June 17, 2020 - 8:01am
Starter mistake
Hi guys
i'm fairly new here and new to baking. I have a question.
I had my sourdough starter in the refrigerator and took it out yesterday @ 8PM to feed. I was planning on making bread today, but realized that I put my fed starter right back into the fridge right after feeding it!
My question is: it seems like the starter didn't rise at all overnight, and I am wondering if I should wait for the starter to rise before feeding it today or should I feed the starter again now (it is 8AM now)
Thank you!
Share
I would let is rise at room temp today and watch its activity. I would not do another feeding since the starter didn't get a chance to 'eat' the last one. You just put it to sleep before it had a chance to rise! You will probably have to repeat the feed tonight if your baking schedule calls for you to start the dough in the AM. You can also do a 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 feed in the evening, which buys you a little more time (if you starter is really active and will rise and fall before you wake up). Good luck!
Thank you.
So i ended up putting 100g of the starter in another jar and fed it, but i left the other one to see if it rises until the evening and fed it at 8PM. The starter that i fed right after taking it out of the fridge is very active and stays pretty active until the next feed, where as the one that I left alone takes longer to rise and i believe falls quicker too. Would you know what is going on and which starter is better to use? Thanks!
Hello,
I have a 100 % hydration starter. on day 7 i botched up my starter. Usually i remove 4 oz of starter add 2 oz flour and 2 oz water. on day 7 i do not remember how much starter i removed, so i eye balled it.
Now the starter doubled, now what do i do ?
A feed is a feed. As long as it matures, bubbles and looks there's no such thing as botched up a feed. Eyeballing a feed is fine. Sounds like it's ready to bake with.
thank you for your reply. I am still not ready to bake at the moment. Do i continue feeding it ? IF SO, do i remove half of whats in my jar and equal parts flour and water. (ex: 8 oz starter, remove 4 add 2 oz flour and 2 oz water, correct ?
I'd a 1:2:2 feed...
Total = 7.5 oz (near enough to what you've been keeping). Nice healthy feed. See how it reacts. If it bubbles up and peaks within 12 hours then repeat this feed twice a day. If for any reason it slows down then slow down the feeds as well. Any problems ask first and never try to discard and feed more to try and "wake it up".
Keep the discard in the fridge as back up and only throw away (or use it up in another recipe) once you see all is going smoothly.
oooouuuufffff thank you so much for your patience with me on this matter.
As you can tell this is my first attempt in sourdough starter.
I didn't realize I could switch feeding methods. Is that OK ?
If it bubbles up and peaks within 12 hours, how often do I need to feed it twice a day ?
When you say slow down the feed you mean 1:1:1 again ?
Keeping a back up starter is a wise recomendation
Thank you !!!
I doubt any two bakers keep their starter exactly the same way. I rarely stick to a regimented feed and eyeball a lot of the time. As long as its getting a healthy feed and you're waiting till it matures before feeding again then it'll be fine.
If it peaks within 12 hours then feed twice a day at 12 hourly intervals.
If for whatever reason it slows down or stops then you wait until it has peaked or even skip feeds until it has matured. Feeding extra to wake it up just slows it down. Feed according to the rhythm of the starter.
If your starter is eating through the feed fast then feed it more. If it is struggling with larger feeds then feed it less until it picks up strength again.
can you please explain:
1- healthy feed
2- mature before feeding - define what mature is
3-eating through the feed
OK if it peaks within 12 hrs and I feeltwice a day at 12 hr intervals, when do I stop feeding it and put in the fridge.
thank you
1: 4oz + 2oz + 2oz, aka 2:1:1, is what you've been doing. 1.5oz + 3oz + 3oz, aka 1:2:2, is a healthier feed. A feed of 1:1:1 or higher would be considered a healthy feed. If your starter is strong the feeds should match. When creating the starter it needs food but it's trying to ferment so smaller feeds are fine. However once your starter is strong enough the feeds should increase.
2: Fed and active! No point in feeding again before it's had a chance to bubble up. The further along it is the more mature it is. The desired maturity is often when it's peaked. Can be used in a bread earlier or later depending on the desired results for a more or less tangy bread.
3: See 2.
Once you feel your starter is doing well it can be refrigerated. Or better still once you have baked successfully with it so it's proved itself. At this young stage it can only do it good if you can keep feeding it for as long as possible. Best time to refrigerated in my opinion is when active but before it begins to fall. Feed at least once a week come what may (if you can). I don't but it's always good advice. My starter does well but then again it's quite a few years old and I know it's capabilities.
very interesting !!!.
How do you know so much ?
ALSO,
Once refegerated, do i need the starter to be room temperature before feeding. And once fed, do i need it to also be room temperature before I put it back in the fridge
Thank y ou
Doesn't really matter how much. It depends on how much starter you want, how long you're going to leave it to mature, how warm/cold it is etc. For now concentrate on making your starter then follow recipes to learn techniques. It comes with practice.
The common practice/advice is to allow the starter to come to room temperature but I don't bother. By the time you have fed it with fresh flour and warm water (even room temperature water) I think it makes no difference. Even if it does then what's the difference if you wait for it to warm up then feed or feeding and it'll warm up in it's own time and begin to bubble up when ready? Either way one thinks about it I haven't noticed any issues with feeding it straight from the fridge. Inevitably it's got more fresh water and and flour to starter ratio in any case. It'll quickly bring it up to temperature.
