August 1, 2022 - 6:26am
How Soon Can I use Starter
I am new to sourdough baking and have the first of what could become many questions!!
I prepared a starter, fed it for the last time last evening and and it then doubled in size. However, 2 hours later and by the time I was ready to use it it had subsided again and so I fed it again. It then doubled in size once more and a teaspoon of it then floated in tepid water.
Was it OK to then use it only 2 hours after refreshing it?
Share
History of starter and feeds your giving it.
I started Day 1 with 50gm stoneground rye flour and added 50gm tepid water. Then days 2-5 inclusive added 25gm rye flour and 25gm tepid water. Day 6 the same feed in the early evening and by bedtime had a very active starter. But by the morning it had subsided. Fed again with 50gm rye flour and 50gm water and 2 hours later had a very active starter again. This is when I decided to try it and see what happened.
The feed has been smaller.
Day 1: 50g flour + 50g water
Day 2: 100g starter + 25g water + 25g flour
Day 3: 150g starter + 25g water + 25g flour
etc.
So even when you fed it 50g water + 50g flour you had amassed a lot of starter and given it a poor feed.
Making a starter this way is ok in helping it to ferment by giving it a small feed however you now wish to keep your starter healthy by switching to better feeds.
How about for the next day or two try the following feed:
25g starter + 50g water + 50g flour.
Each day keep 25g and feed again and the 100g excess add it to what you have in the fridge.
Should it bubble up within 12 hours the feed twice a day. If not, and it takes longer, then once a day until it speeds up and you can get two feeds in one day. Once your starter is bubbling up on cue then try a bake.
For now take off 25g and store the rest in the fridge as back up. Should it go well then use up the discard in other recipes or throw it away. You can make yeasted bread and replace some of the flour and water with discard starter until you're ready to make a 100% sourdough with this off-shoot starter.
Thank you for that extremely helpful reply. I shall start again as you suggest
Not starting again, all you're doing is taking 25g off and giving it a few healthier feeds.
The rest of the starter you have just store in the fridge. Once you see your off-shoot starter is going well then use up that starter in the fridge. Adding it to yeasted breads for flavour, waffles, pancakes, banana bread etc.
What does your starter smell like? Nice and yeasty?
Yes. The starter smelt very nice and yeasty. I'll let you know how I get on but it will be a few more days before I try another loaf. Would you recommend that I use a different flour to rye?
Very hardy and needs less TLC than other flours. If you can keep it a rye starter.