Question about starter feeding amounts
Hi, I have been following the Tartine starter feeding instructions: Once a day, add 150g of water and 150g of white/whole wheat flour mix to 75g of starter. That's a 1:2:2 ratio of starter to water and flour that leaves me with 375g of starter. It works well. The bread I make turns out nicely.
However, the leaven for the basic country bread calls for only a tablespoon of starter. It says to discard the rest. Since that's the case, can I use the same feeding ratio but in much smaller amounts so that there's less to throw away? For example: 10g starter to 20g water and 20g flour. That makes plenty for the leaven without lots of excess starter to toss. Is there a reason to make a large amount of starter when so little is needed and so much discarded?
Thank you!
and then to discard so much. By all means build up to the amount you need and make sure you always have some leftover for the next build.
Either keep a little in the fridge and take some off to build with then top the one in the fridge back up. Or build a little extra each time and return the excess to the fridge for your next build. No need to feed it every single day if you aren't baking everyday, when you keep it in the fridge, and need to build so much extra to discard it.
If your starter has been kept in the fridge for a while between feeds then you might wish to do a two stage build when it comes to baking to build up strength. It can go for longer but try getting a feed in atleast once a week even if you aren't baking.
One reason I feed daily is because I bake every other day, so I keep my starter out of the fridge and ready to go. I figured it would be OK to cut the amounts as long as I kept the ratio the same, but I'm still new to baking and thought I should ask, as I don't want to take anything for granted. Enjoy the weekend!
if i we're you I'd keep a little, building up in two stages ready to go every second day and just make sure you build a little extra to repeat the process.
You too. Enjoy your weekend and baking.
Happy baking!
Remember that Tartine is a commercial bakery, so they are re-feeding their starter is en masse (for quite a few loaves). I've found that any amount of starter that is fed with a 1:2:2 ratio (or even a 1:4:4 ratio if you want to go 12 hours in between feedings) does just fine. So you could do 5g starter with 10 g water and 10 g flour or 10g starter with 20g water and 20g flour, for going longer in-between feedings, 10g starter with 40g water and 40g flour. Remember that 30g flour is approx 1/4 cup (should weigh though). So you don't have to use so much starter, flour and water to get the same results, unless you are baking for a crowd!
Sorry to be late with my reply. I've been out of town. The 1:2:2 ratio is the one that I'll be following, in small amounts between bakes. It's so much more practical than the amounts in the Tartine book (or most books I've looked at, for that matter). Happy to report that my starter sprung back to life right after its first feeding following nearly a week in the fridge. It should be ready to use today or, at the latest, tomorrow.