The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Building up my starte

kah22's picture
kah22

Building up my starte

I've was given a small amount of SF starter on Saturday (24g) I've split it in two giving me two lots of 12. I give it its first feed on Sunday but I'm wondering where to go now?  I now have two 36 grams of starter.

I have an idea of the basics: after the culture is alive take out X grams and replace with X grams flour plus X grams of water. Yes?  But because the amount I have is so small, weight wise,  what should I do and when should I do it? Don't bother with a discard just add in 36 grams of flour plus water? That should give me something to work with

Or proceed as normal: at the end of the week remove 18g and replace with 18g of water and 18 g flour. I would also have 36g left over

Id appreciate advice what to do now

 

Kevin

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

depends a lot on the room temperature.  You're in Ireland so it must be rather cool part of the day.  Any specifics?

The starter is getting a 1-1-1 ratio feeding which might be too litte food (flour) to feed every 24 hours. Taste it and then spit it out. What do you notice? What kind of schedule was recommended?

Got a recipe handy?  It doesn't take long to make enough starter for a recipe.  I will often take 20g and feed it 100g water and 100g flour to rise to peak in 8 to 12 hours at 23°C.  That would be a feeding ratio of 1-5-5 (starter-water-flour) 

kah22's picture
kah22

Hers what I was given

You're right it's cold, we had our first frost last night.  The starter, however, is tucked up in a cupboard with a mixture of flours in a lovely warm kitchen 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

makes a super large loaf or two loaves.  Do you also have instructions on maintaining the starter or sourdough culture?  Maintaining the culture is one project and making bread dough with the built culture (leaven) is another project. The recipe above tells how to make the leaven.  

There are many ways to maintain the living culture and keep it alive for many future breads.  Keeping in a warm cozy cupboard will keep the organisms eating and multiplying but they will run out of food quickly depending on the temperature. A warm starter culture requires more feedings several times a day even when kept small. Chilling  between feedings can slow this feeding frenzy down.  Take advantage of your refrigerator.

Since you have two small samples of culture, reduce and feed one of them, try using less water than flour to make a paste. Wait for the culture to start rising in the warm cupboard increasing the volume to about one third more or half the original just fed starter, cover with plastic wrap and loose rubber band and chill it. It should be good for a week or two without having to feed it. Again, depending on the temperature. 4°C stops it, and puts the culture more or less to sleep for several more weeks.  Label, date it as  "reserve" or "back up."  Then get on to feeding the second sample. Using part of it or most of it to make leaven and feeding (maintaining) what is left to be your main starter culture.  

When fed 1-1-1, how long does the starter take to reach maximum volume?  If the starter is thin, fed with AP and equal weights of water, it may not rise, then it might be good to reduce the amount of water in the starter to make the starter thick enough to rise, more like a soft dough. (Closer to 75 or 80% hydration.)  No need to be exact with the % because when making the leaven build, the hydration will come close to 100%.

What I usually do is add the water to the starter and stir it up then spoonful by spoonful add flour until I get a pastey soft dough. Scrape down the sides, cover and put in a warm spot to rise a bit. Then into the fridge for at least 4 days before taking a heaping spoonful out to make my leaven. The main starter stays in the fridge until it gets low, then I feed it (like making a leaven) let it rise partially and tuck it back into the refrigerator. No waste, no discarding.

From what I understand, it has only been fed twice in 5 days. Please correct.  

 

kah22's picture
kah22

Mini, thank you for your very detailed reply and  Rondayvous thank you for the comments on SF starter and the cold, certainly worth keeping in mind. No fridge then?

Mini, let me run through your reply.  There was no instructions on maintaining the culture. I have made my own Sourdough starter in the past: flour, water, and some organic fruit from my garden.  I had no difficulty keeping that culture alive, I've even got some dried and stored in a safe place.  My difficulty, no probably fear, is that with so little culture to start with I just want to be certain I'm not overdoing or underdoing it and kill the babies! That was one of the reasons I divided the culture the night I got it.

Last night I decided to feed one of the children using a ratio of 1:1:1  with the intention of giving the other small one a feed on Friday evening. The larger one did seem to have risen over night and has a few decent size bubbles but I would say it hasn't reached maximum volume yet.

I'm not to sure when was the last time it was fed but as everyone at the show was invited to take some home I'd assume the actor had to keep the starter alive. It looked like it could do with been fed so I'd guess it was probably a week before I got the starter  and I've only fed one baby. 

You were saying that there are many ways to maintain the culture and that a warm culture requires feeding twice a day, my kitchen is warm during the evening. So would it be a good idea to feed the big baby morning and late evening until it's quite strong and it's little brother about once every third day - say Monday , Wednesday and Friday or wold you suggest  a different feeding regime and when do you start discarding culture

When I'm happy with the starter I would be intending to make a whole wheat starter, but that's for another day!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I would be feeding the starter during the warmest part of the day letting the starter "coast" thru the night and morning to feed when the temps start rising and the starter tells you its time for more food.   

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

About SF starters. There seems to be a consensus that cold will kill the SF lab slowly replacing it with bacteria in your flour and kitchen. Professional bakeries keep them happy with constant feedings and a relatively warm environment.