Pineapple vs water
I started my first starter a week ago. I decided to go with the pineapple juice method because for some reason I thought it would work better.
I followed this method http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2. But I must admit that I might have misread the instructions because I don't know imperial measures. So I'm pretty sure I added too much water as I measured it by volume equal to the volume of the flour. But I thought I got the starter to flour ratio right, which was 1:1/2.
I ended up starting 3 starters with pineapple juice. I kept only the youngest one and finally worked out the correct ratios and started weighing the ingredients. Today it had totally taken off and last time I checked it had nearly doubled in size. This is day 7.
I also started a starter with the water a few days after the starter described above. And to me it seems to rise equally well even though I started it 3 days later (today is day 4). But what's more surprising is that I can smell the yeast in that one, but the pineapple one just smells sour, can't detect any yeast.
As an experiment it's totally flawed of course, because I didn't use the same method for both and fed the water starter more, sooner. But I'd be interested to know if anyone else has compared them and what their observations were?
And now I notice that the pineapple starter rises faster, but goes down sooner than the water one. I'm guessing that may be because it's too liquid? I'll add less water tonight (stopped adding juice on day 4) and see what that gives.
Interesting observations!
I used the pineapple method 3 years ago and even used it once to make a rice flour starter. The reason I used this method was that I read that the acid in the juice kept unwanted bacteria at bay while allowing the good ones to take hold thus helping to insure success. Supposedly, without it it could take longer for the good bacteria to get the upper hand in the stater's development. Perhaps that is what you are seeing in your results.
Thanks. I find the fruity smell in the pineapple starter mildly unpleasant. I much prefer the smell of the other one, even at the early stage.
I added less water to the pineapple one today, but think it's a bit to thick now. At least I know what the consistency is supposed to look like because I've kept the other one at a 1:1:1 ratio from the start by weighing the ingredients.
There's so much information out there but in the end it is just trial and error, isn't it. But I haven't baked bread in months and I want my first one now to be a SD! So I don't want to have to keep starting this starter again. But I'm keen to have to stop feeding 2 starters twice a day. It takes me longer to feed them than my pets. My 8yo daughter even gave them names because they are like pets. Hehe.
You could easily use a little vinegar as pineapple juice, or even yoghurt.
The juice is there to create a more acidic environment for the yeast to develop more quickly than it otherwise might so any acidic medium would work, in principle. Either the bacteria create the acidic environment for yeast, or you can speed it along a little.
I'm not sure there's massive difference. So (next time) I would just use water and a bit of wholemeal rye flour in with the wheat flour.
One thing I have noticed is that as I've come to bake more bread, so my starter's get going more easily.
Less water did the trick. 12 hours after the last feed it had more than doubled! It's a bit too stiff now to be 100%, so I'll gradually add a bit more water.
I stopped using juice 4 days ago, but I can still smell it. Maybe it's my imagination. The starter with water is doing surprisingly well too. I might keep it going and give it to someone as a present.
I thought it needed 2 weeks to get the nice flavour? I'm waiting for the dough hook for my mixer to arrive anyway. I am no good at hand kneading (arthritis) so bought a 1970s Kenwood Chef last weekend. Very excited about that too!
Am I supposed to keep feeding the starter twice a day until I use it?
But if you don't discard, you would have to keep adding more and more flour and water to keep your 1:1:1 (let alone 1:2:2) ratio and make sure you don't starve the good bacteria. Which would be ok if you use it daily. But I only plan to bake once or twice a week.
Giving the starters names was my 8yo daughter's idea. You know, a child...
I used tap water for the pineapple juice one at first, then switched to bottled for both starters and now switched back to tap. Not sure how much chlorine or similar is in the tap water here in Australia.
Not sure about the malt in the flour either. I fed 1/3 freshly ground wheat berries and 2/3 AP. It's not unbleached. I read somewhere bleached and non-organic is supposed to work better for starters. But by now I can probably feed it any type of flour.
I ended my experiment by throwing out the youngest starter which was the water based one. What I mistook for a fermented fruit smell was just a typical SD stage, because now the water starter started smelling the same. And I got fed up feeding both. The juice starter is going strong.
I can't actually smell yeast but it looks fantastic. Sticky and doughy. It smells slightly sour now.
I kept it in the oven with the light on for the first few days, but moved it to the bench a couple of days ago.
I fed it all white AP flour for the last 2 feeds and it seems to work well. I plan to make a white sandwich bread with it first. I know, probably seems sacrilegious to the artisan bakers, but I aim to slowly convince mini-me that there's more to bread than Wonder White.