I'm studying Mr. Hammelman's Bread book witch is amazing and full of knowledge but I'm still confused about using sourdough starter in no-yeast recipies.Why I have to mix sourdought starter with flour and water, wait 12 - 16h and mix a dough? Isn't it just a feeding a starter? Can I just mix final quantity with rest of igriedients and leave it for rise/proof/bake ?
Example recipe from https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe
- 1 cup (227g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) lukewarm water
- 5 cups (602g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, divided
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Combine the starter, water, and 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces, 362g) of the flour. Beat vigorously for 1 minute.
Cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight, for about 12 hours.
Most people don't keep 929g of starter on hand. I keep only 55g. Each time I feed it the discards go in a bin in the fridge, which I could let accumulate until I had 929g in it. But altho that discard works great in some recipes, it is not at its peak of activity and therefore not ideal for making bread.