My No Muss No Fuss wheat and spelt starters
I've been directed to dabrownman's (which I've read as dabrownwoman until now...oh well) No Muss No Fuss Starter on multiple occasions, so I decided to give it a go.
I use wheat and spelt starters, so I stuck with those. The writeup by Dab is very good, but I like to compromise the main points in my own words when following a recipe. I went with the 101 g total.
66% hydration starter, make at 26-29º C (80-84 F)
- Mix 8 g starter, 8 g flour, 8 g water
- Let it double for 4 hours
- Add 16 g flour, 16 g water
- Let it double for 4 hours
- If it doesn’t double after 4 hours, toss second feeding in weight and redo
- Add 32 g flour, 13 g water
- Let it rise 25%, then put in fridge
The mothers I'm taking a wee bit starter from. Both are healthy and got a feeding the day before.
Left: Organic wholemeal spelt. Right: White wheat.
Here is after the first mix:
They both at least doubled, so I proceeded with stage two:
Second stage also looked good, so I started the third.
I think they increased more than 25%. The container shape makes it a bit more difficult to see and since they bump up in the middle, but I hope they still work. The spelt one went faster, so I put it in the fridge first. After this I put them in the fridge and that's where they are now. The temperature here dropped today, so it's a good thing I did this yesterday.
The next step is trying to make a loaf in this summer heat with building a levain and fridge retard. I need to look up the recipes here.
Final result:
I look forward to trying them out over the following weeks! Big thanks to Dabrownman for posting this.
Comments
I would suspect that with spett it will be very fast and not be able to last 24 weeks in the fridge and need to be refreshed long before then - maybe 12 weeks. Red wheat only lasted well for 16 weeks so I would expect white wheat to be a bit less too,. If you fermented it more than 25% rise before the fridge will also lessen the time. If this happens again just add a few more grams of flour and water ,and stir it down before putting it in the fridge.
Goof luck with your NMNF starters
How long do you leave the starter after the third feeding? How long before it rises 25%? It wasn't very easy to see in my container. I'll look for one that isn't coned for the next time.
I read that your fridge temperature i 2-3º C. Mine is more around 5º, will this shorten the lifespan of the NMNF starters too?
How well would a rye starter work with other types of flour? A few grams of rye would not be a big issue, but I don't want to build the entire levain on rye. Would it work using a rye NMNF starter and whole wheat or spelt for the levain and bread? I read in this post by you that it might be difficult making a 100% whole wheat with a rye starter. If you were to make a ~100% whole wheat bread with your stiff rye starter, would you use rye in the levain, and if so, how much?
It will be interesting to see how the loaves will be. Even if it doesn't last 16 weeks, it's a useful technique to know. I might switch the white wheat starter to a whole wheat one.
not the clock. Get a straight sided container for your starter and mark the beginning level with a rubber band. Very easy to see 25% rise then.
Each week I build levain for new kind if bread using ta bit of the NMNF starter. The levian is built with what ever flour is in the dough . If a white bread then I use white flour if WW i use WW if a 9 grain I use 9 grain/ The NMNF starter doesn't care at all and will feast on any flour but it does like whole grain ones the best. Whole grain your contains all the essential minerals and vitamins the wee beasties need to perform at their peak. Since white flour has these removed the wee beasties are a bit slower but this is true of any starter. White flour starters and levains are weaker and produce less acid and CO2. You wouldn't be at your peak either if you were missing the essential minerals and vitamins either.
I'm pretty sure I have made about every kind of bread, using every flour imaginable using the NMNF starter and levain method and each of the breads came out well with the exception of the wine bread where the high amount of alcohol in the wine killed off the wee beasties and the dough didn't rise as a result. There is mo reason to worry bout the other 450 kinds:-)
The only problem is if you want to ,make 100% WW bread using the NMNF rye starter. You will always have 3 - 5 g of rye in your WW bread no matter what you do. so it will only be 99% WW.
Happy NMNF baking .
I'm not baking to sell, so it doesn't matter if any type of bread has got a bit or rye in it. When I can use the rye NMNF starter for any kind of bread, it's definitely something I want to try.
I'll make a rye NMNF at some point then. I prefer using whole wheat, spelt and other flours in my loaves, so that's just fine. I'll be using the WW in the levains then and not wait to add all those good bits in the final dough.
I like the glass containers I got, but they're a bit large for a small starter. I'll find a small container with straight edges. I also got hold of a plastic container with straight edges and numbers, which will make it easier to see the rise of the final dough.
I'm learning every step of the way and really enjoy this. Thank you again for all the help and inspiration.
cake frosting comes in from Duncan Hines or Pillsbury. They are the perfect size for 150 g levains to double in and hold 120 g for 25% risen NMNF starter too. Straight sides with a lid and food safe. They are thin enough to see through to mark levels with a rubber band and tough enough not to break when dropped. Once you drop one you will never use glass again:-)
I love the way they blow the lid off when making a levain too! Makes a great popping noise and lets you know the levain is getting vigorous.