What should I do..
..with my rye starter?
First a little background info.
Using the Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter recipe by Sourdolady, I began my adventure into 'Wild Yeast Land'. That was 11 days ago, partner. My starter smells, looks and seems very healthy.
Yesterday, on the 10th day, I decided to make rye bread using this recipe, 40% Rye with Caraway, from The Fresh Loaf Bakers Handbook.
I made the starter (rye starter (at 100% hydration): 400 grams or 1.25 cups) yesterday at 6:30PM but something came up and I was unable to make the bread. It has been sitting at room temperature since and has doubled in size or more, very nicely.
Now my question. It is now a little over 24 hours since I made the rye starter. I will not be able to make the bread again (some other something came up) until tomorrow. What should I do with the starter? Do I feed it? Do I refrigerate it? Do I just leave it until tomorrow and then make the bread?
Thank you!
Since you're making it tomorrow, I suggest you remove a little of the starter and then feed it.
I'm afraid you'll have to rebuild your levain.
I suggest you do a single build of...
Take 132g (from that 400g) and feed that...
134g water + 134g rye flour
Allow that to mature and become active to use in your recipe and with the remainder 268g keep in fridge till ready to bake again and use that for future preferments.
Thank you for the response, Bnom and Abe. Unfortunately, I was unable to get online until now and I decided to go ahead and make the bread. I followed the recipe, measuring everything with my scale.
The dough was very sticky and I had to use an extra 1/8 to 1/4 cup flour to get the dough firm enough to handle. It is now sitting on a piece of oiled parchment paper.
Is it ruined? Can I still follow your advice?
Take 132g (from that 400g) and feed that...
134g water + 134g rye flour
Allow that to mature and become active to use in your recipe and with the remainder 268g keep in fridge till ready to bake again and use that for future preferments.
Thank you again!
Kim
Unmatured starter. Basically instead of making a loaf of bread it's just had a feeding. I highly doubt it is going to work. To wait for an active starter now is too late. The only way to save it now is to proof some fresh yeast (or dried yeast if you don't have any) and then add it to the dough.
It'll be a yeasted bread flavoured with starter.
So short of adding yeast it won't work. I suggest if you have any yeast in the house put that in the bowl, add water and a bit of sugar, wait for it to bubble then add that to the dough with a bit more flour to bring it back to the correct hydration then carry on as a yeasted bread.
If you wish for any more advice in future then you can always email me here at TFL.
What you could have done is simply add a little yeast (teaspoon) to your mix just to give it a little extra boost. Apart from burning to a crisp, it's hard to "ruin" bread....even if it's not what you imagine, you'll have gained experience in the process. Let us know how it goes.
is it? All rye? How does it look now? Is it puffing up?
...Mini Oven* I didn't see your post until now.
It worked out following Abe and bnom's advice. I used 1pkg traditional yeast, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup water and approx.1 1/2 cups AP flour. I proofed the yeast then dumped everything into a bowl and mixed it. I let it rise twice and baked it at 450°F as per the recipes instructions. The shape was a little off and the scoring kind of ragged, but the bread tastes wonderful.
Question. I had to start a new sourdough starter because I used it all for the rye bread. Was I suppose to save 1/4 cup before making the starter for the rye bread? I am on day three of the new starter and it is coming along nicely.
Thanks again!
having to start over from scratch. If you use the same dirty starter jar though, you can get a starter going quickly as all the bugs will be in there. You can save as little as a heaping spoonful.
Your loaf looks good! Good save! :)
Turned out very well. Looks delicious.
Yes, to save you having to go through the whole rigmarole you don't have to make a starter from scratch every time.
Make your starter and save some. I keep around 90 - 150g in the fridge at any one time. When it comes to making your bread you simply take a little off and build that into your levain (a pre-ferment) by feeding it, allowing it to bubble up and become active then using it in your recipe. When my starter in the fridge begins to run low i'll take it out, bring it to room temperature, feed it and keep it out for a few hours so it's begun to feed but hasn't exhausted its supplies. Then i'll return it to the fridge.
This is a good way to maintain it as you won't make the mistake of using it all in your recipe forgetting to keep some back.
If you had remembered in time then Mini's idea is a good way to save it. The little bits in the jar could have inoculated the flour you fed it.
