Levain Build Amount & Adapting for Various Recipes
Hi All –
Couple questions for the knowledgeable here. I am a newb to the whole sourdough situation and wanted to try and wrap my head around a few things before I took the dive (which I am excited to do).
1. Leavin/Starter Quantity
– I know this is a topic of discussion around here but am having trouble finding the exact answer. I am currently working out of Ken Forkish's FWSY. I know he says it is possible to half the amount of the flour used when you start feeding the levain by half and only use 50g of active levain, but could I half everything from the very beginning of the build (Day 1)? He starts everything off with 500g of flour and 500g of water, could I reduce that to 250g of each?
– The second part of this question would be that if I am only maintaining half of the levain at all times, does that mean I would only be able to bake one loaf at a time since most of his recipes all call for 100g active levain to make 2 loafs?
2. Using my starter for other recipes
– Say I build my starter using the Forkish method, but then I want to bake a bread from Nancy Silverton's Breads from La Brea Bakery–they are different hydration levels–would I be able to adjust my starter quick enough to do that or I would I need to maintain separate starters?
Thanks for taking the time to read through this–and happy to elaborate or answer any questions you might have about my questions!