hi everyone,
i followed Nancy silverton’s starter recipe and have been using it for several months but have been producing very dense boules. I recently realized I was measuring improperly and when it would call for 1 lb 2 oz I would do 1.2 lbs.
now that I have that sorted, I have purchased the Tartine book. I seem to remember reading that Nancy’s starter is 150% hydration and Tartine’s appears to be a 50/50 mix. Can I use the silverton starter for my bread?
Also, I have been using expensive fresh milled flour and have been trying to feed 3x a day once a week as instructed in her bread book. Is there an easier way to do this and save flour? I have been going through so much and I’m at a loss here.
any advice and tips are appreciated! Thank you.
...but you might wish to take a few things into account. If you change nothing and use Nancy Silverton's starter instead then bear in mind you'll wish to use the same amount of prefermented flour within the starter and alter the final hydration. Since Nany's starter is more hydrated you'll have to use more starter to get the same amount of prefermented flour and then less water in the final dough.
For Example: 100g starter that Ken Forkish uses will have 50g water + 50g flour. If you ned to match the same amount of prefermented flour using Nancy's starter then you'll need 125g starter = 75g water + 50g flour. However you've used an extra 25g water in the starter so reduce the water in the final dough by 25g.
What you can also do is take some of Nancy's starter and build a levain to match Forkish's starter. So Nancy's starter is 150% hydration = for every 1 gram of flour in her starter has 1.5g water. 1 + 1.5 = 2.5. Now any whole number of Nancy's starter that is a multiple of 2.5g will give you a nice starting point where both the water and flour are whole numbers too. If you start off with a small amount of Nancy's starter that has a multiple of 2.5g then give it a feed of flour and water so they end up the same weight then you will have built up a 100% hydrated starter to use in the recipe. Take a nice whole number like 10g and work from there...
Leave that over night and when mature you'll have 100g starter @ 100% hydration for your Forkish recipe.
Starter maintenance doesn't need to be complicated. You can either keep scraps of starter in the fridge and when it comes to baking feed it with however much water and flour you'll need for the starter in the recipe, take it off to use when mature and return the scraps to the fridge. Repeat next you bake etc.
Or keep a small amount in the fridge which will last a few weeks between feeds and when it comes to baking build preferments. Building up to however much you need and whatever specifications.
This might seem complicated now and on "paper" it can do. But when you use a starter it becomes second nature. This comment is long winded but I don't give it this much thought in practice. There's theory and then there's practice. Once you understand the art of sourdough you'll find it quite easy and simple enough to do it in your head as go along.
Wow. This was some really valuable information. It definitely sounds like I’ll need to read it a few times to wrap my head around it, but it sounds like it all makes sense!
Thank you again. I’ll report back with hopefully a less dense loaf of bread!
if I wanted to continue to feed the 150% hydration starter but in a smaller amount (say 70g starter) what would the ratio of flour and water be? Would it be 70g flour and 105g water? Thanks Abe!
No problem. You wish to maintain the starter at 150% hydration but only wish to keep 70g (ish) of starter. Well that would be 42g water + 28g flour. So your starter maintenance can be something like this...
When your starter runs low, say you've only got around 10g left, then feed it with 42g water + 28g flour. Allow that to activate and then refrigerate. When it comes to baking take off a small amount and build a preferment, aka levain, with a good feed building up to whatever hydration you're after and with whatever flour the recipe asks for. Use when mature.
Once your starter runs low re-feed, allow to activate and then refrigerate again.
Just one example of many ways your starter may be maintained and used. You might find you wish to build more if you're baking more.
What you mean by "3x a day once a week"?
When I started my starter I think I added flour once a day for 5 days. Now after a few month I feed about once a week or so. I am just back from a trip and even after 2 weeks no feeding all is fine.
I like to add that right now I do bake only with wheat, but my starter is 100% rye. Somewhere I read that rye is more stable.
Nancy requires that her starter be fed 3x a day. If you have it in the fridge less than a week you need to feed it three times in one day before baking. If it’s more than a week you have to feed it three days in a row 3x per day. I use unbleached freshly milled flour with a high protein content (and a high price) so this is getting pretty expensive.
Just don't do it. Just feed it once a week with wholewheat flour, or even better, with rye flour. You can use a rye based starter with a wheat only bread without problem.
For 1150 rye I pay about $3/Kg, but I use only 50g per feed, so one pack lasts for many month (I don't bake with rye, but very tempted to try as soon as my wheat only breads are perfect)
Kristen from full proof baking on Instagram has fantastic you tube videos on making bread and starter management. Her feeding schedules just use small amounts of flour so less waste. She has a great following on Instagram. She is very generous and helpful. Happy Baking Liz