March 4, 2020 - 10:27am
It's alive!
Last year I tried making sourdough and after about five unsuccessful tries I gave up. I realized my house was kept too cold at 19C/66F, I was having trouble getting a warm consistent place to keep it.
I ended up ordering a B&T proof box. I still had trouble. Then I found this graal: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2
And it worked! It lives! Finally!
I`m on day 4. I'm going to bake my first loaf tomorrow.
So excited! Thank you Debra!
Share
You are on day 4 of what? Day 4 from the first mix of flour and water? If that's right, then please don't bake with it. It isn't ready. Give it another week and then try it.
I'll be a week tomorrow since initial mix of flour and water. I used pineapple juice the first three days and been using 30C water for my feeding for 4 days now. I was following a book that suggested I could try baking with it already on Day 5, but you're suggesting I give it another week?
Day 7 is a whole other kettle of fish. I baked at day 10 using the pineapple solution. I would say go for it!
"works" versus "works well."
At 7 days from first mixing, starters are generally still maturing, and working out a balance between the bacteria and the yeast.
there are a range of dates/timings that I've read in various people's recipes for starting a starter from scratch. Some say 10 days, some 2 weeks, and i've read one that said 4 weeks.
Although you may get your starter to raise bread at day 7 from initial mix, or day 4 from first bubble, it's not going to be the same starter as it will be a week later.
i have made 3 starters so far, but they were all from dehydrated cultures I obtained from others. It generally took 3 to 4 days to "bloom", by which I mean that it doubled, not just "bubbled", within a few hours of feeding. But I was never satisfied with how the starter worked or tasted when using it so soon. I think starters can build up strengh or "rising power" within that first week after the "bloom" point.
Even if your starter does raise bread on day 7 after initial mix, it may not do so on the schedule and in the proportionality that common formulas consider. so you make a mental note to adjust the amount or timing for next time. But by the next time, your starter has changed, and is more mature, more powerful, and more balanced between bacteria/yeast, so your adjustments are going to be off.
I understand the excitement and desire to bake something soon after seeing your starter "come alive."
So the trade off is by using it so soon, it will be very different in a week, and you will need to "re-learn" how to bake with it. Versus, if you wait another 4 to 7 days, discarding and feeding each day, your first bake will be more similar in starter-performance, and taste, with what it will be next time and thereafter.
For my starters, I think the equilibrium or stability point came 7 days after "bloom". "Bloom" being when it first doubled within 3-4 hours of feeding.
I know the "It's alive!" feeling, that makes you cackle like Boris Karloff.
You were right guys! My bread turned out with a denser crumb that I would have liked.
My starter will be 2 weeks old in 2 days, and it's already MUCH more alive. Yesterday I fed it rye flour at 1:3:3 and put it in my proof box at 80F and it tripled in 6 hours. I could barely get it to double in the same timespan and temperature before.
I look forward to bake #2!