The Fresh Loaf

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Sour dough starter

Puglet's picture
Puglet

Sour dough starter

I was recently given a sour dough starter. I've been doing the daily feeding, but haven't discarded the recommended amount, because if I discard I won't have enough to make a loaf of bread. This morning I was going to discard, but if I had, there was only a small amount left for baking. I'm new to this, so I may not be understanding the concept of sour dough baking. Thank you for any help!

Paladine's picture
Paladine

You should feed it the amount you need for your bake in the feed prior to your bake.  So if you need 150g starter you feed it 75g flour, 75g water (or whatever your hydration ratio is) wait for it to double/peak then take the 50g and make your dough with it.

markgo's picture
markgo

Puglet, I use 200g of starter (with 100g filtered water,  50g bread flour, and 50g rye.)

Whenever I need my starter, I use as much as I can pour and scrape out of the container. Then,  I add the 100:50:50 mix again. The leftover sourdough in the container is enough to initiate another starter for my next bake.  

The new starter forms bubbles, rises, and peaks after 6-8 hours. I then store it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to use it. 

Like you, I was gifted with my starter as well. I learned from this site that natural sourdough prefers rye flour and filtered water, but I decided to go with a 50:50 mix with bread flour because I just preferred the texture and aroma.  

Good luck!  

 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Once your starter is well-established (and if someone gave it to you, I assume this is the case) there is no need to discard any. What I do is make my levain for the day's bake in the morning, using, say, 50 grams of the 'mother' culture, 100 grams of water and 100 grams of flour, and let it get bubbly and active, then use it in the bread dough. The remainder of the mother culture is kept in the fridge, and when it gets down to about 50 grams I simply build it up with another feed of 100 grams of water and 100 grams of flour. You don't need to keep much of the mother itself if you make a fresh batch of levain from it before you bake bread (either in the morning or the evening before you bake, whatever works with your schedule).

Once you figure out your formulas it's pretty easy to make just enough levain for your baking. For example, if you need 150 grams of levain for a batch of bread, divide 150 by 5 (gives you 30). Take 30 grams of your mother culture and add double that (60 grams) each of water and flour. I usually make 10-15 grams more because you will inevitably lose some sticking to the bowl and spoon.

Make sense?

Puglet's picture
Puglet

Thank you for the replies! It is beginning to make sense now!

PeteW's picture
PeteW

I do pretty much what's been stated, but a little different.  I use a glob of starter for my bread, I don't measure, but it's probably at least 1/3 cup per loaf.  I take what starter is left and thin it down to 1/2 cup, if I have more than that left, and then I feed it with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup of warm water.  The 1/2 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of water work out pretty equal in weight of about 72 to 74 grams each.  

That said I should emphasize that my baking vessel is a preheated 8-1/2" diameter Dutch Oven, so these are pretty good size, round loaves.