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Hello from Manitoba, Canada & starter Q Hi everyone, I'm new and so glad to be here!! I'm having some starter issues and if you've read as many forums on sourdough starter as I have, you probably don't want to read a book about "it didn't rise, bubbles are few, what's that liquid on top, etc" so I'll state short what I...	Seems to me you read up on Seems to me you read up on the important aspects but then didn't follow them. e.g."Organic whole grain or rye is better than all purpose bleached. Basically as natural as you can get - heck, go get some grain and grind it yourself if you can! (not me lol)"then"I started with all purpose flour...
My first sourdough After one failed attempt and problems with my starter I finally got a loaf out of the oven. I cut the top with scissors instead of using a blade as last time the whole loaf sank when I used the blade, although I think it was more down to overproving last time, but didn't want to risk it this time. ...	It looks fantastic! It looks fantastic! I'm sure it will taste fantastic! If the bread is not underproofed, usually no cuts or just those little you made suffice to not have crust break open on the side. With steam it just stretches a bit. I really like this intact spiral! Would you post a pic of the crumb please? Adri...
Questions about whole wheat So I woke up pretty ambitious this morning. I haven't baked for a few days, giving my mind a break from all the number crunching I had been foolishly attempting. I have two working starters, BF and Rye (both from New Zealand). Yesterday I bought WW (Robin Hood Best for Bread) and non-wheat R...	Hmm, I'm surprised... I haven't had one comment yet. I'd sure like to know why.Meanwhile, here's what I have done.My first 100% Whole Grain SourdoughSo I decided to try and eliminate Bread Flour (and AP) from my bread making. I really need to eat bread that has more fiber. My whole wheat is Robin Hood “Best for Bread” ...
Really in a muddle with my soughdough I bought a sourdough starter from Hobbs Bakery which came a few days ago so I diligently followed the directions but seem to have a few problems that I am not sure how to solve and hope that someone here may be able to offer me some advice.The direction on the sourdough starter wer...	You can certainly slow things You can certainly slow things down by refrigerating your dough.All you need to do to get enough starter for more loaves is take the starter from the fridge a day before baking and feed it a couple of times without discarding any. Wait for it to peak, feed again to double its volume again. ...
Water pH and strength of gluten My water is from my well. While I have a softener, I don't use it, my water isn't hard or soft.But every attempt at 100% hydration doughs have left them too sticky to stretch and fold. I've tried a few different types, rise at 72F, 92F, 36F...all result in dough balls I cannot work (unle...	Do you really mean 100% hydration dough? Not starter hydration?If so, that's really really wet. At the high end of ciabatta land. Not surprised it's hard handle.A long time in a mixer might develop enough gluten so that you could cut off a piece and slide it into the over. But not much more 'shaping' than that I thin...
sourdough...fascinating but confusing Hello all,I'm growing my own starter, it's 8 days old now. I'm following a recipe based on 100% hydratation and currently I'm refreshing it on a 2:1:1 basis I believe(75 grams starter, 37.5 grams flour, 37.5 grams water approx). I started on 100% rye and slowly increasing white flo...	I have both a white AP flour I have both a white AP flour and Whole wheat flour starters maintained at 100% hydration. I feed them both every 12 hours while they are on the counter. My home is usually kept around the same temp as yours maybe averaging a bit warmer. I use to feed on a 2:1:1 but have been feeding at 1:1:...
Leaven/ Levain Weight Discrepancy Hey Friends, help me out here.What the hell is the deal with the weight discrepancy between when you mix the leaven and when you add it to the dough.for example:20 g starter100 g water100 g flourweighs 220 gthen suddenly the recipe only calls for 150 g of leaven.PLEASE EXPLAIN!why is t...	Thank you varda I just read varda's post on the http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/33793/leaven-levain-question feed.That clears things up for me. It's all starter + a little to keep it going.
Stretch and folds Hello!If I stretch and fold by refrigerating the sourdough after each fold and give a final rise of 4-5 hours before baking, will it affect the final product. Want to refrigerate it because I want the Bread at a particular time. Will be out for the time of final rise. Is that ok?	Cold dough = tight dough As always, others with more experience can likely offer a more complete picture but my view is not to refrigerate until after you have finished your stretch+folds.The reason is that the gluten will tighten up as it cools, making it less extensible and thus you won't be able to stretch as far (o...
