i have made my own sourdough starter, as well as used the one from King Arthur. Question: I waste more flour keeping the starters going then I use to make bread. (Even though the bread is delicious.) So, I want to give up on the starters. Can I just substitute yeast for any recipe that calls for a sourdough starter?
Yes, though the timing will be different. In terms of keeping starter, I understand your complaint, though I think that is a problem in part due to the many instructions for making and refreshing starter which call for large amounts. I normally keep 15 grams of starter, but sometimes as little as 5 grams, so there is not a lot of waste . If my recipe calls for 15 grams of starter, I take out the 15 grams that are in the fridge, discard 5, add 10 water , 10 grams flour, stir, then divide 15 grams sits on the counter an hour then goes back into the fridge, the other 15 stays on the counter till it is ready to go into the recipe , normally the next morning. So my waste was only 5 grams.
thats a good idea, thanks.
Dabrownman has a method for zero waste of your starter. It is a method that has been widely adopted by users of this site. It's just about as low maintenance as you can get. He's a weekend baker, so it's especially great for those who don't bake every day, but works for those who bake more often as well.
NFNM stands for "no muss no fuss".
Monica, I forgot to add that if you substitute yeast for starter, you will need to add flour and water to the recipe as well. If the recipe calls for 50 grams of 100% hydration starter, you would need to add 25 grams of flour and 25 grams of water, as well as the yeast.
Great, that will be very helpful. Thanks.
NMNF is one. Another is keeping an amount of starter that's in line with how much you use. In my case, I usually use 100 or 120 gm. I keep 150. It's 100% hydration so when I use 100 gm, I add 50 gm flour and 50 gm water to the 50 gm of starter that's left in the jar, leave it out for a while, and put it in the fridge before it peaks.
This differs from NMNF in that my starter goes right into my dough instead of being a mother that's used to create a levain / production starter that goes into the dough. As a result, the timing is different.
If you bake more than about once a week, I suspect you can find a method that lets you bake SD within how you want to bake without creating waste.
You can make breads with the same range of different hydrations, and different proportions of different flours.
Still, my preference when I'm in a non-sourdough phase is to just switch over mentally to recipes that use pre-ferments. That way I can benefit from the added time flexibility (from not having to respect sourdough's growth paths) and get a different kind of flavor depth. As Barry says, timings are different, and a lot of the craft is in timing.
the reason you state - way way too much waste and I hate food waste of any kind. The 2nd reason was that I wanted a way that also had no maintenance for almost half a year. it could just sit in the fridge and I could use it when I wanted - every Tuesday or Wednesday - and I was not tied to it ,,,it would be tied to me and my schedule. The 3rd and most important reason is that it makes more sour bread which means it makes better bread for my tastes but it can make the least sour bread too.
Here is the link
No Muss No Fuss Starter
Thank you all for the helpful ideas. I knew y'all would have answers!