So far when baking bread I have only used the Regular or Quick Baking Cycle with the "Light Crust" option.  For what types of recipes would I use the "Firm" or "Soft" option? Can someone please explain how the bread results will differ if I use the "soft" option for a Whole wheat bread recipe?  Also I love a bread texture that has holes.  Is there a particular name for that texture?

I'm a bit embarrassed to post this, but there are no fellow artisans within reasonable reach, so here goes.

I'm trying to build up a 60% sourdough starter based on Maggie Glezer's book. It is supposed to be 10% old starter, 60% water and 100% flour. The rising is coming along ok, but the tackiness of the risen active starter exceeds the finest library paste! It sticks to the jar, my hands, the utensils, and anything else it contacts, with a deadly tenacity.

I am using a quality electronic scale and measuring very carefully. Is a "proper" 60% starter supposed to be this gluey? Can I just increase the flour somewhat? How should I judge if I have a proper "firm" starter by eye or by touch.

Another thing I find strange, is the process of dissolving the active starter in water to start a recipe or another refreshment. It is a very long and tedious process to chase those little gluey gobs around with a fork until they are completely dissolved. Am I missing a better way, or is just partially dissolving the starter OK?

Thanks for any comments. I'm about ready to go back to 100% starters. Would I lose much if I did?

Greg S

I'd like to make Susan's Ultimate Sourdough (see her blog here). Her recipe calls for 12g starter and 175 g water, from which I assume she is using a small portion of firm starter. She says "Starter is...1:3:4 (starter, water, flour)".

I have a nice 100% starter that I'd like to substitute in the reicpe. I've found postings about how to turn a liquid starter to a firm starter, but nothing about altering actual reicpes. How can I go about converting the reicpe? In addition, what quantity of liquid starter would be appropriate. I've seen recipes that call for everything from a tablespoon of active starter to two cups!

Any help on the recipe and the concepts involved would be very much appreciated.

GregS

Well, I almost thought I knew what they were talking about when they said "liquid levain" or whichever.  Some books differentiate when they specify a levain type.  But now I'm confused again.  Maybe there are standard definitions?

So thanks to this awesome forum, I have finally created the Columbia recipe in Glezer's book correctly. Pics are below. Now I understand how this is supposed to be made from cultured yeasts from rye flour, then building this up to make a strong culture. I did just this. One thing I do not get is that every time I make this bread recipe, I am only using 30g of it the day before and letting it ferment. This does not seem to be a true sour sourdough recipe?

I’m finally getting around to posting Maggie Glezer’s firm sourdough starter recipe.  For those of you having problems with your starters you might wish to give this a try.  Most people here are using batter-style starters so it might be interesting to see if there is any discussion on firm starters.  Plus I need help in learning to convert properly for use in recipes which don’t use a firm starter and there are always questions that come up.