Spelt Sourdough Bread Result Needs Advice I have been baking for a while and while previous normal results are not what I would love, they aren't terrible. Even these results aren't in terms of taste. I use white Spelt pretty regularly at this point, and over the last few months, it has been spreading in the oven. I...	Additionally.. The other post photo as well as the addition of one overflowed tablespoon each of Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes which is my own addition to the bread recipes I make. Here are the other photos. Looking forward to your thoughts.
Calling All Crumb Detectives! My family has recently moved across country and, sadly, my starters didn't make the trip.Fortunately, I blogged my method for making a starter here on TFL back in 2007. So, I retraced my steps but in Michigan rather than in San Diego. After two weeks, I had two (rye & OAP white) bouncing...	No pro here, but... The other day I made two batches of my sourdough recipe, one started 45 minutes after the other. The 1st batch got 4 S&F sessions, the 2nd got 3. Baked them at the same time. The 1st got a significantly open crumb with large holes, the 2nd got the sandwich bread crumb you described. Your description...
old starter in the fridge - how to get it alive again I had 3 diff starters which had been sitting in my fridge for the last 2 mths. Before I used to feed them every 12hrs at 1:1:1. the 3 diff are one with just AP white flour, the other with just rye flour and the third 50/50 of AP & WW Flour.Unfortunately, circumstan...	Depends on several factors How well taken care of were they before going into the fridge two months ago? Were they active? Were they well fed? How long after feeding was it before they went into the fridge?If they were kept very active and fresh, fed well at appropriate times, very healthy, then they are more likely to...
Help! Help! Sourdough Starter Woes I am a newbie to sourdough baking.I started my first sourdough starter on Sunday January 26th. After 4 days using orange juice (water on day 4) and whole grain rye flour I got bubbles, a "fruity" aroma and a slightly acidic taste. Success!On day 4, I modified my twice daily feeding sc...	I would thicken it up a lot to 80% on the next feeding, get the starter healthy and doubling in 6 hours or less. It is probably just too thin for such a youngster and needs more flour. Take 50 g of your starter and feed it 60 g of flour and 40 g of water. Once it double then do it again It should double in 6 hours ...
My sour dough bread making process up for critiquing I am fairly new to bread baking (8 months ) and what I typically do is read as much as I can and then incorporate various techniques that I think will give good results. So this might be helpful to other newcomers to this world of bread making...or it might not! And ...	Hi Richard, you sound as if Hi Richard, you sound as if you have come a long way in a short time. If you are getting results you are happy with, you will most likely find that your loaves just get better and better anyway. If there is something you want to improve you will probably get better advice if you are specific...
Knocking back after first ferment I am using a wild yeast starter and have never tried knocking the dough back after the first ferment (4+ hours) process. I have read in a couple of books that this technique is often applied. I am not too convinced that the dough would rise again after knocking it back, so I have avoid...	Questions... Everything I have been doing has been to promote airiness in the bread. I want an open crumb. I'd be happy if a 1/2" slice did not let a lot fall through the holes, but I love the holes.I'm not experienced enough to know why you'd knock back for sure, but I do redistribute the air in my dough. I pop huge b...
The SD recipe with the most fibre? Could I ask you to give me a link to the SD recipe that is as close to light and airy as a good BF SD, yet has the most fibre and beneficial ingredients you can think of? Searching using Sourdough and fibre kinda sucks...;-]FWIW, I have a rye starter already, but I'm open to turning s...	Add barley Flour As I understand things barley then rye flours are at or near the top of the fiber list. Try adding those to something you like or some of the smart folks will be along shortly to give you more options.
How old can a starter REALLY be? Couple of other threads are branching off into discussion of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I thought therefore I would open a new one for better organisation and focus of topic.I want to ask, just how old can one claim a flour-water "starter" to be?First a couple of factoids abou...	Are you searching for a soul Are you searching for a soul in sourdough starters? ;) This seems to be a more philosophical question and I'm not sure whether I can write something about it because of my English as a third language skills or.... well I'll give it a try.offtopic:I'm not sure for yeast, but for other fungii...