When feeding to return to the fridge. I think it's best to wait for it to be active then refrigerate. Just don't allow it to go past peaking. If it's doubled but not yet peaked then ok to refrigerate. Quite often i'll do a starter build overnight, use what I need and then return the rest to the fridge. So it's very active by then.
I would like to thank you for the time you took for all my questions.
You have been extremely helpful.
I will take into consideration all your recomendations and hopefully a good starter will come out of all this.
Have yourself a wonderful day.
Italia Mirijello
All this theory sounds complicated but it isn't. When you start baking with it before long it'll become second nature.
Best of luck.
Good morning Abe,
Hope you had a good evening.
Well I did what you recommended. AND, it doubled within a couple of hours. I also did not throw away my discard, just in case.
NOW WHAT ??? lol
Do I continue feeding it the same 1.5-3-3 before baking a bread ??
what do you recommend.
Continue to feed your starter at 12 hourly intervals but let's increase the feed to 1:3:3.
Bigger feed. See how that goes.
When you want to bake try the following recipe and use some of the discard of your current feed to build the levain...
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/vermont-sourdough-recipe
So switch to the higher feed and tonight build the levain when feeding again.
Or another option would be to do a 1:3:3 starter feed now and when doubled put it in the fridge. Tonight take off what you need to build the levain. Your starter sounds healthy enough now and you can take a break while you try your first bread.
How did I get so lucky to come across a person who can be so helpful with my first experience in sourdough starters.
I can't begin to thank you enough.
So last night i did:
1.5/3/3
now I take 1 oz of this starter and add 3 water, 3 flour.
Do i feed with any particular flour type ?
I have 2 starters going; 1 with whole wheat and the other with unbleached all purpose flour.
But all my feeding I use unbleached all purpose flour.
Once your starter is strong it doesn't really matter what you feed it. AP, bread or whole wheat flour. Although it can only do good to get some wholegrain in the feeds.
Yes, 1oz starter + 3oz water + 3oz flour. Allow to double then refrigerate. When it comes to building the levain just dip into it and take off however much you need.
If this all goes to plan then we can formulate a maintenance plan.
your the best thank you
Can i change flour in feedings ?
i've been feeding only unbleached all purpose.
My husband just sent me a picture of the starter, apparently it blew over.
Tell me thats a good thing please.............
AP, Bread, Whole-Wheat, Rye... your starter will do fine with them all. My starter is fine with all flours. Once it sulked for 1 day after being fed rice flour but I left it alone and after a lag time of 24 hours it bubbled up and was as strong as ever. But certainly all types of wheat and rye and you'll have no problems.
If your starter has burst it's banks again perhaps you're keeping too much for the jar it's in. Once you're baking with it only build and keep about 80-100g max at any one time in a small jar. No need to keep 100's of grams. With a small amount of starter you can build a large amount of levain.
A total of 100 grams (started, flour and water combined) ?
Evening if it burst over, Do i still start feeding it 1:3:3, and for how long.
Please let me know if I'm being annoying with all these questions
I'll try to make this an easy method. Find a small jar and give it a very good clean. Take a 18g of your very active starter and feed it 36g water + 36g flour. Allow it to double then refrigerate. A 1:2:2 feed shouldn't take too long. 4-6 hours give or take. You will now have 90g starter.
Use up all your discard in other recipes. From now on you will not be building much, if any, discard.
When it comes to baking take however much you need off to build a levain. Your starter will remain in the fridge. When your starter runs low, take it out of the fridge, give it a feed, allow it to bubble up and then put it back in the fridge. And the process starts over again. For now feed it weekly come what may. If you find you are still discarding then keep less. But allowing it to run low and then topping it up allows for a good feed, not building too much and keeping discard down.
Another way would be to build a little extra levain and that bit extra you keep as starter for next time instead of always keeping your starter separate. Only thing you need to remember is to always keep some back.
Until you start using your starter to bake with it's all theory and will sound complicated. That's why it will be good for you to find a recipe and stick to it till you've perfected the starter maintenance and method. That's the best way to understand the process.
Eventually you won't be bogged down by all these ratios and numbers. You'll see it's running low and you will feed it by eyeballing it.
These are my 2 starters.
Fed this morning at 8:00 am by 12 o'clock this is what they look like.
What do you think, do they look OK ?
they have doubled within 4 hours
I'm going to PM you my email address. Will be easier.
my email adress is:
ita@transcanada.ca
You can now delete your email address for privacy. You have a private message page. On the front page on the top right hand corner there should be a tab for messages. But i'll email you now.
Floyd, can you enable Italia to edit her posts to be able to delete her email address?
Thank you.
P.s. I've written to her already so if possible can you delete her post in which her email address appears? Don't think it should be available for everyone to see.
Hello Abe,
Sorry about not responding.
We've had major problems here and we keep on loosing our internet. So please bear with me.
As for deleting my email adress. How do I do that.
No problem at all. Whenever you have sorted things out.
You will need to write to Floyd at floydm@thefreshloaf.com and ask him to enable your account so you can receive messages and edit your comments. New accounts don't have this feature till it's turned on.
If you are in Italy, you are having a severe heat wave at the moment.
Hello and No I'm not in italy, I'm in Canada - Montreal-Quebec
lol