November 30, 2016 - 2:31pm
When should I begin to build starter for weekend bake?
Some how I've managed to renew a year old SD starter left in the refrigerator. After a TFL search I would like to tip my hat to you experienced SD bakers whom like to share. I had success with MiniOven's suggestion to pour off the hootch, move the top layer over and get a scoop off the bottom of the culture. I'm currently feeding twice a day. 40 g starter/40 g water/40 g 50/50 mix of whole rye flour and AP flour.
I would like to do a weekend bake when should I start building the starter?
My confidence soared this morning when my dear wife asked if there was any homemade bread left. Paul
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Make a preferment Saturday night to be ready for Sunday morning? It all depends on your schedule and how long you wish to make the bread. Quick? Slow? Retard in the fridge? Etc...
I have happened onto a very easy method. It is not the only or best one, but it works great for me. Below is a link to Dabrownman's method, since many here use that too, which among other reasons is especially useful if you're chasing sour.
My way is 1-3 feedings, once in the morning, once at night, prior to building my levain. Feed, discard, repeat, just like when building the culture. Since you generally need very little starter to build levain, small amounts work to minimize waste, e.g., .5 oz starter, 1 oz each water and flour. If you think your starter can't handle a 1-2-2 ratio feeding, consider a 1-1-1 or even 2-1-1, but make sure that it can handle 1-2-2 before using in a levain.
The great thing about this is that you guarantee that when you build your levain, you're putting a really active starter into it.
Here's the link: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40918/no-muss-no-fuss-starter
You have 120g of starter. Just figure out how much you need for the bread and enough to get there (with 40g left over). As long as you don't need more than 320g of starter (thus leaving 40g for feeding and perpetuating the starter), you can do the build 12 hours before. This is assuming that your starter is peaking with your 12 hour feeding schedule. So take the amount you need for the bread, add 40 or 50g to that, divide by 3, and use that number instead of the 40g you are using.
to half a year with no maintenance si I usually alot 12 hours to get a iot of it built up to a bread levain size and ready to go - at 78F. If your starter has been recently fed it is probably ready to go or a small amout of it can bult up to levain size in just 4-6 hours if the temoerature isn't too cold.
So it depends on your starter,
Hi Dab.. I've got both your NFNM starter and a regular 1:2:2 starter in the fridge that I abandon and abuse until I need it.. it always comes back to life. But clearly there seems little need to keep it if I'm able to get to a 4 hour double using the rye NFNM starter (I feed it friday night, then saturday morning and that saturday morning feed doubles in about four hours).
So here are the questions: i) how long can a NFNM starter survive in the fridge before it needs to be re-fed? ii) when I have to refeed/build it, do I need to create bread flour 1:2:2 active starter and then go through the process per your instructions again to create another larger batch?
Thanks - baking happy.. bread1965!
Thank you SD bakers,
For my first sourdough loaf attempt in many years I'm going with Sam Fromartz's 'country loaf' from "In Search of the Perfect Loaf". By the way I really enjoyed the book. The recipe calls for 200 g of starter for the levain. So I plan to do one more 40 g starter/40 g mixed flour/30-40 g water feeding tonight then double the amount the next morning and continue to make the levain the following evening. My neighbor's chickens get my poor attempts at bread baking, what a happy flock of birds. Hopefully I can keep them wanting with this go around.
Paul