Consistent, but disappointing, results...so far So I have 3 different recipes on the go atm.I have an AP autolysing in the fridge overnight, I started it at noon, so no disappointment. I had my first real success with BF, but had bought BF and AP, so when I made a 2nd attempt at a baguette using AP, it failed miserably...	At 95% hydration you I wouldn At 95% hydration you I wouldn't expect to see much rise during the bulk ferment so you may no be in much trouble in that regard. While it took ya an hour plus to deal with the ciabatta are you sure that it was properly delt with, or maybe considerably over delt with? whats the hydration of...
Sunday Loaf p180519086-3.jpg p439810310-3.jpg Sunday loaf using mostly Tartine techniques though did use only 68% hydration and 40% levain per Tartine Bread Experiment. This let me get more oven spring than I have to date with higher hydration. Used 20% white whole wheat and 10% whole wheat. My daught...	Looks absolutely awesome Shame you've had no other comments since you posted this. I haven't looked into Tartine at all yet, and 68% hydration seems low so it means I don't know what the difference might be with my 75% hydration goals in my early experiments. 40% levain is higher than I've been told, but I'm leaning on...
Bad starter owner So, 10-12 years ago I made my first starter and had mixed results as I recall them. After a few months of feeding and using it, I had to retire it to the freezer. I dried it, then boke it into smaller pieces, vacuum sealed it and froze it. SD is one of those things that as much as I love it, Its is di...	I'd say unless it develops I'd say unless it develops mold, it's fine!
Sourdough Rescue Rye Sandwich Bread This loaf is about one quarter rye, another quarter whole white, and half BF, with added VWG and ground aromatic seeds (caraway, coriander, fennel and dill) rolled in sesame and flax. Grapefruit starter.	Looks like some nice corned Looks like some nice corned beef or pastrami would go very nicely...maybe a slice of cheese too!
Crust Crispiness So I seem to have something amazing, but I'm wondering if its not also a bit of a curse.Every successful loaf I have baked I've baked on silpat, starting with a cold oven, and baked at 375F. Every one has turned out with an amazingly crispy crust. The crust is thin, no too much, not too little, at leas...	English muffins are not English muffins are not traditionally baked in the oven, but on a griddle on the hob.
Sourdough bread sticks to my proofing tin Hi everyone. I've been having issues with my sourdough sticking to the tin that i let it rise in.The recipe I'm using constitutes:300ml starter(100% hydration, fed 7-8 hours before using)200ml water500g gram flour1 tsp saltRising times:1st rise - 2 hours2nd rise - approx 6-8 ho...	up the salt too You could easily double the salt amount, this will help you control the run away yeast fermentation. Heath gave some excellent tips and tricks. I do think your fermentation is too fast. Your dough sounds more like a ripe starter. For your heat, humidity and large portion of starter, and low portio...
New starter advice please Hi Everyone,Been making up my Sourdough Starter following the River Cottage (UK) book: equal portions of flour/water, discarding half each day for first few days etc.... usual thing I think. After whisking each evening I am finding my starter highly separated by morning. Is this normal. The st...	Too wet Your starter is too wet, which is why it separates. What's more typical is to use equal weights of flour and water. With the lower hydration, the starter is thicker and able to trap the gas produced by the yeast. It becomes much easier to tell when the starter is ready because it will expand to two to three tim...
A dead starter? I have a lovely mature starter that is doing rather well, and I'm happy with that one. I just gave it a good feed and I'm planning another bake tomorrow. Happy days.But recently I decided I wanted to relive the experience of creating a starter from scratch, so I did. I started off with organic wholegrai...	Keep going Sometimes that original crazy activity is more lacto than yeast. The yeasts develop more slowly and can be encouraged by providing a slightly warmer ambient temp (about 80-82 F is ideal). Both lactos and yeasts are necessary for an eventually balanced culture.So do it again and keep stirring, feeding and kee...
