June 19, 2015 - 1:27pm
Dry Yeast VS Starter?
I have a recipe that calls for dry yeast but I want to use my new Pineapple starter instead. How much starter replaces 1 3/4 tsp dry yeast?
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I have a recipe that calls for dry yeast but I want to use my new Pineapple starter instead. How much starter replaces 1 3/4 tsp dry yeast?
I some ways it is not as easy as 1 for 1. But basically a cup of healthy starter is about the same as one packet of yeast. So whats the catch? Well, first you have to consider the hydration of your starter - and adjust your formulate for the water and and flour that will provide. Second, healthy starter is a relative term. Usually a starter takes longer to rise than commercial yeast, but how much? Depends. So if you wanted to actually make this bread and have it rise in the time of your recipe, you might need a lot more starter. Or use this approximate replacement and then first time through keep an eye on things and determine the times needed.
Good enough, I just needed a start.
I was aware of the need to balance other ingredients.
Matching a recipe?" HA! I rarely have the same recipe twice! The ingredient mix is all relative... (:
However, between that note and this, I actually was able to test my first starter and I am really disappointed. It is worse than the Styrofoam I get in the discount grocery store. I had better results with dry yeast from a packet. Rise, color and crumb were all good but no flavor.
I will let it continue to "mature" but now I am skeptical. Still, I can use this for other breads and not expect much...
Your starter is still too young to be well balanced. Give it another ten days or so to mature. It can be used now, but its flavor potential needs time to develop.
Let's look at some definitions (mine, not necessarily anyone else's).
First, there's the part you feed regularly, the seed/mother/chef.
Then there's the preferment or starter. This uses the seed to get the starter going, and which is sized according to the over all formula.
Finally, there's the dough, where everything comes together.
Every formula will be adjusted to complement your particular circumstances. Let me give you a specimen method from my own kitchen:
Total dough is 1.5kg; 900g flour and 600g water. Preferment contains 33.3% of the flour at 100% hydration.
So the starter is 300g flour and 300g water. I like to ferment the starter 12 to 16 hour and adjust the seed to my kitchen. 10% seed flour works well for my summer kitchen; thus 60g (30g flour and 30g water). Reduce the starter's flour and water by these amounts. You can simply feed your seed with these elements.
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter conceptually whether you use IDY or a sourdough seed to leaven the preferment. The amounts of leavening are adjusted to arrive at the time you want. It is actually easier to control sourdoughs than IDY because of the tiny amounts of IDY used.
cheers,
gary
and I hope we are not going to get the purists coming in and confusing it all up by telling me what it should be called.... As far as I care, my seed/mother/chef is going to be called Audrey3. (I will let you know when she starts demanding blood.)
I started with purified water. Was that just to assure a good beginning or should I continue to use it?
How much do you feed it? Right now Audry3 is about 1 cup. I imagine she will be hungry soon. Should she be on the counter or in the refrigerator? (I am sure that several people have told me this already but, at my age, information sinks in only when I need/use it.)
I am going to look at your numbers and maybe they will start to make sense. I am not used to grams but I do use them.
Grams come in handy when the recipe calls for 6 cups of flour and, as I scoop flour into the measuring cup, I start counting scoops and forget how many cups were measured. For this, grams work much better for me....