Maintaining a sourdough starter, the basics To keep my starter healthy and ready for baking, I refresh it using a 2:2:1 flour/water/starter ratio, proof it at room temperature until it has doubled in volume, then move it to the fridge, where it slows down and remains ready to bake with for up to a week. (If you
Is there a similar post on Levain? In the article “The Loaf” you refer to using cold levain, or leaven. I assume you mean a different ratio than the starter, say 5:5:1 used for leaving bread. I’ve failed now twice on “The Loaf”, and I wonder if I should be using the small amount of leavening straight from the 2:2:1 starter. I’m sure the two fails raised an eyebrow. I’ve had five gorgeous different loaves at the same time thank goodness.
Hi! I tried to find the original Flakes post but it was in version 1.0, so may not be available, and the second post didn't have a comments link, so here I am in a different thread (sorry!). Wondered if there is a way to dry the starter on low-low-low heat to speed things up. It's unlikely that in winter I will be able to store it for 2-3 days to dry at room temp. I finally gave up on all normal attempts with my original starter and just goosed it with a little leftover yeast, and now it's rolling along nicely, would like to send out some "flavoring" starter (doesn't have to be viable) in the mail. Thanks!!!
Hiya! I just scaled up my starter using this recipe (I had a tiny one before) and found that while it was doubled at room temperature, it looks a lot flatter in the fridge. Is this normal?
When you use 2:2:1 flour/water/starter ratio to refresh the starter, is it still a 100% hydration starter? Or does 100% hydration mean it has to be refreshed with 1:1:1 flour/water/starter ratio? Thanks!
Hello. I bought the dried starter. I am on day three of feeding. Today I fed starter twice because it seemed quite vigorous. The short direction did not give ranges on how many days to revive and make the dried starter mature enough to start baking. Can you give guidance? How many days to continue feeding before I can discern it’s ready? Thanks.
Hi! I’m on day 5ish of reviving the dry starter every 12 hours or so and just want to make sure I’m on the right track- it has been reliably doubling after each refresh, but has yet to be close to tripling in the 8-hour timespan suggested. My kitchen is a bit cooler (maybe 65?) and I’ve been using water that’s around 80-85 degrees. Should I go longer between feedings to see if it’ll grow more? Just keep at it? Appreciate you!
I think 50/50/25 is still a big batch, but all my loaves are gnome sized 😉 so maybe that's it. I feed 10g starter with 20/20 flour water in the evening before dough day, and the next morning I feed the whole amount with another snack of 20/20. This works timewise perfectly. I do the snack first, place the starter in the proofer, then build my autolyse. The starter usually triples within 90 minutes. I use all but 10g, which will be fed for the next loaf. I don't bake more than one loaf at a time, because then I can have a different bread next time. Besides, playing with dough is kind of like a meditation for me. On days I don't bake, something is missing. 🤷
I have created starters with my seventh grade students three times now and love this method! This year, I had them start with the original tiny recipe of 4 tsp. flour and 2. 5 tsp. water to create their starters from scratch. They are now ready to scale up. The only scale up "recipe" I can find is for the 2.0 starter which uses larger amounts of flour and water. The students also don't have digital scales so I need to provide them with measuring spoon and cup amounts. Any help with the scaling up "recipe"?
I was taught to refresh sourdough starter using equal proportions of water, flour and starter (i.e. 100 gms. Water, 100 flour, 100 starter). Now I’m confused…
Is there a similar post on Levain? In the article “The Loaf” you refer to using cold levain, or leaven. I assume you mean a different ratio than the starter, say 5:5:1 used for leaving bread. I’ve failed now twice on “The Loaf”, and I wonder if I should be using the small amount of leavening straight from the 2:2:1 starter. I’m sure the two fails raised an eyebrow. I’ve had five gorgeous different loaves at the same time thank goodness.
Hi! I tried to find the original Flakes post but it was in version 1.0, so may not be available, and the second post didn't have a comments link, so here I am in a different thread (sorry!). Wondered if there is a way to dry the starter on low-low-low heat to speed things up. It's unlikely that in winter I will be able to store it for 2-3 days to dry at room temp. I finally gave up on all normal attempts with my original starter and just goosed it with a little leftover yeast, and now it's rolling along nicely, would like to send out some "flavoring" starter (doesn't have to be viable) in the mail. Thanks!!!
Hiya! I just scaled up my starter using this recipe (I had a tiny one before) and found that while it was doubled at room temperature, it looks a lot flatter in the fridge. Is this normal?
When you use 2:2:1 flour/water/starter ratio to refresh the starter, is it still a 100% hydration starter? Or does 100% hydration mean it has to be refreshed with 1:1:1 flour/water/starter ratio? Thanks!
Hello. I bought the dried starter. I am on day three of feeding. Today I fed starter twice because it seemed quite vigorous. The short direction did not give ranges on how many days to revive and make the dried starter mature enough to start baking. Can you give guidance? How many days to continue feeding before I can discern it’s ready? Thanks.
Hi! I’m on day 5ish of reviving the dry starter every 12 hours or so and just want to make sure I’m on the right track- it has been reliably doubling after each refresh, but has yet to be close to tripling in the 8-hour timespan suggested. My kitchen is a bit cooler (maybe 65?) and I’ve been using water that’s around 80-85 degrees. Should I go longer between feedings to see if it’ll grow more? Just keep at it? Appreciate you!
I think 50/50/25 is still a big batch, but all my loaves are gnome sized 😉 so maybe that's it. I feed 10g starter with 20/20 flour water in the evening before dough day, and the next morning I feed the whole amount with another snack of 20/20. This works timewise perfectly. I do the snack first, place the starter in the proofer, then build my autolyse. The starter usually triples within 90 minutes. I use all but 10g, which will be fed for the next loaf. I don't bake more than one loaf at a time, because then I can have a different bread next time. Besides, playing with dough is kind of like a meditation for me. On days I don't bake, something is missing. 🤷
I have created starters with my seventh grade students three times now and love this method! This year, I had them start with the original tiny recipe of 4 tsp. flour and 2. 5 tsp. water to create their starters from scratch. They are now ready to scale up. The only scale up "recipe" I can find is for the 2.0 starter which uses larger amounts of flour and water. The students also don't have digital scales so I need to provide them with measuring spoon and cup amounts. Any help with the scaling up "recipe"?
I was taught to refresh sourdough starter using equal proportions of water, flour and starter (i.e. 100 gms. Water, 100 flour, 100 starter). Now I’m confused…