Hello, I am new to this wonderful site so I apologize if this question has been answered before. I just made my 1st sourdough starter and since I can only bake on the weekends I have it in the refrigerator. My question is, if i want to bake on Saturdays or Sundays, what is the process of getting my refrigerated starter ready to use in my weekend baking. What day do I remove my starter from the fridge, how do I feed it to get ready for baking, and what amount do I put back into the fridge. I thank you in advance for your time & help.
of 4 hours each with each stage doubling the amount flour and water each stage the first feeding is 10 g each of flour and water the 2nd sage is 20 g each of flour and water with the 3rd feeding being 40 g each of flour and water. This will give you a 100% hydration star at 150 g that should double within 4 hours of the 3rd feeding.
You can then bake with it or store it for 2 days in the fridge. IF you have any while grains in the bread makes sure to sift out the hard bits and feed that to the starter for the levain build instead of the whole flour. Your bread will thank you for getting then wettest the longest.
Happy baking
is another way to do it - but it will really depend on what you're keeping in the fridge and how much.
It's what I do when I have enough in the jar in the fridge, but when not, I calculate how much I need for the recipe, divide by 5 and use one fifth from the fridge and 2/5 flour and 2/5 water. Leave that for a few hours 4-6, then use in the main recipe. I always put back in the fridge what I take out, so if I took out 100g, then I'd put back 100g made from 50g flour and 50g water.
There are many ways. Keep reading and pick one that suits your style and ways and stick to it.
I'm making 24 loaves tonight/tomorrow morning. Earlier this afternoon I started with 500g starter from the fridge, added 1Kg flour and 1Kg water and hopefully when I go and start mixing the dough soon it'll be nice and bubbly for the doughs which will snooze overnight and be shaped & baked in the morning.
-Gordon
Find one that suits you. I do a few ways depending on time/bread i'm making etc.
If I have enough starter built to the correct specs then i'll take straight from the fridge (obviously take into account you need some left over to build more with)
If I don't have enough i'll take a little off and build with it.
If I have enough but it's whole rye and I need bread flour starter then i'll take a little off and build with it.
My whole rye starter (whole rye keeps very well) lives in the fridge. When it runs low i'll take it out and top it up again, allow it to bubble up by 2/3rds. then return it to the fridge.
I only top it up when it runs low. About every 2 - 3 weeks. Whole rye works really well with this method. Other flours need more TLC.
thank you so much for the wonderful clearly written information, now I know how to proceed with my starter, I'm sure I'll have more questions, but this is a great start & I am thankful there is the forum with nice people who are willing to share their time & information.
I keep my starter in the fridge. I usually have about a cup of it there at all times. If I've refreshed it within the past week or two, but not more, I NEVER bother refreshing it the night before. I just use it, trusting in the fact that it's an active culture that's going to work. I know that this seems to go against all those who recommend that one always refresh the starter close to the time one's going to use it, but I've never had a failure doing it my way. It's my belief that the advice to refresh it close to the time you're going to use it makes sense if you're worried that your starter's died off. My never having a failure doing it my way means to me that starters take a longer time to die off than many imagine.
I've told this story before on this site: I once gave a bit of my starter to my sour dough novice bread baker brother. I gave him all the orthodox advice about how to care for it, including a schedule for refreshing it. When he got it home he placed in the back of his fridge and promptly forgot about it. Many months later, he found it while cleaning his fridge. When he realized what the stinky sludge in the jar actually was, he called me for advice. I suggested that he mix a bit of it into some water, add some flour, and let it sit on his counter. I mean it was really MONTHS in the fridge when this happened. The refreshed mixture started right up again. This means to me that the yeast was still active enough, even months later, to make bread with.
I was having a great deal of difficulty getting a good crust and discovered the solution by trial and error.
I was using too much refrigerated levain when preparing my starter for baking. A little goes a long way. Now I have had good results using just 12 g of levain to 1 cup flour at 133% hydration.
My crusts had been too thick, pale and not crispy. Using significantly less levain than previously cured all that.