My starter is a month old. I refresh it using 50g of old starter, 50g of T85 flour and 50g of filtered room temperature water. My T85 flour is 12.5% protein, roller milled malted, and processed in Utah in the U.S. I refreshed my starter this morning at 9am and this is how it's doing now (7 hours later). The starter has doubled and hasn't fallen yet. Should I track it's progress every hour and find when it falls? Trying to determine the optimal time for use in a bake.
Very active and bubbly. Agreed from the top it doesn't look like it's beginning to fall but that might just be because it's quite thick. From the sides it does look like it's peaked as you can see where the line goes up to and where the starter is now. Bubbles are breaking the surface. If it has a nice strong aroma i'd consider your starter good to make bread.
Peaking and falling doesn't mean it's fallen all the way back. If you can see it has reached it's peak, won't grow further and has all the appearance and aromas of a strong and healthy starter then it may be used. A lot about starters and sourdough which are given as rules are actually guidelines.
A 1:1:1 feed should be ready in 4-6 hours (average for normal room temperature). That's a good guide. Yours is 7 hours in and appears good to go.
Yes and it does have a nice aroma and doesn't taste too acidic. Thanks for the advice I think the 4-6 hour mark is a good rule of thumb.
How a starter should look but rarely do recipes teach about how it should smell or taste. I often go by aroma which is also a good indicator. The fact that you had a taste means you're on the right track when learning about the maturity of a starter and following your instinct.
If a starter struggles with a 1:1:1 feed in 4-6 hours it is either too cold or something else is wrong. Then it'll be a good indicator it needs some TLC before using.
Is T85 a French flour and it is processed in the US?
Here are the specs:
Product Specifications
Protein / 12.5%**
Ash / 0.85%
Blend / Organic Hard Red Winter and Hard Red Spring Wheat
Flour Treatment / Malted with Organic
Thanks for the info. I wasn't questioning the spec of the flour, I was just curious as I don't know much about other flours other than those available locally. I know those T flours are from France and there is a US website that sells them directly imported from France. Anyhow, I think we are on the same camp in terms of getting our young starters going, as mine is just 2 weeks old (I have been baking with instant yeast for a while).