
Your starter is basically just a colony of yeast that you have as kind of like a pet. You can occasionally use that pet to make bread, but most of the time you're just trying to keep it alive, by feeding it more flour and water. And yes, every time you feed it that does involve taking most of the goop in the jar out and either throwing it away or making something with it, and adding more flour and water.
You were feeding it a lot in the beginning - twice a day - because it was just a baby and it was trying to get going. But now that it's well established, then you can just downshift to feeding it just once a week. All you have to do is store it in the fridge; this slows the yeast down so that they don't eat as fast. Also, you don't need to have it be a big chonk starter; try taking almost all of it out, and then putting just like a couple tablespoons back in the jar. Add about a quarter cup each of water and flour to that and put that in the fridge. From then on, you'll have a much more manageable amount of starter to feed once a week; take out about a half cup of the goop, which should leave you a tablespoon or so, and put in about a quarter cup of water and flour each time.
The only thing about keeping it in the fridge is that you may need to plan ahead a tiny bit if you're going to bake bread; about two or three days before you want to bake bread, take him out of the fridge and go back to daily feedings (once a day should be enough) and add in a little extra flour and water each time, to make sure the starter colony is nice and big and healthy and you have enough to bake with when it's time to bake. Then when you're back to just "I'm keeping the starter going" again, then you can go back to keeping it in the fridge and feeding once a week.
And as for "what do I do with the starter I take out" - there are non-bread things you can make with that. Basically it's already dough. A half cup of that starter taken right out of the jar, plus one egg, and you have pancake batter; enough to make a single serving of pancakes. If you have more starter you're discarding, you can make more pancakes.
I found this article about "How to prevent your sourdough starter from taking over your life" to be really helpful when I was in the "now that I have a starter what do I do with it" phase. She has other articles that address "so what do I do when I actually want to bake real bread" and "what else can I make with the discarded starter".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:56 PM on April 7, 2020 [14 favorites]
That is what people mean when they say "feed it." And there are ways to keep a starter going without going through a lot of flour.
To explain I'm gonna have to give you a bit of backstory here, so buckle up.
Your starter is basically just a colony of yeast that you have as kind of like a pet. You can occasionally use that pet to make bread, but most of the time you're just trying to keep it alive, by feeding it more flour and water. And yes, every time you feed it that does involve taking most of the goop in the jar out and either throwing it away or making something with it, and adding more flour and water.
You were feeding it a lot in the beginning - twice a day - because it was just a baby and it was trying to get going. But now that it's well established, then you can just downshift to feeding it just once a week. All you have to do is store it in the fridge; this slows the yeast down so that they don't eat as fast. Also, you don't need to have it be a big chonk starter; try taking almost all of it out, and then putting just like a couple tablespoons back in the jar. Add about a quarter cup each of water and flour to that and put that in the fridge. From then on, you'll have a much more manageable amount of starter to feed once a week; take out about a half cup of the goop, which should leave you a tablespoon or so, and put in about a quarter cup of water and flour each time.
The only thing about keeping it in the fridge is that you may need to plan ahead a tiny bit if you're going to bake bread; about two or three days before you want to bake bread, take him out of the fridge and go back to daily feedings (once a day should be enough) and add in a little extra flour and water each time, to make sure the starter colony is nice and big and healthy and you have enough to bake with when it's time to bake. Then when you're back to just "I'm keeping the starter going" again, then you can go back to keeping it in the fridge and feeding once a week.
And as for "what do I do with the starter I take out" - there are non-bread things you can make with that. Basically it's already dough. A half cup of that starter taken right out of the jar, plus one egg, and you have pancake batter; enough to make a single serving of pancakes. If you have more starter you're discarding, you can make more pancakes.
I found this article about "How to prevent your sourdough starter from taking over your life" to be really helpful when I was in the "now that I have a starter what do I do with it" phase. She has other articles that address "so what do I do when I actually want to bake real bread" and "what else can I make with the discarded starter".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:56 PM on April 7, 2020 [14 favorites]
I just began my starter two days ago with a cup of water and a cup of whole wheat flour. I feed it about a half a cup flour and a half a cup of water every twelve hours. My goal is to replace yeast which is now scarce as fuck. I read about a cup of starter replaces a package of yeast. Mine looks pretty bubbly and happy and I'll be using a cup for my next loaf of bread.
posted by Captain Chesapeake at 9:40 PM on April 7, 2020
posted by Captain Chesapeake at 9:40 PM on April 7, 2020
I am so happy because I get to point readers to Sophia's kitchen, and the two videos (1, 2) she made explaining the entire process better than I have seen anyone else be able to do.
