Making a starter more sour
All the SD recipes I see start with something like this;
"Take 10g of starter to start your levain, and feed the remaining starter and return to the fridge."
Then I got this suggestion from DABrownman (altered slightly);
- Assume your starter is 100% hydration
- Take 12g of starter and feed with 6g flour and 6g water.
- Ferment @ 92F for 4 hours, then feed with 24g flour and 24g water
- Ferment @ 92F for 4 hours, then feed with 36g flour and 36g water
- Ferment @ 92F for 4 hours, then retard in fridge @ 36F for 12 hours.
Ok, this definitely made my SD more sour, and added wonderful complexity to the flavor. As for the original starter, DA, like the others, simply suggested to feed it equal parts flour and water and return it to the fridge. He suggests that after 4 weeks my starter will be creating some wonderfully sour breads.
But I ask...why return anything to the fridge right away?
I reserved 10g of my original starter, as everyone suggests, while the new 144g is being developed, but when it achieved doubling before the retard in the fridge, I reserved 20g of it as my "new" starter. It has had some wonderful fermenting done to it, producing far more LAB than yeast, elements that make it sour.
Next time I use it, I will repeat this, and the 20g "new" starter that is produced that time should be even more sour, and even more complex...and so on.
Is this what is meant when people take a small piece of dough and reserve it for their next batch? Just seems to me that most people are doing it wrong. Now believe me, I have no experience that allows me to make such a bold statement, but what am I missing?
Russ