Yogurt! I might be completely barking up the wrong tree, but here's a little cross-discipline post for ya... Looking into other things to ferment I'm toying with the idea of making my own yogurt. For that, I believe, you'd need a healthy LAB culture. Thing is ... I have a culture - my sourdough starter - which is very ...	Bonkers. Use store bought Bonkers. Use store bought yogurt or a purchased yogurt starter(or however you can obtain a little yogurt) to make homemade yogurt. Once you get your own batch going, you can continue to propagate it almost indefinitely. You can typically buy a small cup or so of plain yogurt(with active cultur...
Sourdough long rise - bread falls before putting in oven Whenever I follow the long rise, 8-12 hours for my regular white sourdough bread, starter, salt, flour and water it always falls right when i move it/score it and put it in the oven. do you guys have any idea what im doing wrong? im in Alaska with natural sourdou...	Question, do you proof this bread? I assume the long rise is the first fermentation.FF
Calvel's Starter, p-90, "A Taste of Bread" Has anyone tried this starter/culture? This is a 60% hydrated starter with whole wheat and rye flour. I'm getting "nothing results." I've tried twice. Now I'm thinking maybe my flour is too old, and am going to through those out and try again. Both times, because of the 60% hy...	Yep Hi BruceI used the Calvel method just a couple of weeks ago. It did NOT produce a working starter within a couple of days, however with some adjustment I got it active in about 4-5 days. I should state that I used 1/4 the volumes stated and I've read that others have been successful with 1/2 the volumes and also ...
Newb questions, links requested It's easy to search for something you want to know, it's hard to search why what you've read isn't working. So, forgive me asking you to point me to discussions where my problems were solved.I use a convection oven. Seems fairly well sealed. I have baked some number of loaves of sourdoug...	Steam in a convection oven I also bake with a convection oven, and it has its peculiarities. When both racks are loaded with French bread, sufficient steam is given off by the baking loaves to gelatinize the crust. The loaves "crackle" when removed from the oven. If I run a half load, not enough steam is generated by t...
Monster Raving Loony Starter Hi folks! I'm very new at this sourdough game, but I decided I would try to create a sourdough starter myself. Just over 2 weeks ago, I created my first starter mixture and I started feeding it. On the 3rd day it made a feeble, pathetic attempt at bubbling up, but by day 4 it had turned int...	Refrigerator Putting your starter in the refrigerator should settle it down between feedings... That is where mine naps... I feed it once a week and it doubles in less than 6 hours.I am no expert, but have been keeping this starter going for about 4 years now.Happy Baking,Diane
Mega Starter Hello!Anyone got a recipe and method for a mega starter??I fancy trying to come up with something which tastes great and will quadruple if you even so much as “look at it funny”.I can get my regular starter to triple over several hours.But I hear talk of lagoon monsters which will explode to the size of a ...	Every so often there is a rogue starter that can't be tamed. It can drive the feeder insane with maintenance. Not even sure it's a healthy balance of starter critters. I wouldn't wish such a starter on my worse enemy, if I had one. Enough craziness in the world without having weapon grade sourdough starters.Q's: H...
bread lacks flavor -- starter too mild? When I initially cultured my starter, I used the water from fermented raisins and white bread flour. The bread I bake seems lacking in flavor, and is, also, not sour. I have experimented to no end with different starter amounts (5% to 20% of recipe by weight), different temps, ...	Flavor The flavor of your bread has more to do with the final rise than most other factors. According to Tartine Bread, it is possible to have no "sourdough" flavor with a 2 hour final rise, and an extremely sour flavor with a 4-5 hour rise (assuming dough is 78-82 degrees) As long as your starter is active, I would n...
Oven spring Hi there, I'm hoping someone wise will know the answer to my little problem.I've just taken my third sourdough out of the oven. Tastes great - all three have. Good lot of bubbles. Nice crust. All great except I don't seem to get a very good 'oven spring' - the bread is practically the same as when I put it ...	over-proofed? Not certain, but it seems like six hours out of the fridge is too long, unless your starter is really really slow. If you have them formed before you put them in the fridge, that should only take an hour or 90 minutes max for an individual loaf to come back to room temperature. If you were letting a loaf ...
