Mix until the dried flakes have dissolved.
The time it takes for your starter to go from just-refreshed to very ripe will vary with the flour used, temperature, and other conditions—adjust as necessary.
Add the following to your starter jar (making sure it will hold 190g without overflowing! Weekly Sourdough Starter Maintenance. Making a starter is a simple process of combining flour and water, which is then subsequently ‘fed’ or refreshed with more flour and water over a period to encourage the yeast to ferment and the bacteria to develop. You can maintain the starter in any amounts. You can check these in your browser security settings. I've measured four ounces of flour and water every time. There is another reason I prefer this ratio. You get a flour paste and a liquid that is highly acidic and smells like Think about those explorers who hauled a bit of starter with them when they traveled by horse from Ohio to Oregon, or up to Alaska. I’ve been testing various quantities for this for a while and the following smaller sourdough starter has been my preferred ratio of ingredients. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn how your comment data is processed. A sourdough starter can either be kept at room temperature or in the fridge. This is also a great method that will avoid over-fermentation if your kitchen is very hot (hello, New York City summers). In most cases, it will If there is only If anyone would like a recipe for flapjacks, just drop me a note at. A less hydrated starter will be thicker and slower to ferment, hence requiring less feeding. You will need to ‘feed’ it every day (at the same time, if possible). If your sink smells funky from the bits if starter washed down it, a cup or so of baking soda followed by very hot water works wonders. In this case, fluid ounces for water, but weigh the flour on a kitchen scale. A starter stored in the fridge will only require feeding once a week to maintain it. Thank you! The information in this article is also contained in this video, if you prefer that format: Your sourdough starter maintenance is going to depend on how you live your life, and your baking schedule. The contaminant in the starter might not be present only on the top layer, which will mean that any subsequent starters you make with it will have a higher chance of developing mold as well. I am afraid to put it down the garbage disposal, thinking about flour + water = glue. Hi sourdough friends! hooch and the starter has just lost a lot of the bubbles it can be easily brought I find when I take my starter out of the fridge it takes a day or two to get back up to full strength and generally the health of my starter starts to suffer if left unattended for more than a week. In general it’s a good idea to keep a backup, if you are unfortunate to kill off your starter by some fluke. Hah! I've done everything these instructions say. Click on the gallery to see larger images. Hi Sune, I’ve discovered your YT channel and enjoy your experiments re: convention wisdom. Flour and water are added daily to provide a fresh food source. When you want to use your sourdough starter in a recipe, feed it and stand at room temperature for 4-8 hours before you intend using it. Not just stir every day after the initial feed? I am just learning about making my own yeast! I love the quiet work of nursing the dough, stretching and folding it, shaping it, but I have a full time job, so I can’t usually bake in a weekday. If worst comes to worst and your active starter and your fridge backup starter fails and you need restore your dried starter, do the following: This is my article on how you maintain your sourdough starter. Low volume, new recipes, occasional giveaways. It is easy to mix into the dough. These acids may also help preserve breads made with the mixture, lengthening its shelf life. Having that excess starter almost always gets used in some way, and if it doesn’t directly go into a baked good, the excess sourdough starter goes in my compost pile. I’ve maintained the same sourdough starter for years, refreshing it with 20g mature starter, 100g flour (usually a mix of 50% white flour and 50% whole rye or 50% freshly milled whole wheat), and 100g water2 twice a day, every day.
Eric Rusch: Founder, proprietor, and Grand Poobah of Breadtopia. Of course, there are other successful strategies, but we've found this one to be manageable as well as successful. That is, add 4 ounces each of flour and water; you want to beef it up in both size and activity level before putting it into your dough. Some starters made with flours like rye use more water while some others use much less. Please consider sharing this article on social media, so that fellow sourdough bakers can learn about sourdough starter maintenance. Let’s say you wanted to make my sourdough fougasse, which calls for 173g of mature sourdough starter.