For those newer to starters and baking with them... Here are some thoughts on maintaining and using your starter. These are my views and I fully recognize there are many varied ways of managing and using starters. After every feeding, your starter should go through a repetitive cycle. The starter will rise until doubled or even tripled in volume (typically 4-7 hours) It will then stop rising and hold the peak (3-5 hours) - the starter will then slowly collapse (3-6 hours) - it will then stay in this state. If left unfed, a liquid will begin to form on top. This process assumes a healthy starter, a temp over 60f and a hydration of 100% or less. You typically want to feed after it has collapsed. Higher hydration starters may not rise and fall - but should be very active with bubbles - which should slow and then stop. Feeding: Starters maintained at 80-100% hydration will maintain a good balance of yeast/bacteria and will typically only need to be fed once daily. When feeding, the amount of old starter added to the new starter should not exceed 50%. Lower inoculation rates - adding only 10-20% of old starter when feeding will favor non sour breads. Refrigerating starters: if you bake weekly or less frequently, you will likely elect to store your starter in the fridge. When doing so, feed your starter and immediately place it in the fridge. This will maximize the food supply for the starter while in cold storage. The starter should be fed every 1-2 weeks. I personally would not store a starter over 100% hydration and would suggest a lower (50-60%) hydration. It will survive much longer unfed - but our goal is hopefully to maintain a healthy starter. Remove, feed and just return to the fridge. If you are concerned about its health, feed it - allow it to go through a full cycle - rise, peak, collapse and then refeed and return to the fridge. If it remains unfed for an excessive period of time, a dark liquid will form (a discoloration on low hydration starters). This is hooch. If you pour it off, it will favor making non-sour breads. If you stir it back in, it will favor sour. Either is OK. If using after a period of refrigeration, and your goal is to make non-sour bread, remove it and feed it. Leave the starter at room temp. Allow it to go through a full cycle. Feed again at least once and then use just as it peaks. If your goal is sour, use as is, but feed the remaining and return to the fridge. If it is not enough starter, feed and wait until it is mature before using. Starter Hydration: Higher hydration starters will slightly favor sour breads while lower hydration will favor non-sour. You can change the hydration of the starter any time you feed it... Just change the flour/water ratio. If you keep the starter at 50% in the fridge - restore to 100% when using and back to 59% when returning to the fridge. Age of starter when using: If you use the starter when it has just peaked, it will be referred to as a young starter - this will favor non-sour bread. If you use the starter after it has fully collapsed, it will be referred to as a ripe or mature starter and will favor more sour breads. Frequency of feeding: if you feed the starter 2-3 each time while at its peak, you will favor non-sour bread. Less frequent feedings favor sour. Amount of starter added to a dough: adding a starter amount that is 5-10% of the flour weight will favor sour breads. Starter adds of 20-30% of flour weight will favor non-sour. Why: less starter = less yeast = longer ferment = more acids = more sour. Fermentation temperature: temperatures in the 50s will favor sour breads, temps in the 70s will favor non-sour. The simplest view of sourdough breads is that the bacteria in the starter will produce acids - acetic acid is specifically what gives the most notable sour taste. It takes time for the bacteria to make enough acids for us to perceive the bread as sour. The longer the fermentation - the more sour the loaf. Some general thoughts on total fermentation times. 7-9 hours: flavorful but not sour 9-16 hours: an increasing tang of sour as time extends 16+: a notably sour loaf. Let me know if this makes sense or if I can clarify anything.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 06:50:41 +0000
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