Unexpected outcome of an experiment...
My starter has been slumbering away in the back of the fridge since before Thanksgiving and I figured it was time to revive it again. This is not at all uncommon and I have never had any trouble waking it up. I usually keep about 2 cups in a crock with a loose-fitting lid, and I dump half and add 6 oz. each of water and flour to feed it. Then repeat until it peaks within 4 hours and back to the fridge. This technique is a tad wasteful, to say the least.
This time I decided to try an experiment a la Dabrownman: You write frequently of doing progressive builds, starting with very tiny amounts of your culture and growing up to the amount needed for your recipe. So I decided to start with 40g each of starter, flour, and water, then 80g each, and 160g each until I had my two cups back.
The first day went as planned with each addition four hours apart. Just before bedtime I had nearly 2 cups of nice bubbly culture. I wanted to see what happened if I repeated it a second day. The same thing happened, and the yeast became even more active. But I noticed that in using this feeding schedule the strong alcoholic smell I am used to is almost completely gone. There is a very decidedly yeasty smell to the culture and is is clearly vigorous and rarin' to go, but it just doesn't smell "sour" any more.
Does this schedule tend to favor the yeast over the LAB? Is this why you do such long cold retards - to allow the LAB to catch up to the yeast? It's been in the fridge for almost 48 hours now since the last feed. I'm hoping the boozy smell will return by the next time I open the lid.
--Mike
it ends up too thin, you aren't building it at 92 F and I bet it is white flour too. To get a sour starter use whole rye or wheat.
Start with 4 g of starter and do 8, 16 and 32 g flour builds with equal amounts of water the first 2 builds but only use 12 g of water for build 3 to get it stiff at 66% hydration. Do all builds at 92 F. Once it rises 25% after the 3rd feeding then retard it for 8 weeks. This will give you enough starter using 10 g a week for the next 9 weeks before refreshing again. It will get more sour as time goes on.
To build a levain for a loaf of bread, do the same process at 92 F using the bran only, not whole grain, but use 32 g of water for the 3rd build. Once it doubles then retard the levain for 24 - 48 hours before using.
This gives you a levain at 100% hydration that will be sour. Once it doubles then you will have 116 g of sour starter that has 58 g of pre-fermented flour in it - perfect for a loaf of bread that has 580 total flour in it which will also be sour and even more so if you the dough work at 92 F out of the fridge and then retard it at 36 F for 21 hours before final shape and proof at 92 F. Perfect for whole grain and rye breads - my particular favorite or for white breads to make them more sour.
If you build a 3 stage starter and then a 3 stage levain from it at room temperature using white flour, 6 feedings in 24 - 48 hours, you are promoting yeast over LAB so the sour is being taken out of the equation. The more times you divide and feed it in a short amount of time, the less sour it becomes. You end up with weakly sour SFSD style starter, levain and bread or exactly what i do to make panettone - even less sour than white SD bread. Most people prefer less sour bread by a wide margin - this would be perfect for them
From what I can tell you got exactly what I would expect. The NMNF starter is meant to get rid of all waste and makes a more sour starter totaling a small amount but one that can last 24 weeks in the fridge with no maintenance.
The NMNF starter will also make a sweet levain if a tiny bit is fed 3 times with white flour at room temperature or a vigorous, even more sweet, panettone levain if fed 6 times the same way over a short time - which makes it versatile as well
I like having one starter that does everything from weak to strong sour, using any kind of flour, with no waste and little effort - really a godsend if you like all kinds of breads, only bake 1 loaf a week, don't want the waste, don't have time or don't want to be tied down by starter maintenance issues - or just plain lazy like me:-)
It is the bran in whole grains and high temperatures, or low temperatures without feeding for a very, very long time, that really promote sour.
Happy SD baking
I just made my first starter and will be baking my first loaf after a 2 week rest in the fridge. I can't believe how much info I'm processing daily before my first sourdough bake. I'll need to make a more sophisticated proofing box than my heating pad in a cooler before I can attempt your kung fu.