March 7, 2016 - 12:56pm
Sourdough Starter
Hi,
I recently obtained a sourdough culture from my favorite local bakery. It was picked up by a friend on Saturday and I am just getting it today, it has been refrigerated but I know it has not been fed for at least 2 days (possibly more depending on the schedule the bakery was on). What should I do with it? It's in a plastic bag, and looks like a large ball of soft dough.
Thank you for any and all advice!
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feed it its weight in flour and water so it is a 1:1:1 one part flour, one part water, and 1 part starter. Use the other 3 4ths for a loaf of bread. 1 part by weight starter (the 3/4ths portion left over) 2 parts water and 3 parts flour. The famous 1 :2:3 SD recipe.
Happy SD baking
I find that 100% flour, 70% water for wheat or 100% for rye and 10% starter produce a really robust sponge with good staying power, so that it only needs feeding once a week or so. The key here is that the starters are nutrient-poor, since a significant portion has already been consumed by the resident yeast and lactobacilli. Maximizing the available nutrient and limiting the quantity of inoculant (starter) may require a little more time for the sponge to ripen fully, but that inconvenience is more than offset my the larger quantity of nutrient available to feed the lil beasties.
Stan Ginsberg
theryebaker.com