July 13, 2010 - 6:17pm
Pineapple juice starter
I started my first sourdough starter about a year ago. I didn't want to order a starter from King Arthur I wanted to capture the wild yeast. So, I searched this sight and found the easiest starter possible using ground wheat berries and pineapple juice. It worked great and I now have a beautiful, mature starter, but it just doesn't seem to do well if I don't feed it with pineapple juice. I would really like to feed it with stuff like flour,sugar and water, but it refuses to double when I do. Any suggestions?
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Hi Renee,
Here's the link to Debra Wink's thread on using pineapple juice when creating a sourdough culture.
Sourdough cultures are refreshed with flour and water. No sugar.
Hope that reading through that thread helps.
I didn't mean to add sugar in there. I did read that article and I have a very active culture, but as soon as I start trying to switch from pineapple juice to flour and water, it doesn't seem to grow nearly as well, and I'm assuming its an issue with pH. Could it be that its just getting a boost from the extra sugars in the juice. Should I just take it off of pineapple juice cold turkey and feed it three times a day with flour and water at 100% hydration to get it more to be more active? Right now, I'm feeding it twice a day, once with flour and water and once with flour and pineapple juice and keep in mind, its over a year old. But, it makes beautiful bread with a very pleasant sourdough flavor, its definitely very yeasty and has the right smell; a little of alcohol, a little of bread.
over several feedings cutting it in half every second time until the sugar is no longer. Then feed regularly and watchthe yeasts build up. The trick would be to stay on a schedule and not waver. The yeast will come around to your demands. Soon those that can live without the sugar reproduce and survive to the next feeding.
More detail about your feedings would be welcome.
Mini
I have it in a 2 quart container and there is usually about 1.5 qt of it at any given time. I feed it about 15-20g of flour and pineapple juice 2-3 a day. I have it out all of the time; its easier to obsess over it that way.
and the calories missing in the flour is in the sugar or juice. You will need to increase the flour amout when cutting out the sugars.
Mini
How often do you bake? If you are baking less than daily, I think your starter is not getting enough use. I have a 5 year old starter that lives in my refrigerator and if I bake once weekly, it is perfectly happy being revived with two refreshments before baking. Baking more often might allow even less refreshments. If you are using for baking less than daily, you might try storing in the frig.
I do only use it about twice a week.
I have the same starter since last summer and bake about once a week with it, but I make sure to feed it every five to seven days. I use about one heaping tablespoon of whole rye flour, plus about a cup and a half of unbleached white KA flour with enough bottled water (Sparkletts or Arrowhead) to make a very thick slurry out of it. I find the bit of rye flour keeps the action better. Occasionally I will also dose it when feeding with a couple teaspoons of cider (not white) vinegar, but I do this more in the winter than the summer, when the kitchen is warmer. It seems happy on the tile countertop in my kitchen and I don't refrigerate it. It's the best starter I've ever made.
Now that you mention it, I may try a little rye. I have some berries I can mill. As I recall, It used to do quite well on rye. Maybe that will help me wean it off the juice.