Adding More Poolish Hi all,I'm preparing to bake Artos from BBA using the poolish method. The formula calls for 7 oz of poolish but Reinhart's poolish formula makes 23 oz of poolish. I'm trying to be very conscientious of waste so I don't want to make so much poolish and then end up throwing most of it out. I would use...	Answer 96 grams Flour, 102 grams water, 0.3 grams yeast 3.4 oz flour, 3.6 oz water, 0.01 0z yeast = 7ozJim
Tartine Friend of mine just asked me to bake 12 breads (Tartine) for Saturday evening. I’m up to the challenge :) however I can only bake two breads at time and what is more important I have only three brotforms. I do have food grade “bus tub” but I don’t know if I can keep sourdough (after bulk fermentation) in the fr...	Keep the dough in the Keep the dough in the refrigerator during the bulk ferment. After complete bulk fermentation, take dough from this as you need it for baking. Let it come to room temperature, preshape it, shape it, proof & bake. You can take enough for two loaves at a time with whatever interval you need for yo...
buying sourdough starter, Binzen Germany Dear, I happen to be in Binzen, Germany for a business trip. I wonder how/where can I buy a sourdough starter? Thank you :)	Look for a local small bakery Look for a local small bakery and serif they would be willing to sell you some.
fighting with my starter I made my first starter in October of last year. It seemed quite happy, mostly doubling within 4-6 hours. Baking with it never resulted in much success; most loaves were dense. I'd always feed it 2x a day with 50/50 white KA AP and KA white whole wheat, mostly at a ratio of 1:1.5:2. I went on a...	Thoughts Hi Christine"I made my first starter in October of last year. It seemed quite happy, mostly doubling within 4-6 hours"Ok so this sounds like you had a decent starter (assuming it wasn't brand new)"Baking with it never resulted in much success; most loaves were dense"This could easily be more to do with your re...
Sourdough Muffins Made my first batch of English Muffins this morning. Turned out better than anticipated.	CapnVery nice! Tell us about CapnVery nice! Tell us about your recipe, what you did, etc.
weak starter? I've tried ca 7 different sourdough recipes that all produced bricks. No oven spring whatsoever. My starter appeared to be healthy, and though I followed the recipes carefully, the results were awful. Then I tried ABin5, and things started getting better, and then Peter Reinhart's Lean Bread recipe (both ...	Refresh Starter Hi,I had a similar problem until I began taking a small amount of my starter out (like 40gr or so) and building a starter for the bread I was about to bake and using ithat newly 'refreshed' starter to build the levain instead of going directly from my 'cache' of starter that I keep in the fridge between...
Did I mess up my Tartine starter? This is my first time doing the Tartine leaven process. I have been following the book very carefully but wonder if I messed up with my first feeding? When I created the starter I used 50% central milling artisan craft and 50% whole wheat. I used water at about 79 degrees. Within 2 da...	No, do not start over. It is No, do not start over. It is a common mistake by many to throw away their starters as soon as they stop bubbling. Starters go through several phases as you build them up. They often begin very active and then dramatically slow down as the yeast and lactic acid bacteria start to set up shop....
hydration of recipe I am using Hi,I have a basic sourdough recipe from this forum (the sourdough 101 a tutorial) as follows:Starter:115g Starter: I maintain at 75% hydration128g flour60g waterDough:575g flour15g salt360g water Giving totals of: Flour: 769gWater: 469gWhich is 60% hydration So getting slowly to my questi...	/nhuman: "Are sourdoughs generally /nhuman: "Are sourdoughs generally lower hydration?"
Bread Code liquid starter Has anyone tried making Bread Code's liquid starter? The video tutorial did not go over the feeding schedule very clearly. With a 100% hydration starter I know when to feed it based on when it peaks, but this isn't possible with a liquid starter. Does anyone have a rough idea of how often I sh...	Once a day Hendrik says feed it once a day. Keep it at room temperature. I assume that means something like 18-24C range.Proportions are:3 Tbsp starter2 Tbsp flour, he uses whole wheat, but any other flour is OK1 cup waterIn grams: 50g liquid starter, 50g flour, 250g waterYou can scale it according to your baking needs...
