Hello from Toronto

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Nicola on 12 Oct 2011 at 17:16

Just discovered this great site a few days ago. Nice to know that there are other passionate bread bakers out there! Maybe some of you can answer some of the questions I have, as I continue to experiment with sourdough -- which I have just begun to delve into, after many years of baking just standard whole wheat loaves using commercial yeast. Creating a yeasted bread out of nothing but flour and water is a whole new amazing experience ... co-workers and friends are enjoying all the experiments so far!

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CanuckJim on 13 Oct 2011 at 12:34

Nicola,

I'm to the north and east of the city.  You'll find there's a fairly substantial representation of the GTA on this great forum.  Check previous threads and posts, and you'll likely get your questions answered.  If not, ask away.

CJ

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Nicola on 15 Oct 2011 at 20:06

Thanks for the warm welcome, CJ. Do you do sourdough, or use commercial yeast? My most pressing question really concerns sourdough.

Nicola

Welcome to the site Nicola. I look forward to seeing your baking. I think you will find TFL a friendly place to learn about sourdough, I know I did when I first started a few years ago.

Eric

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum. As it turns out, I DO have a question. It's born of thriftiness, really. I just can't bear to throw anything out, especially good ingredients. So how do people handle all the doubling if they don't want to throw out half of the dough each time they refresh it? Any suggestions?

Nicola

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CanuckJim on 16 Oct 2011 at 12:34

Nicola,

I use both wild yeast starter and commercial yeast, depending on what I'm after.  I think it's good practice to learn how to use both.  Far as cutting your starter in half before feeding, there are several things you can do with the leftover: 1. begin another culture based on whole wheat or rye, 2. use the unrefreshed starter in things like pancakes, waffles, muffins and so on, just subtract the flour and water in it from the original recipe.  Still, you'll be discarding some, unless you have a really big fridge and really big bowls to store it in.  At some point, you'll get into a rather worrisome geometric progression.

CJ 

I like your ideas about using the unrefreshed half of the starter. You're right I'll still have a problem unless I can figure out a way to slow my production down a bit. But your suggestions will help.

Nicola