My rye starter is too demandin . I am learning to make my first sourdough . Everyday for 3 nights and 2 mornings 12 hrs apart I am feeding the starter while I get the nerve to try baking. I took it out of the fridge and want to put it back in so that when I take it out next time I may not have all the extra feeding and instead can build a levain (?) to use not discard into the fridge--again!! I have soo much discard in the fridge.
Can I use the discard for a pizza dough assuming I find a recipe? How long will it keep? Is it like I have more starters in there that I can potentially activate? The more freshly put discard is probably the healthier one?
More importantly, what can I do now(!) to put my starter in the fridge, (far away from the counter top!!!,) so that it is easy to maintain and use more quickly possibly without all the waste??
I tried to read thru NoMessNoFuss but I need help.
I have 130g starter that is being fed 130gwater and 130gflour. After I feed this it easily about doubles. Do I bring it back to 130g and then what? How to make it a happy hibernator? & a happy caretaker-me?!
Later my question will be aftrr I take it out of the fridge how quickly it can be used in case I need to bake 2days after I put it in but dont want it on the counter. I see some people keep a very tiny amount also.
The first thing you need to do is chill lol. Your blood pressure must be through the roof. I'm sure the experts on here will have a chuckle or two. Why are you feeding it so often and if it's so new why is it in the fridge? If you cut back on the amount you feed it you won't have so much to discard. Are you storing all your discard in the fridge?
yes you can make pizzas bases with it there's a recipe on here. Perhaps you could post a photo of your starter so that we can see how active it is.
... to maintain a starter: Here is what I do.
Starters live in the fridge. They go into the fridge after I've used them although I now wait a few hours after topping up the jar.
I sometimes use directly from the jar in the fridge, but that seems too radical for some, so... Say I'm making a large loaf where I need 150g starter. Mid afternoon, I'll take about 30g from the jar in the fridge, add to that 60g flour and 60g water, mix it up and leave it covered for a few hours. At the same time top-up the jar in the fridge - 15g flour, 15g water. Leave that out for a few hours then back into the fridge. Later that evening add this to 500g flour and about 285g water plus 8g salt. Mix and knead and leave in a cool place overnight (about 18°C) In the morning, tip it out, give it a stretch & fold, rest, shape, and leave to prove in a banneton/basket, tin, then after 1-2 hours into a hot oven to bake.
The starter lives on in the fridge for days, weeks without needing any attention.
Although for the above loaf, I'd simply take 150g starter from the jar in the fridge and carry on - to replace that 150g, it's 75g flour + 75g water.
It's rare for me to make a single loaf these days (baking bread is now a good part of my income and I'm making up to 200 a week), but the same principles apply. Last night I needed nearly 2.5Kg of levian, so I took 490g starter from the fridge, (which only contains about 550g) added to this 780g flour & 780g water. I topped up the jar with 250g flour + 250g water and left it in the bench. This was at about 3:30pm. By 7:30pm I put the jar back in the fridge and the new levian was used to ferment that nights mix & knead.
I also made 4 spelt loaves from 330g starter directly from its jar in the fridge - I just topped it up, left it out for the hour I was doing the mix & knead and put it back in the fridge.
This morning (starting at 5:30am) I scaled, shaped and proofed the breads, then baked them. They were all out of the oven by 8:30am. I also made up some standard yeasted "not cross buns" and had them baked and into the shop by just after 9am.
Now my starter jars are snoozing in the fridge until Monday afternoon when I'll repeat the process...
For the occasional 2-3 loaves a week then the no muss method looks like an easy way once you get into the swing of it. It's well worth reading it again.
See my way in pictures here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44111/easy-sourdough-part-1
-Gordon