first time using a starter.... disappointing :-/
I had a disappointing bake today :-/
My mother in law obtained some starter for me, from her friend. This starter is fed with instant potatoes/sugar/water ... and I don't know why, but for some reason, it kind of weirds me out. It's just a big watery jar of sugar and potato flakes, with an odd sweet smell not a comforting yeasty smell.
This weekend I baked a few loafs using the recipe that had come along with the starter. The bread is fine I guess -- soft, had a decent rise -- but I can't seem to bring myself to like it. I don't love how much sugar and oil was in the recipe (but I'm not experienced enough to tweak the recipe)
Does anyone else find this type of starter kind of..... gross? Is there something I can do to tweak the recipe so it doesn't use so much oil and sugar? (ie, can I use this starter for a different recipe? how do you know how much starter to use? it's almost like water)
Do I need to learn to embrace this kind of starter?
This certainly seems like a strange starter and recipe. I wonder about the use of instant potatoes since bread flour is even more abundant and contains far less chemicals. The extra sugar also is unnecessary since potatoes and flour contain enough starches/sugars to feed the wild yeasts.
The oil just makes it softer and fluffier, you can omit it if you don't mind a little extra chew.
If you don't like it, by all means move on to something else.
Sugar-and-potato-based starter is kind of "non-standard" going by what I've seen in my relatively short time on TFL. I've only been here a few months. All the ones I've seen are flour-based, with minor enhancements thrown in.
Here's a method to create a starter from scratch that I see refered to a lot. (I have not done it myself.)
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40918/no-muss-no-fuss-starter
So far, I've only purchased dehydrated starter culture online. One type (but several varieites), sold by amazon.com, comes from www.culturesforhealth.com . (You can buy direct or from amazon, either way.) They have two San Francisco styles that I like, one called "Desem" for majority Whole Wheat recipes, and one for regular, but which I'm currently using for whole wheat anyway. They are $10.99 each, free shipping from amazon if your order is over $25, or if you have Prime. These are about 1/2 tsp of dehydrated starter. Takes 4 days to get going. But I'd recommend at least 10 days until the yeast-versus-lactic-acid-bacteria ratio balances out. For me, the bubbles or "bloom" didn't happen until the fourth day.
Another one I have had great success with is Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter, from www.carlsfriends.net . It's very rugged and powerful. But I prefer the taste of the San Fran style cultures from culturesforhealth.com . You can get "Carl's" starter, in dehydrated form for a $1 donation, plus a self-addressed stamped envelope. It's about 1/2 to 1 tsp of dehydrated culture. Again, it "bloomed" on the 4th day, but give it 10 days total before you bake with it.
I have not used them, but www.breadtopia.com , and www.sourdo.com also sell dehydrated sourdough culture.
I'm sure there are also several of the regular posters here who would send you some of their dehydrated starter too, if you don't want to go the do-it-yourself route and make your own starter from scratch.
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As far as bread recipes using starter,... what bread cookbooks do you have already? Which cookbook authors do you like for their store-bought-yeast recipes? That would be a good place to begin to try their bread recipes which use sourdough starter.
Thanks to the both of you! And thanks for the starter suggestions idaveindy - I will check those out.
The only bread cookbook I have is Bread Baker's Apprentice. Otherwise, I've been going on recipes I find here or on King Arthur Flour (I've also tried some other random bloggers' recipes but I'm learning that I should stick to more reliable sources - some of the things I've tried from random bloggers have not turned out very well). I will explore recipes from trusted sources for inspiration on recipes that call for a starter!
You're in good company using Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice around here. Many folks have that book and are familiar with his formulas and methods.
I have a hard copy of the original edition, and a Kindle ebook of the 15th anniversary edition.