The Fresh Loaf

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How to go from 4 oz starter to enough to bake bread tomorrow

ginnyj's picture
ginnyj

How to go from 4 oz starter to enough to bake bread tomorrow

I've got a starter ready for breadmaking I believe.  For a week or more I fed 2oz starter with 1 oz water and 1 oz flour.  Last night I did not throw out any of the starter so I had 4 oz starter, and added 2 oz water 2 oz flour.  Today in volume I have 1 cup after I stirred it down.

I would like to bake the bread tomorrow.

Based on the information above, how much starter, water and flour should I use to build the starter volume up enough to use it and have some leftover?  I would feed it every 8 hours or so.

Thanks!

Ginny

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

but a rough rule of thumb is to have 15% or so of the flour be pre-fermented.  So if there is 1,000 g of flour total in the finished dough, then 150 g would be in the levain.  At 100% hydration like your levain, the levain would weigh 300 g total.

williampp's picture
williampp

On this sight there is a formula for 123 Bread. It is 1 part starter, 2 parts liquid, 3 parts flour, making a total of 6 parts, + some salt.

First you must decide what size loaf you want. Say we go for 1 kg (1000 grams) loaf, divide by 6 to get the size of 1 part, 1000/6 = 166. So we want 166 grams of starter, double that for liquid = 332 grams, triple that for flour = 498.

Your question was about the starter build, I would use a 1: 3 : 3 build for my starter. 1 3 3 means 1 part starter, 3 parts liquid, 3 parts flour, total 7 parts. We want 166 grams of starter for the loaf and you want some left over, say 200 left over, 166 + 200 = 366. Divide 366 by 7 to get 1 part = 52 grams. So your build is 52 g of starter, 156 g liquid, 156 g flour, when this has doubled in volume, use 166 g of it to make your loaf. Don't forget salt (2 teaspoons). Hope this helps.

Bill.

ginnyj's picture
ginnyj

And I thought I'd never use math when I was in school and bored.  We use it all the time, that's for sure.  Thanks for the help.  At first glance it is confusing but I'll read it over and over with pencil and calculator in hand and come to understand it.

Ginny

drogon's picture
drogon

If you know how much starter you want, then divide this by 5.

Use one fifth mother, 2 fifths flour and 2 fifths water.

Or another way, take double the mother in flour and water - e.g. 100g mother + 200g flour + 200g water = 500g starter.

This is how I bulk up my mother -> starter (when I don't use it directly from the fridge)

The issue is knowing how much starter you need to make the bread.

-Gordon

ginnyj's picture
ginnyj

I would like to bake one small loaf of bread; maybe  half the size of a regular loaf.

Ginny

drogon's picture
drogon

A small loaf in the UK is 400g baked weight. For that you need about 500g of dough. For 500g of dough I'd be using 280g flour, 80g starter, 150g water and 4g salt. (approx)

So for 80g of starter.. well I'd just use it from the fridge, but to make it up using my ways, 80/5 = 16, so 16g mother from the fridge, 32g flour + 32g water, mix & leave, then add that to the main mix... Top-up fridge mother with 8g flour + 8g water.

-Gordon

AlanG's picture
AlanG

is 500 grams which I would classify as a small loaf.  I usually do 2-3 batards in a batch which is either 1000g or 1500g of dough.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and my normal boule is between 800 and 1,000 too.  The 1:2 :3 SD method is a simple and easy way to get to where you want to go... so William pp has some good advice.