The Fresh Loaf

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Scaling down Forkish quantities for starting a levain?

roboboticus's picture
roboboticus

Scaling down Forkish quantities for starting a levain?

In Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast, the quantities for starting and maintaining a levain seem excessive for a home baker, and I've seen several discussions of scaling them down when maintaining the levain, but no explicit mention of scaling them down when starting it. Is it ok to do so?

I have no previous experience starting, maintaining, or even using a levain/starter, so it's all new to me. I read about people maintaining very small quantities, but it also sounds like there may be benefits to feeding larger quantities occasionally to strengthen the culture.

Can I scale down the starting quantities as well, or would that yield too weak a culture?

 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Robo, you can efficiently start a starter with 100g or even less. But unless your container is narrow and a little tall, a little more volume will help you to visually observe the growth rate.

You may find something useful HERE.

roboboticus's picture
roboboticus

Thank you, DanAyo. That clarifies things.

I'm tempted to try the all rye approach mentioned in Abe's method, as I've seen that suggested a lot, but I think for my first try I'll stick to the ingredients (whole wheat) and method that Forkish describes, just scaled way down.

I'm planning to try the Tartine Bread book as well, which recommends a 50/50 mix of bread flour and whole wheat, but not until I've finished Flour Water Salt Yeast.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

My most commonly made bread is a multi-grain sourdough based on a Forkish formula. The following assumes you are making bread with 1 kg of flour and you have a healthy starter and you will be using 360 g of active starter in your dough.

I mix 400 g of starter, 40 of which will be reserved to seed the next starter. My recipe is: 40g starter, 160g warm water, 40g whole wheat flour, 160g high-gluten flour (You can use AP, but high-gluten resists proteolysis better, if you are going to save the extra 40g of starter for several days in the fridge.)

David

squattercity's picture
squattercity

I just baked the Forkish overnight country blonde this morning. I popped the levain residue (which probably weighs more that the levain used in the loaves) in the fridge. How long will it keep & still be viable for another bake?

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I keep my 40g of levain for at least a week and sometimes two weeks. It may throw off a bit of hooch, but it comes back strong after a single feeding. If it seems to liquified, I start over with a very firm "mother" I keep for at least a month between feedings.

David

squattercity's picture
squattercity

Forkish's levains are monsters. And mine from last night was crazy big bc I didn't get back to it for 14 hours & it's super hot in NYC. Any more time and it would have eaten my kitchen. I'm glad to know I can hold & not fold. Thanks.

Rob (aka squattercity)

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I maintain 3 starters, whole wheat (75% hydration), rye (100%) and 50/50 bread/whole wheat (100%). Since I don’t run my home-based micro bakery anymore, the sourdough amounts I keep in the fridge weigh only about 50 g each. I feed them perhaps every 1-2 weeks.
The day before I plan to use one of them, I refresh it twice, to activate it. The results are just the same as when I maintained much larger amounts of starter (for my bakery).

Karin