December 20, 2021 - 8:15am
Rye Sourdough UNFED STARTER
Yay, happy today. Made a rye/wheat mix bread today, I was in a hurry and thought "heck just try". So used unfed starter and put it straight into the mix. Did folds every 30mins, for about 2hrs, then bulk fermentation for 4 hrs, shaped and left in fridge for about 14hrs. It turned out really nicely, I think ;) Anyone experimented with non fed starter? It does speed the process up a lot and might be a nice option every now and then - was I just lucky and beginners luck or just the rye or is there actually a chance that this would work with other sourdoughs too?
Happy about any input!!
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Certainly. Unfed starter is fine to use. However the longer it's been unfed the more acidity it will have built up and more gluten breakdown. Plus, an overly mature starter won't produce as tasty results. So using unfed starter is absolutely fine and i've done it many times myself. However the longer it's been unfed for the less should be used for better results. And of course the less that's used the longer the ferment. If you use hundreds if grams of starter that's overly mature in one loaf then everything will be off. Poor gluten formation, overly acidic bread, won't rise properly etc. Something to bear in mind. If you're talking about 3 days since it's last feed and it's been in the fridge then that'll be fine. If you're talking weeks then really drop it down to a small percentage.
Nice looking loaf. Looks very tasty. Has a good crumb and a lovely colour.
Thanks for that.The starter was in the fridge, fed 2 days earlier, so I suppose that is why I got lucky, cause the taste is fine. Will definitely not make this the regular routine, but it was a fun experiment ;)
About 18 months ago I reached back into the refrigerator and pulled out my starter for a bake. It was 100% hydration and 100% AP flour. It was also unfed for either 3 or 4 weeks. And the bake went off just fine. Especially with a whole grain type starter you too should be just fine, as is clearly evidenced here.
If you care to see what one can do with a long neglected starter, here is some evidence that it will bake up just fine.
NICE baguettes and informative post!!