Sourdough Starter - How To Know When Ready?
Hello,
I made a sourdough starter at about two and a half weeks ago (i think the 18 of July) and it was pretty smooth. it's pretty hot where I live so it was the perfect (i think) conditions for it. It grew very nicely.
I started it with whole wheat. It was 280g total. I fed it every 24 hours. Would throw way 140g and put 70g whole wheat and 70g water.
It was this way for about one week and then I heard it's better to do 50-50 regular flour and whole wheat so I did this since then.
At the start of this week, I saw someone saying you should slowly lower the amount of starter so I'm doing this in the past few days until I'll have 25g of starter and would feed it 100g of flour and 100g water.
ANYWAY! I finally want to make some bread but I don't really know if it's ready and how to.
I made a levain with 45g of the starter and 90g of the flour mixture and 90g of water. it's almost three hours since and this is what it looks like (the rubber band is where it started).
I also fed the starter at the same time.
Is this good?
Can I use this levain to make bread now or do I need to wait more?
From all I said - am I doing anything terribly wrong?
Thanks!
I'm assuming it's the one on the left?
Looks great to me. I'd use it. Take a teaspoon of the starter and gently drop it into a glass of water - does it float?
If it does then that is a sure way to know it's ready.
So what are you baking with it today?
Yes. It's the left one. And it's floating. But really, it's not a levain, right? I think I simply made another starter ?'. Im new to this so I don't really know what I'm doing..... Levain is more liquid no?
Do you know any recipe that doesn't take two days to make bread? I have less than 24 hours. I know it's not gonna be "true" sourdough but for now this is what I got.
...and a levain is fermented flour and water. Both a starter and a levain can be any hydration. If it's a levain or a starter more comes down to how you maintain and use a starter. Think of a levain as an off-shoot starter if you will.
Very easy to make a bread within 24 hours if you have enough starter or levain ready to go.
And yes it will be a true sourdough. A sourdough is a bread leavened with natural wild yeasts and bacteria.
In a different thread I attempt to layout the distinctions between starter, levain and a levain bread. The comment was in answer to a question about how and why I have a line in my formula sheet as it is, but I believe that this will make some sense to you.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54603/hamelman-baker’s-percentages#comment-394840
looks pretty good to me...if it floats its ready however be very careful as its the gas that keeps it afloat. I always dip a small spoon into water and then use it to slip a small amount of starter into glass...(it prevents sticking...) i also use warmish water...
I agree that your starter looks fine to use. And why not try it anyway? What is the worst that could happen? In the world of baking, we all learn from experience.
What recipe will you be using? There is a nice 1-2-3 sourdough recipe for people starting out along the sourdough road. It was posted fairly recently (do a search of 1-2-3 sourdough on TFL and you will find it), and the results were very good.
Happy baking.
I used the recipe but for some reason it didn't rise so much.
It was really tasty and nice but pretty dense. I did as the recipe said. reasons?
Looks to me like your starter could do with being a liiiittle bit more active. Mine grows to about 2.5-3x original size.
Also it could be your bread should have proofed more. Or, you didn't use enough starter.
I use around 100g starter (50/50) with 300g water and 380g flour for my bread.