But keeping your "mother" starter separate from the pre-ferment you build for your recipe will stop this from happening again.
Enjoy your bread and good luck with building your new starter.
...again for your feedback. The bread was delicious. Perfect for Rubens as the recipe stated.
My second starter is doing good. I am on day 10. I would like to make this bread. And of course I have questions.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com//handbook/whole-wheat-sourdough-sandwich-bread
I can not remember how I made the Rye starter for my first bread (I never wrote the amounts down, tsk!) and my husband isn't home to
save, eh, aid me. *grin* I feed my starter this morning at 9:30AM. Do I have to wait until tomorrow to make the starter for the bread?For this bread do I add 150g flour, 57g starter, 93g water?
How long do I have to wait before I can use the starter for the recipe?
And can I double this recipe?
Thank you for your time.
Kim
Baker's Percentage
Whole wheat flour: 100%
Salt: 2%
Water or milk: 75%
Honey: 4.2%
Unsalted butter: 2.8%
(30% of flour used is in the starter and to keep it simple we'll make a 100% hydration starter)
_________________________________________________________________________
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour: 350 grams or about 4 cups
Salt: 10 grams or 1.25 tsp
Water: 225 grams or 1 cup
Whole wheat Starter: 300g
Honey: 21 grams or 1 Tbs
Unsalted butter: 14 grams or 1 Tbs
NOW I SUGGEST 2 BUILDS OF YOUR STARTER:
BUILD 1: [Night Before]
Mix 32g of your starter + 34g water + 34g wholewheat flour - leave overnight.
BUILD 2: [Morning Of]
100g of active levain from above + 100g water + 100g wholewheat flour - all nice and bubbly in 4-6 hours. When ready then proceed onto below....
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt. Melt the butter and stir in the honey – add both to the water. Finally add the flour and mix until all is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
However you develop the dough, from the time you mix until the time you shape the dough, it’ll take about 3 to 4 hours for the first rise at room temperature.
Shaping
Shape into a sandwich loaf and place it in a greased 8.5”x 4.5” pan.
Second rise and retarding
Sourdoughs benefit quite a bit from retarding – they often taste better. You can simply cover the shaped dough and place it in the fridge or, if you’re lucky and the overnight temperature will be between 45 and 55, you can simply place it outside, in which case the bread will probably be ready to bake when you wake up.
If you put it in the fridge, it’ll need to warm up for 3-4 hours to complete its rise.
If you don’t want to bother with retarding, you can let it rise for another 3 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a couple of hours this way.
Baking
There’s no need to score the bread, but I often do anyway. Bake for about 55 minutes at 350 degrees F. No steam or pre-heating required.
YOU MAY DOUBLE THE RECIPE. JUST MULTIPLY EVERYTHING ACCORDINGLY.
... and still making wonderful bread using the recipe above or below or wherever it ends up when I post. Thanks Abe!
I have made some changes to the recipe by adding a multi grain soaker. It was a challenge getting the liquid right but I final have it down pat. This WW Sourdough bread is our household bread now that we use for toast, sandwiches, stuffing, bread pudding and anything else that calls for bread. We love it!
To celebrate my mother's birthday, I made, Flaxseed Rye With An Old Bread Soaker, from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread book.
I didn't get a photo of the crumb but, it was delicious and the crust was nice and chewy.
I am still learning and still enjoying bread making.
See ya!
..with my first starter bread. Thank you Abe!
Following your instructions above, I doubled the recipe. It is the best Whole Wheat bread I have ever baked. The bread overflowed the pans some. Can this be amended with shaping? Or bigger pans?
Excellent! and how does it taste? No turning back now. I think next step is...
A Banneton and Dutch Oven or Baking Stone.
Looking forward to seeing more bakes.
Looks perfect to me.
Kim
I agree with Abe. It looks wonderful.
If you don't want the muffin top (so to speak), just reduce the weight of the dough from which you make it (use the excess for rolls). Otherwise, it looks quite fine, and only taste will tell.
dobie
Thanks dobie! Bigger bread pans is how I cured the muffin top. That was last years bread. The 2016 bread is posted above. The bread never does come out the same and that is what I like about it.