Watch these concise, complete, craft-filled and scientific videos and you won't have any questions, just certainty that you can do this. Seriously, I've seen about two dozen sourdough explainer videos on Youtube and Facebook and hers are far and away the best. Just learning the rubber band trick to measure levels is worth the entire viewing time of the two videos.
I did lose six minutes of the first video, though, because my damned sensitive ear couldn't quite place her accent, which in a flash of inspiration I finally realized-- she's one of those Germans who can speak English 99.9% without an accent. Just like Diane Kruger, but Sophia knows how to bake. It was so satisfying when I went to her blog and had my theory confirmed.
posted by seasparrow at 10:07 PM on April 7, 2020 [5 favorites]
Watch these concise, complete, craft-filled and scientific videos and you won't have any questions, just certainty that you can do this. Seriously, I've seen about two dozen sourdough explainer videos on Youtube and Facebook and hers are far and away the best. Just learning the rubber band trick to measure levels is worth the entire viewing time of the two videos.
I did lose six minutes of the first video, though, because my damned sensitive ear couldn't quite place her accent, which in a flash of inspiration I finally realized-- she's one of those Germans who can speak English 99.9% without an accent. Just like Diane Kruger, but Sophia knows how to bake. It was so satisfying when I went to her blog and had my theory confirmed.
posted by seasparrow at 10:07 PM on April 7, 2020 [5 favorites]
Oh - a tip I've learned from managing my own starter.
If there's a clear liquid on top, and/or it smells like nail polish remover, that is a sign that you aren't feeding your starter enough. You haven't killed it - however, you've made it sad.
You can fix this by feeding it more flour and water than you have been, of course. Or - you can deal with this by discarding more starter than you have been. I usually take out a half cup's worth to discard each time (that's how much I need for pancakes for one), and I use a digital kitchen scale to weigh how much water I'm adding back, and then I add back the same amount of flour. I shoot for a little over 75 grams of each. But sometimes if I've gone over that, and am still only taking out a half cup of starter, gradually the amount of starter that's left over in the jar once I take out that half cup gets a little too big to be content with the amount of flour and water I feed it. When that happens, I take out all of the starter, put back just like a tablespoon, and feed it the 75 grams each of water and flour still - and it's happier.
That leaves me with more than a half cup of the discard, of course. But if it's enough for two servings of pancakes, I just ask my roommate if he wants pancakes too and so it usually works out. :-) You can also freeze that extra discarded starter, or give it to friends so then they can play with starter themselves (put a little in a clean jar, feed it with flour and water, and then give it to them).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:55 AM on April 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
If there's a clear liquid on top, and/or it smells like nail polish remover, that is a sign that you aren't feeding your starter enough. You haven't killed it - however, you've made it sad.
You can fix this by feeding it more flour and water than you have been, of course. Or - you can deal with this by discarding more starter than you have been. I usually take out a half cup's worth to discard each time (that's how much I need for pancakes for one), and I use a digital kitchen scale to weigh how much water I'm adding back, and then I add back the same amount of flour. I shoot for a little over 75 grams of each. But sometimes if I've gone over that, and am still only taking out a half cup of starter, gradually the amount of starter that's left over in the jar once I take out that half cup gets a little too big to be content with the amount of flour and water I feed it. When that happens, I take out all of the starter, put back just like a tablespoon, and feed it the 75 grams each of water and flour still - and it's happier.
That leaves me with more than a half cup of the discard, of course. But if it's enough for two servings of pancakes, I just ask my roommate if he wants pancakes too and so it usually works out. :-) You can also freeze that extra discarded starter, or give it to friends so then they can play with starter themselves (put a little in a clean jar, feed it with flour and water, and then give it to them).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:55 AM on April 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
yes PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make delicious pancakes (or crackers!) from your discard.
crackers i have been making very successfully with a 1c:1c ratio of whole wheat flour and starter, plus a couple T of olive oil and a big pinch of salt, rolled out very flat, pricked with a fork, quick brush of a tiny bit more oil and a sprinkle of seasonings and into the oven until the edges begin to brown. theyre damn good.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:18 AM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
crackers i have been making very successfully with a 1c:1c ratio of whole wheat flour and starter, plus a couple T of olive oil and a big pinch of salt, rolled out very flat, pricked with a fork, quick brush of a tiny bit more oil and a sprinkle of seasonings and into the oven until the edges begin to brown. theyre damn good.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:18 AM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
What the Empress said!