Best way to maintain and keep a helthy starter in 30C/86F temps Hi I live in Sao Paulo Brazil and have a good starter going which i have been baking with 3 times a week for a few months now.I am having trouble with feeding schedules and knowing if it's best to leave the starter at room temp (25c-33c) or leave it in the...	Several ideas One might be to lower the hydration to 50% if you are feeding it all purpose wheat flour. Still feed the same amount of flour but cut back the water forming a dough. Add the water back when you mix up the dough. The starter should take longer to eat thru the flour.
Holey Moley Some advice needed please.Last couple of loaves have had holes like these which I initially thought was my failure to de-gas/knock back however I took extra time here to ensure I pressed out any large pockets at the shaping stage. I'm guessing therefore this is a result of the hydration and proofing times?...	This happens to me sometimes as well. It could be a proofing issue, but I'm not sure. You're probably familiar with "the hole the baker sleeps in", this might be a version of that just caught in a slighty earlier stage. Proof time does look a bit long for a formula with 25% of prefermented flour. I proof my straight so...
Timing bread rise+proof from starter rises I have problems with over/under proofing my sourdough breads.To me, it seems like I could use the information gathered from feeding my starter out on my counter and apply it to my bread:For example....My starter takes 6 hours to rise completely, at 7 hours it is JUST begining ...	Hmmm It's an interesting question and I don't really have a definitive answer as there are always variables. I'm certain for a start, that different flours will react differently and thus result in differing proofing times. From experience I know that when I create a new starter from scratch, I get the quickest and m...
first sourdough - am I missing something Hi allAnother sourdough newbie lost and confused! I have been baking bread successfully for a good while and wanted to venture into sourdoughs.I made my first stater 8 days ago using 1:1 MDC Tradition flour and water, and have been feeding it twice a day 1:1:1. It is chilly here...	Recipe? Directions?Where did Recipe? Directions?Where did you get this from?
sourdough starter help please!! does anyone have a sourdough starter in or near Fresno, CA?? I just got a gift of a bread machine and the packaged stuff just isn't the same as fresh. Or, does anyone want to explain to me about starting my own starter? I'd MUCH prefer someone else's tried and true product... Help ...	Friends of Carl Free Sourdough Starter Friends of CarlOf course, you can give them a few bucks too if you like.By the time mine came, I had a vigorous homemade starter, so I never activated it. It is kind of fun to make your own. I followed the directions at King Arthur Flour using King Arthur Organic All Purpose Flour...
Discard sourdough starter? Hello. Yes, I am one of those people who hates waste. So I was just wondering if you have any ideas on how to use discard sourdough starter. By the way, what is the difference between discard and fed starter? Is it just the flavor? Or does the discard not leaven as well as the fed? Thanks!	Discard starter is very useful in a wide variety of ways. It is also a topic of common discussion over the years here on TFL, making site search yor friend. I typed use discard starter into the search bar, and if you click on the link you will find what I found. You can get the same thing by typing something similar...
No-Knead Sourdough Bread in one day? Is it possible to make no-knead sourdough bread in one day? I've always mixed my dough, let it rise on the counter, refrigerate overnight, let it rise again at room temp for 1-1/2 hours. Do I have to do the overnight refrigeration?	Not necessarily Usually I just leave it at room temp for 8-12 hours, depending on the temperature/amount of sourdough. Then let it rise again for an additional 1-2 hours. So yes, it's possible. Fridge time is not necessary, however I heard it gives better flavors amongst other various benefits, but I've forgotten :P
What am I doing wrong? I began a levain last week (Nov 19) and it seemed to go well at first, but then it just seemed to have stopped... or slowed to a crawl.I started with: 250 g organic Red Fife flour250 g unbleached white flour5 g organic malted barley flour500 g warm waterIt seemed to get started fine - small bubbl...	I think these links will be helpful to you http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10856/pineapple-juice-solution-part-1http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2
sour dough starter/mother starter? I've been trying to figure out the secrets of sourdough baking without the help of a book, but I finally realized maybe it would be better to consult one. So I picked Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day. To my horror, everything is "different": there's talk about seed cultures l...	Your starter will work. Just Your starter will work. Just use the amount he calls for in the formulas with the same hydration level and you will be just fine.People/authors use different names for the same thing…or so I have learned, but what it all boils down to is getting a wild yeast starter that will work in your...
