First starter - process I went through and some questions
I have been poking around on the site for the last few weeks and finally registered this morning. I decided I wanted to get a starter going and below is the process I used and my observations. I then will have a couple questions at the end.
day 1. I mixed 1 cup or all purpose bleached flour with a cup of water and put it in a jar with a loose fitting lid.
Day 2 a couple bubbles but nothing new, gave it a tbsp of flour and a tbsp of water morning and night.
Day 3 it was bubbling heavily but did not increase in size(figured out later the mix was much too thin) fed 2 tpsp flour and water each morning and night.
Day 4 I had a scale at this point and pulled out 100g of starter and added 50g of bleached bread flour and 50g of warm water before i left for work. When I came home it was flat with a layer of hooch. It smelled like beer but there were no bubbles. Fed 100g:50g:50g
Day 5 hooch and flat both morning and night with same feedings as day 4
Day 6 morning flat fed it. Picked up some 100% cider viniger and some stone ground whole wheat flour and unbleached bread flour. Fed it that night with whole wheat flour at the same rate as day 4/5 plus 1tsp of viniger
Day 7 fed at same rate morning and night with whole wheat flour but no bubbles, no rise, no smell.
Day 8 morning feeding at same rate still no bubbles, no rise, no smell but by this point the mix was much thicker than before. Came home from work and it had doubled and smelled slightly of alcohol and yeast. Fed with whole wheat flour again.
Day 9 fed morning and night with whole wheat flour and was doubled at feeding time.
Day 10 was yesterday. I fed it in the morning at the same rate with unbleached bread flour when I came home from work it was doubled. Fed at the same rate again at 6pm. At 9pm I peaked into the cupboard where it lives and it was already tripled!
Day 11 this morning it had fallen back to doubled from last night. Fed it at the same rate with the bread flour again and 1.5 hours later when I left for work it was more than doubled already. The smell is incrediblely strong, very yeasty.
So, my mom had a starter for years when I was a kid. I remember her having it and I remember her baking with it a lot but I can't remember any details about it. If it triples in 3 hours and then holds there for a few hours before starting to deflate does that mean I should be baking with it 3-4 hours after feeding? I see a lot of recipes saying to let the bread rise for 12+ hours after kneading. I understand that a slow rise helps develop the flavor but would you expect baking with a starter this active to take that long to actually raise the bread if it was done at around 75 degrees? I plan to do some more complicated and time consuming baking on the weekends but we also have a goal of baking all our own bread which means we need to bake a couple 1lb loaves every 3-4 days to keep us supplied with bread. That means starting after work most of the time which only leaves 3-4 hours to get bread baked so it is cooled enough to bag before I head for bed. I suppose I could make it in the morning and bake it when I get home but do you still let it raise once, punch it down, and then let it raise again? If you let it raise for 9-10 hours and then punch it down how long would it take to raise again to the point of baking it when it takes that long?
That day to day sandwich bread I am planning to use a very simple flour, starter, water, salt recipe. I will likely use a mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour and will add honey when I have it available.
If it does raise quickly and I want to do some baking of more artisan types of bread on the weekends I assume I should raise it in the fridge to slow it down. Would this be correct or should I fold it several times during the day to force it to raise multiple times?
The end goal here is self sufficiency so not relying on commercial yeast would be a real good thing. I will have to live with buying flour for now.
Thanks
Hi dwilson
Your starter is ready to use once it just starts to deflate/collapse on itself, so yes, probably start mixing dough about 4 hours after feeding.
I'd be surprised if these recipes are saying a 12+ hour rise outside of a cold environment (like the fridge). You're right, your dough would overferment if you use a lot of very active starter in your dough and ferment @ 75F for 12+ hours. 12+ hours in the fridge is a whole 'nother story! Getting dough to rise for those durations/termperatures with a very active starter has a lot to do with the % of starter that goes in the recipe (relative to the flour).
When you started out, you mentioned that you used bleached flour. Sometimes the bleached flour can interfere with being able to start or maintain a starter. Only use UNbleached flour of any kind.
On Day 4, I suspect that while you were at work there was some rising activity that was unwitnessed. Also, hootch means it is hungry! If hootch is developing, that means it has eaten everything and needs more food.Perhaps feed it during the day. I took my new starter to work with me with some flour so I could feed it. It bacame my office pet for a few days.At this stage, don't worry too much about exact amounts.
Day 6-7 you started whole wheat and vinegar.The WW flour is probably where your yeast finally came from.WW has a high yeast population,usually.Good job!
COngratulations! You now have an active starter and it is time to bake and get to know it. It may rise bread sluggishly at first but that will change and improve over the next few months. So timing your doughs and bakes may be a little tricky or difficult to predict at first. You don't have to be a purist,either. Use a little instant yeast as weel if it will speed things up. Eventually the starter will become more active.
Start with a basic recipe and start on a weekend. It takes a lot of pressure off if you don't have to worry about instant success. I started by baking every Saturday until I got used to it.I make all our sandwich bread now (French,Whole Wheat,Soft sandwich)but there's just 2 of us.
My latest strategy is to mix up a preferment of 1 c AP,WW or Bread flour,1 cup water and about 2-4 tbsp of my active(fed several hours prior) starter and let the mix sit out covered on the counter for 6-12 hours ( and never more than 24). The 1 c flour and 1 c water are subtracted from the recipe total.If the recipe calls for just milk as a liquid, I use the milk in the preferment. The lactobacillus in the sourdough love it and ferments it.If it calls for less than 1 c liquid, I just use what it calls for with an equal amount of flour and leave the starter at 2-4 tbsp.This preferment (even if it AP flour) can be used for any bread. It is very flexible.The best timing for starting to bake is to mix the preferemnt up the night before, just before bed, and let the preferment sit overnight.The next morning, mix up the recipe,rise to double(taking note of how long),shape,proof and bake.
As for what to do with your starter, you will have a zillion different strategies suggested here on feeding,refrigerate or not refrigerate,measuring/not measuring,etc,etc.. All are probably correct! You will have to discover what works for you over time.What I do when my starter gets to the doubling/tripling stage is put it,covered, in the refrigerator a few hours after a feeding. It stays there all week,unfed,cold and in a sort of hibernation. The next Friday, I take it out in the AM,feed it once or twice over the course of the day while it warms up on my counter and then mix up my pre-ferment as described, in the evening.As far as discard-if you bake with it every week, you don't have to discard any-just feed it right out of the refrigerator. If you haven't baked for a few weeks or any time there is a hootch formation, then discard about half and feed.Hootch means it ate everything and started to produce waste(alcohol). You want to "clean the cage" andfeed the poor guys.The starter goes back in the refrigerator after an evening feeding and after you've mixed the pre-ferment-until the next bake The preferment stays on the counter to develop for the next days bake.
You will develop your own system over time. Have fun and experiment.