It's amusing what an unbelievable amount of conflicting, confusing, and unnecessarily detailed info there is about sourdough out there. I used to do sourdough regularly about 10 years ago but wandered away from it - so in the face of all this I got a new one going a month ago, and I'm going to share what the friend who got me started told me: "don't be intimidated. People have been doing this for literally milennia, in every type of human living environment, and it's hard to screw up."
So here's my routine:
1. Starter lives in the fridge. I use a 16 oz jar to keep it in.
2. I bake once a week, Fridays. On Thursday, take the starter out, plop it into a bowl, feed it 1/2 c each water and flour.
3. On Friday, use 1 c of the now-big-and-bubbly starter (that's what my fave recipe uses) to start my dough.
4. Add 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c water back to the starter. Let it get happy for a few hours.
5. Pour starter into glass jar until 3/4 full - stick it in the fridge to wait until next week.
6. Bake something with the "discard" (aka leftover starter that you're not going to feed). If you don't want to use it right away, or you don't have enough,you can stick it in the fridge in a separate jar and save it up for at least a month. But it will go bad eventually, unlike starter, so try to use it within a couple weeks. You can google "sourdough discard recipes" and get tons of ideas. You can also just compost it.
5. I check on the starter in the fridge occasionally midweek. It often gets a clear-ish layer of watery stuff on top. This is alcohol resulting from sugars in the flour fermenting. You can just pour that off. Then give it a stir. If it looks wan, I will feed it a little, not even 1/4 cup though. If it looks basically happy, it can wait 'til the day before baking day.
This works fine. Once you get a method that's producing what you want, you can stop worrying about all the blogs and instructions and dire warnings and just. ...bake. It's actually pretty simple.
posted by Miko at 7:37 AM on April 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's amusing what an unbelievable amount of conflicting, confusing, and unnecessarily detailed info there is about sourdough out there. I used to do sourdough regularly about 10 years ago but wandered away from it - so in the face of all this I got a new one going a month ago, and I'm going to share what the friend who got me started told me: "don't be intimidated. People have been doing this for literally milennia, in every type of human living environment, and it's hard to screw up."
So here's my routine:
1. Starter lives in the fridge. I use a 16 oz jar to keep it in.
2. I bake once a week, Fridays. On Thursday, take the starter out, plop it into a bowl, feed it 1/2 c each water and flour.
3. On Friday, use 1 c of the now-big-and-bubbly starter (that's what my fave recipe uses) to start my dough.
4. Add 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c water back to the starter. Let it get happy for a few hours.
5. Pour starter into glass jar until 3/4 full - stick it in the fridge to wait until next week.
6. Bake something with the "discard" (aka leftover starter that you're not going to feed). If you don't want to use it right away, or you don't have enough,you can stick it in the fridge in a separate jar and save it up for at least a month. But it will go bad eventually, unlike starter, so try to use it within a couple weeks. You can google "sourdough discard recipes" and get tons of ideas. You can also just compost it.
5. I check on the starter in the fridge occasionally midweek. It often gets a clear-ish layer of watery stuff on top. This is alcohol resulting from sugars in the flour fermenting. You can just pour that off. Then give it a stir. If it looks wan, I will feed it a little, not even 1/4 cup though. If it looks basically happy, it can wait 'til the day before baking day.
This works fine. Once you get a method that's producing what you want, you can stop worrying about all the blogs and instructions and dire warnings and just. ...bake. It's actually pretty simple.
posted by Miko at 7:37 AM on April 8, 2020 [8 favorites]
I've mentioned the "pancakes from the discard" idea enough times, and it is so simple I've memorized the recipe -
All you need to do is: when you've taken the starter out of the fridge and have scooped out the stuff you're going to be discarding, save a half cup. Put that half cup in a bowl, and if you like fluffy pancakes add in a spoonful more of flour. (If you like flatter pancakes, then skip that.) Beat in an egg and then sprinkle in a pinch of baking soda. Let that sit just long enough for you to find a skillet and heat it up. Then go ahead and make pancakes out of it. That's it!
That usually makes anywhere from two to four pancakes depending on how big I'm making them. This can easily be doubled, of course, if you need to get rid of more starter.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:14 AM on April 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
All you need to do is: when you've taken the starter out of the fridge and have scooped out the stuff you're going to be discarding, save a half cup. Put that half cup in a bowl, and if you like fluffy pancakes add in a spoonful more of flour. (If you like flatter pancakes, then skip that.) Beat in an egg and then sprinkle in a pinch of baking soda. Let that sit just long enough for you to find a skillet and heat it up. Then go ahead and make pancakes out of it. That's it!
That usually makes anywhere from two to four pancakes depending on how big I'm making them. This can easily be doubled, of course, if you need to get rid of more starter.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:14 AM on April 8, 2020 [3 favorites]
I haven't read anything above so I'll just tell you what works for me. I don't throw away starter. I double it, half all purpose flour and half water, though if it seems thin I use less water.
