October 26, 2023 - 3:40pm
Stiff Starter Question
I have tried to make stiff starters having a dough-like consistency, say 60% hydration, but ultimately proteolysis sets in and the starter liquefies by the next day.
Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong?
It is well documented that the old sourdough bakeries used to refresh their stiff starters about every 8 hours but this is not feasible given the small quantities of starter I actually use. The old bakeries were basically baking 24/7.
Thank you
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Keep it in the refrigerator after the refreshment becomes active. That's what I do with my 100% hydration culture, which would be even more prone to soupification.
TomP
It depends on your feeding ratio and whether your starter already has established sourdough microflora. Both wrong bacteria and excess acid liquefy those wheat proteins which are acid and water soluble. Excess acid comes from feeding starters too little food (fresh dough).
Once your stiff starter is ready, you can keep about 50g of it at room temperature, feeding it once a day 1:20 (2.5g s+30g f+20g w, these numbers are for whole wheat and whole rye flour starters, in my case). I kept mine in little yogurt jars like that for a while and the starters never softened, let alone liquefied, even when kept at 80-85F/27-30C for 24hrs.
For lower room temperatures, please see feeding ratios that Jeffrey Hamelman uses for his small ball of stiff starter fed once a day (40-50g of starter).
Just keep it healthy. I'm on a 3-5 day schedule and feed enough to last. Give or take is a rule of thumb. Enjoy!
As per Marina's post above about Hamelman's method.
I feed it every day at about 7 am and it lives on our kitchen counter. The amount of water and culture varies slightly over the seasons. It never goes in the refrigerator. I only use stone milled whole rye. I usually elaborate some to a white liquid levain over two feeds.
During the warmer weather the outside of the culture ball gets a bit white which is normal. It's just telling you it's hungry.
Feeding every day isn't practical because I don't bake every day. I won't use up any starter on days I don't bake and will eventually wind up with a surplus of unused starter. Think about it.
I don't see a way around this dilemma.
I have thought about it. I don't bake everyday either. The amount of discard is about 35-grams repurposed into the compost. When I build a liquid levain there is no discard/waste.
Do you have any particular reason not storing your starter in the fridge? After feeding I always end up with 40 grams of starter, with 1-2 g of discard each weekly feeding. I maintain 50% hydration whole wheat starter, 2 hours room temperature ferment then straight to fridge. It smells nicely alcoholic, sometimes levain created with it smells like donut shop lol
Once established, I make a batch and then use it down to the amount needed for a refresh. Good for at least a couple weeks stored in the fridge. No waste. No daily babysitting.
Gavin - How often do ya bake? Enjoy!