Finally a sourdough starter that works: Whey Starter
Greetings everyone
I'm so exited because, finally I made a successful starter. I had many tries before, but they always suffered the same problem: too much lab and too little yeast, even though I keep feeding for 14+ days.
This time it worked, probably due to a factor that I've missed all those years: lab multiply faster in RT, while yeast multiply faster in the fridge, or so it seems I guess, because all I did that worked this time is that I kept feeding it for only 7 days, then immediately after the last feed I moved it in the fridge.
Today, 8 days later, I took it out, gave it a 1:1 feed, and to my amazement and joy, it went up more than 2x in less than 3 hours, full of big bubbles on top and all sides!
I was planning to use my 200g 100% hydration starter tomorrow, but since it surprised me with its hyper yeast activity, I had to mix the final dough right away, and put it in the fridge to retard until tomorrow.
I take 200g starter from the fridge, feed with equal weights of water and white flour, immediately return 200g back in the fridge, and keep the rest (400g) in RT until it peaks, then mix in the final dough.
Am I right in getting the conclusion that keeping a starter in the fridge causes the yeast to grow more than it does if kept in RT?
In case anyone is interested, here is how I made my beautiful whey starter:
day 1:
40g bonnyclabber whey
40g AP white flour
day 3:
20g starter
20g water
20g AP white flour
repeat day 3 whenever the starter peeks and starts to collapse, which starts happening every 12 hours or less in day 4 or 5
After 7 days, repeat one final feed, then immediately put in the fridge. It will be ready to use 7-8 days later.
When I put my starter in the fridge immediately after feeding, it doubles there in 12 hours!
It would just need fewer feedings in the refrigerator than room temp I think the statistic is that it doubles its population every 100 minutes at roughly room temp, as a result food supply is exhausted faster as well. Working with yeast is all about getting dough to rise based on sufficient population therefore is you made a dough with a pinch of yeast you could wait a day (generalizing here) and it would be like you started with the required quantoty. I Think the answer to your question is no, it doesn't grow,faster in the refridgerator, in your case it doubled because you had a strong culture had you have left it on the counter it would have likely doubled in a couple of hours. The main thing to note is you now have a strong starter so enjoy and keep it thriving by weekly feedings ! Congrats !
Thanks very much for congratulating me. I'm soo happy!
The legendary Debra Wink has just posted a reply that seems to confirm my thoughts regarding yeast multiplying more than LAB when kept in the fridge..
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/384002#comment-384002
Great feeling isn't it! So what's your first bake going to be?
2 16" pizzas. My kids can't get enough of them!