You're at the early stages, so what I did was whenever it bubbled and smelled yeasty, I'd double it. I just left it in a bowl on the counter covered with a plate for this whole period.
You're always supposed to double it before you bake with it, giving you enough for your recipe and enough to store in the fridge.
Mine stays in a jar in the fridge covered with plastic wrap marked with the date I doubled it last. When I want to use it I take it out of the fridge first thing in the morning and let it come to room temperature. Then I double it and wait till it's bubbly. My goal is to have x amount for the recipe and y amount for the fridge. "Y" is whatever you consider a reasonable amount to set aside for recipes you usually use; for me it's 1 to 2 cups. Then I put my keeper starter in a clean jar and date it and work with the rest.
If you get too much starter, it's great in pancakes, waffles, or biscuits.
I sometimes let my starter go for months without doubling. It has always come back for me, though it might take a day or so for it to resume bubbliness.
posted by sevenstars at 9:18 AM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
You're at the early stages, so what I did was whenever it bubbled and smelled yeasty, I'd double it. I just left it in a bowl on the counter covered with a plate for this whole period.
You're always supposed to double it before you bake with it, giving you enough for your recipe and enough to store in the fridge.
Mine stays in a jar in the fridge covered with plastic wrap marked with the date I doubled it last. When I want to use it I take it out of the fridge first thing in the morning and let it come to room temperature. Then I double it and wait till it's bubbly. My goal is to have x amount for the recipe and y amount for the fridge. "Y" is whatever you consider a reasonable amount to set aside for recipes you usually use; for me it's 1 to 2 cups. Then I put my keeper starter in a clean jar and date it and work with the rest.
If you get too much starter, it's great in pancakes, waffles, or biscuits.
I sometimes let my starter go for months without doubling. It has always come back for me, though it might take a day or so for it to resume bubbliness.
posted by sevenstars at 9:18 AM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've got a sourdough starter that I started last Saturday, and figure it'll be good and mature on Saturday. I've been using videos as guides.
America's Test Kitchen has a video here on starting, and also making a no-knead loaf after 10-14 days of starter feeding. If you've got a starter but not bread experience, I'd start here.
And here's a useful video with a lot of personality (which isn't for everyone, but I like these two), from Bon Appetit's test kitchen. Claire is a pastry chef, and Brad, the nominal host of this "It's Alive" segment, will ferment anything, so this is a marriage of their respective specialties. They have a classic stooge+comic double-act chemistry about them.
And this one is Basics with Babish, with guest Joshua Weissman, who has his own youtube channel about cooking (here's his sourdough playlist). This one is a big more jargony than it should be, and maybe a little more fussy than they claim, but not outrageously so. Weissman's starter recipe calls for mixed rye and AP flour for feeding, and puts over a pound of flour through the starter in the first week. I'd think one good feeding the day before baking will get you the volume you want for your levain, and you can moderate any other feedings.
posted by Sunburnt at 1:08 PM on April 8, 2020
America's Test Kitchen has a video here on starting, and also making a no-knead loaf after 10-14 days of starter feeding. If you've got a starter but not bread experience, I'd start here.
And here's a useful video with a lot of personality (which isn't for everyone, but I like these two), from Bon Appetit's test kitchen. Claire is a pastry chef, and Brad, the nominal host of this "It's Alive" segment, will ferment anything, so this is a marriage of their respective specialties. They have a classic stooge+comic double-act chemistry about them.
And this one is Basics with Babish, with guest Joshua Weissman, who has his own youtube channel about cooking (here's his sourdough playlist). This one is a big more jargony than it should be, and maybe a little more fussy than they claim, but not outrageously so. Weissman's starter recipe calls for mixed rye and AP flour for feeding, and puts over a pound of flour through the starter in the first week. I'd think one good feeding the day before baking will get you the volume you want for your levain, and you can moderate any other feedings.
posted by Sunburnt at 1:08 PM on April 8, 2020
Agarwala suggested looking around on The Fresh Loaf and on that site is this interesting recipe.
posted by flug at 1:16 PM on April 8, 2020
posted by flug at 1:16 PM on April 8, 2020
I just now came across this awesome site - The Bread Scheduler. It calculates all the times and tasks for you based on when you want to start, or finish, your bake. Nice and simple.
posted by Miko at 5:52 PM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Miko at 5:52 PM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I think this should be free and clear of their paywall. If not, it looks like you can sign up for a free trial to be able to see it.
posted by dforemsky at 6:01 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]