May 3, 2018 - 9:08pm
Is this starter ready?
I took 80g from the refrigerated mother starter back on Wednesday night and let it warm on counter (it was fed 4 days ago)
The next morning (Thursday) fed it 80g flour 80g water, following the same at evening
This is what it looks like as of this morning (Friday) some 10 hours after 2nd feed
It's quite frothy on the top but no such big bubbles on the sides like I saw in many recipes/videos such as here
It looks more like warm milk
Is it ready to use? Or why am I not getting those big wild side bubbles?
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but if you fed 80 grams of starter 80 grams of flour and 80 of water, did you discard before the second feed?
Your starter is more liquid than the one in the photo.
Do I then need to feed one more time to change the hydration? Or better start all over?
There's nothing wrong with your starter. Getting big bubbles is not an objective.
Ok then I just have to give it some more time to bubble up so that it floats? I just tried the float test but it sinks and it hasn't yet got to doubling/tripling in size during a 4-6 hours period
I didn't discard, should I have? I'll need 320g starter for two loaves (starter would be 30% of total flour) I currently have 480g
400g* that's what I have atm (80+160+160)
and bake. You don’t need to discard to have a lively starter. You have refreshed your starter a few times so it should be ready to go. Don’t worry about the float test. It looks like your starter might be a bit too liquid to float anyhow.
when i asked if the OP had discarded some of the starter is that it seemed to me that the OP fed the same amount the second time as the first, but shouldn't the second feeding be much larger without a discard?
Ok that's a relief I just have these questions come up in my mind though:
1- suppose a recipe calls for 300g starter and I have that amount and a little more in the refrigerated mother (like 500g) can't I just take those 300g from the mother and use it in the recipe without any feeding? (aside from warming it up to bubble) or is it mandatory to only take a small amount from the mother and build up a "child" starter from "scratch" every time? (which I find very time consuming as it requires some make ahead planning)
2- in many recipes they say "you know it's ready when it floats"; is the float test mandatory? what is the benefit in getting the starter to float before starting the bake? or otherwise what is the risk in using a starter that's not yet floating?
3- why do they recommend discarding "all but 1-2 tbsp" before feeding the mother? can't I just take the qty I need for the recipe, say 100g, and then feed mother back same amount? (or not feed at all, if fed just recently?)
1. If your starter was recently fed and put in the fridge, yes you can do that. If it has been sitting in the fridge for more than several days, I wouldn’t recommend it, especially if it has been several weeks. I have done that and got decent bread, but I did have issues with the dough splitting during shaping the last time I did that. I believe it was because there was too much of an acid load in the starter and it degraded the flour quite quickly.
2. The float test is totally unnecessary. It is a fun thing to do with a thicker starter but often doesn’t work with a liquid one. The fact that your starter is rising to at least double after a feed is the indicator that it can raise bread. That being said; once again with a very liquid starter, it may not double because it doesn’t have the structure to support itself. You then need to depend on the appearance which is similar to boiling water.
3. This is to make sure that your Levain isn’t overly acidic. You end up with a less sour tasting bread which is what I prefer. If you just replace the quantity that you took out, your starter will become increasingly acidic which is perfect if you want really sour bread. Dabrownman has a routine where he puts a thick starter in the fridge for weeks and then takes a bit and builds his Levain from there. He loves very sour bread and this is how he gets that. Do a search for No fuss, No muss starter if you are interested in how he does this.
Personally, I have totally relaxed with my starter maintenance. I just keep it fairly thick and in the fridge. When I want to bake, I either take a bit and feed that for a day or so st room temperature, discarding half and then building up for my Levain or I do a two stage Levain where I do 2 sets of 1:4:4 feedings. I used to drive Fresh Lofian nuts with questions about building levains and storing it. I have decided that starters are really hard to kill and I just need an active, not acidic Levain to make bread.
from the original post:
I took 80g from the refrigerated mother starter back on Wednesday night and let it warm on counter (it was fed 4 days ago). (note from me - no feeding after it was taken out of the fridge)
The next morning (Thursday) fed it 80g flour 80g water, following the same at evening. This is what it looks like as of this morning (Friday) some 10 hours after 2nd feed
so unless i'm mistaken, the OP fed the starter 1:1:1 the morning after it came out of the fridge, then that evening fed it 1:.5:.5, and the pics are ten hours after the second, smaller feed.
i'm pretty new to this, but ordinarily wouldn't the second feed have been at least 1:1:1?
do an equal or bigger feed the second build. Once again, this is to prevent too much acid in the Levain