Sourdough advice

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Bellaistheman on 30 Jul 2017 at 13:32

hi, I would love any advice on sourdough starters. Mainly caring for it. I've done reading and it's mentioned feeding it once a week with sugar, washing it, throwing half away ( why?!). It is starting to intimidate me. I've got the starter done and want to treat it right, so any insight would be appreciated! Thank you! Jenn

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Lechem on 30 Jul 2017 at 13:37

There's no one way too keep a starter. Ask two bakers and get three answers. You can get lots of advice out there (here) and it can get confusing. Best to treat all the advice as ideas and find your own way to suit your needs. 

So how often do you bake? 

I have a large family, 11 at a normal meal. Could easily go through a couple of loaves a day. Ideally I'd like to have a couple of different starters at any given time. I'd love to be able to throw a loaf of 2 in each day. But like I mentioned, it's starting to be daunting and i feel like I need to be basic and easy until I am confident in that. I have a loaf in the oven now and am confused as to how to process with the starter. 

Can be a bit of a juggling act. Perfectly OK if you wish to go down that route but you wish for less complicated not more! 

I can come up with an idea but that doesn't mean anyone else won't have a better idea. You can try one and go onto another if you wish. 

I'm sure you now what a Levain is. An off shoot starter made from a mother culture. This mother culture will be your starter and from that you build off shoot starters (Levains) building to different requirements. 

You only need to keep a small amount of starter. Then when you wish to bake just take a little off and build a Levain with the flour and hydration you need for another recipe. 

The mother starter sits in the fridge all the while you're building these Levains. When the mother starter runs low just take it out and feed it. Return it to the fridge where it can stay for another week or two.  

This is the most popular method. 

I've never given my starter sugar. That seems odd.

I keep my starter in a yogurt container in the fridge. Every few weeks if I haven't baked with it I pull out a tablespoon or so, stir it into about a half a cup of water, add about a half a cup (perhaps a little more if it is too batter-y) flour, stir it up, put it back in fridge. The rest of what was in the yogurt container prior I toss out. That tends to be all it takes to keep it living.

And multiply by 2 for each time you didn't toss out half. In a little while you'd have enough starter to fill your house , a few weeks later the city the milky way etc. Its just math, the other option is to bake something with the discarded starter but you probably don't want to bake every time. Some people use the discarded starter to add to pancakes since they can be prepared quickly but that's the reason, you are replacing half with new food for the culture and the math of squares is the simple reason - you want to maintain a small volume of starter ;)