Sour dough starter taste
I need HELP! I have a beautiful starter going, recipe from Peter Reinhart, Bread Bakers Apprentice. It is about 6-7 months old. It has developed a very strong taste, rendering my list of recipes kind of useless. I have 4 loaves in the freezer that the birds are getting. I did some research on the internet on how to combat this, used the hints and it did temper it some, but still way too strong. I only refresh every 10 days, using 1 cup of starter with 1 cup of water and 1 3/4 cup of King Arthur bread flour. More than doubles on the counter in 4 hrs. It has always risen the breads very well, but now I'm afraid to make any more.
I think I read some years ago that as a starter ages, it increases in strong taste. I am contemplating starting over, the process was not too hard. So if anyone has any suggestions I would be so appreciative. I would like to save this little beauty. Thanks, Jean
I keep mine in the fridge and it does not make strong tasting bread at all. I believe i have had it for about 3 years.
Thank you so much for that reply, I keep it in the fridge as well. One time I forgot to refresh and left it for about 12 days. When I took it out, it started to rise! I had one going many yrs ago, and don't remember having this trouble. Maybe I should just try another recipe anyway. It is encouraging to me that it has not happened to you after 3 yrs!
When you bake, do you use the starter right from the fridge or do you do builds to get to the amount you need?
I do builds. For example, I need 250 g of sourdough for a recipe. I take 18 g from my starter in the fridge and add 18 g each of water and flour. About 8 hours later, I add 36 g each of flour and water. I leave that overnight and in the morning I add 72 g each of flour and water. 6 hours later, I use it in my dough.
If you don’t do builds, it might explain the bad taste.
By the way, I don’t refresh mine every week. I keep it very thick so it has lots of food while it is in the fridge. When it gets low, I add more water and flour making sure it is super thick. I let it rise for a few hours on the counter, preferably a 25% rise, and then put it in the fridge.
Well, I'm not sure the answer I wrote actually went out correctly. I don't do builds, I take the starter out the day before baking, refresh, let rise past double, put it back in fridge. Next day take out amount I need, let it warm, then use it in the recipe. This has always risen the breads very well, taste always good. plus being mild.
Are you saying that you are dividing the amount you will need into 3 stages?
Three stages. That way, I am not tossing out flour and it reduces the acid as well. You could do the same since you revive your starter the day before.
Tell me a bit more about the bad taste you are getting. Is your starter smelling like nail polish remover or acetone? That means it is hungry and needs more feeding. That smell might be carrying over into your bread.
If that’s not it, maybe your starter got contaminated with something and you may need to make a new one. Try feeding this one twice a day for a bit at room temperature and see if you can improve the smell and flavour.
That's what I want to avoid if possible, so much waste. The starter presently smells good, mild, and looks good. But we are only 5 days in to the recent refresh. However, I must add that when I had the "too strong"" issue, you could smell it in the starter and the bread as well and the taste was way too strong. That was the last 2 bakes of the same recipe. The taste was that of the tang.
The 2nd bake was better after I tried some of the tips, cooler rise, less rise (did not like that one), but the flavor mellowed. I will try your method, I have read about it a lot, I hope it works, I've got so many recipes I've already baked and know they are good.
I will also increase the feeding schedule and see if I can improve things.
P.S. So, if the starter smells too tangy, that means it will show up in the bake?
I don't let my Levain get too tangy because I don’t like really sour bread. Others on the other hand do and they let their starter age in the fridge to get that tang.
Danni3113, Thanks so much for all the good advice and time you gave to my plight. I am now into the "new" refresh for the second time and I must say it does smell much less tangy. I've not gotten up the nerve to actually make the bread again yet, after giving 4 loaves bit by bit to the birds, but will try on the next go-round. I really did appreciate your help. Jean/msbreadbaker