May 8, 2015 - 1:35pm
Is there a "recovery period" for starters after using some of it?
This is probably a dumb question, but yesterday I took 117g from my ~160g of starter to use in baking bread. I've fed it twice since then and now I have ~150g. Is there a period of waiting for my starter to develop again before I can use some of it to bake another loaf or am I good to go?
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Starter should be used at the peak of its rise, it is also fed at the peak of its rise, usually an active starter will peak after being fed in 8 hours. The reason for this is that the yeasts and LB would have been multiplying. Adding prior to this may lead to a slower dough as the proportion of yeasts and LB would be lower.
If you had 43grams of starter left from the previous bake and fed it once there should be 43g of starter + 43g of flour + 43g of water = 129g of culture a second feed would see 129 +129 +129 amount to 478g of culture this should have been ready to go 24 hours after the first bake.
kind regards Derek
I use my starter when it starst falling.
Rule of thumb would be that 12 hours after feeding is fine to use your starter.
progressively larger feedings. I start with a mall amount say 6-10 g and feed it that weight in flour and water and step it up each time over 4 hours each for a total of 12 hours I want to make sure that the levain is at its peak and ready to raise a loaf..
But today I made a bread from a young 3 day old starter from scratch that I had retarded for a week. It certainly wasn't near what I would normally call its peak but it performed perfectly and I couldn't notice any difference. Starters can be frustrating and surprising too but,overall, i like levain at their peak because I know i\I can count on them every time that way.