Sourdough formulas I've been using a great sourdough formula I learnt on a course, but now want to actually find out where it comes from- is it a custom made formula or have an origin somewhere else? The puzzle is I can't find anything like it in Hamelmann or other searches.The main thing is that the levain forms just...	Without seeing your formula, it will be impossible to tell you anything about it. Please post it. Paul
Bread code liquid starter maintenance Hi everyone. I am trying out Bread Code's liquid starter because supposedly it favors more lactic acid production over lower hydration starters. However, the video tutorial does not go over when I should feed the starter. With a regular 100% hydration starter I know that I should f...	This post may be helpful https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68720/ph-guided-dough-processing#new
How long do I wait? Hi Everyone, I just started a sourdough starter just over 2 weeks ago. It seems to be going ok and is doubling. I was wondering how long I have to wait for it be strong enough to bake a bread?Thanks	I would try it out after 2 weeks by making a loaf and see what happenms. I'm guessing no worries since it is doubling.Happy SD baking
starter not rising I know the topic has been covered but it seems each scenario is a bit different ...so I'm posting my question ...sorry for the redundancy :) but thanks!I have a starter (from dehydrated stock) that I started on Sun. night (1-12-14). The original starter that this came from was active & vigorous. Thi...	Could it be too liquidy? So Could it be too liquidy? So while the starter is active alright (which seems to be the case as you say it's bubbling and frothy), the bubbles simply rise to the surface and escape into the air, rather than puffing up the whole lot?
Anyone have a starter near Providence, RI? I have now been unsuccessful twice in culturing my own starter, and would like to just skip the whole thing and grab a bit if anyone has some they will share... PM me :)Thanks,Loyd	@Loyd ... USPS works too ... Loyd:A guy I know - who lives in Maine - sent me some in the mail in a bubble-wrapped mailer. I live in Maryland.So, perhaps someone can mail you some if there isn't a local connection in your area.Another possibility would be to start a poolish with commercial yeast (and also maybe some yo...
Adapting Recipes for 100% hydration starter I have an active and happy 100% hydration starter that I created using the old pineapple juice method.I would like to bake some of the breads in Reinhart's "Artisan Bread Every Day" book, which uses a "mother starter" that is (I think) 66% hydration.Rather than create a mothe...	Simplest method if you don't Simplest method if you don't want to convert a portion of your into his mother starter(taking your word for the "47 + 24" calculation, but that's not 66%*):Take 94g of your mature, bubbly starter(this is also assuming that your starter is ready to be used for baking). Of course you want to ...
Creating a Rye Sourdough Starter in Colder Climates This is not a question but an observation regarding the creation of sourdough starters in colder climates.Colder climates create a real problem when it comes to building a sourdough starter. Most homes in colder climates during the winter have inside temperatures run...	they hung it inside their vests, in a pocket. Easy to do these days too! Time out when you're sleeping, just don't feed it then.How about an aquarium heater and 4 inches of water? Your starter will do better warm the first day or two and then cooler around 76° F the rest of the week.
Measuring starter (and how long to bake) sourdough sandwich loaves? Questions about Sourdough Sandwich Loaves:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/3715/sourdough-sandwich-breadI am wondering:1. When the recipe calls for "1 cup" of starter, do you think that means 1 cup as measured with a fluid measuring cup or dry?2. Any t...	Why pick a recipe that does Why pick a recipe that does not have very clear instructions and with "who knows how much" volume measures? Judging from the number of comments garnered there over the years, doesn't seem to be too popular. Most probably just move on to something else. There are plenty of clearly written rec...
what to do with un-risen dough? ...so I think I jumped the gun & tried baking with my starter before it was ready - I reactivated a dehydrated starter. It was active and mature when dried - the 'new' activation was doubling between feedings at about 12 hours ...so the doubling was slow. I think I should have waited fe...	Divide into 2 oz pieces, or Divide into 2 oz pieces, or so, and freeze. Defrost and throw into future recipes as desired.
Converting 100% hydration starter to Reinhart's stiffer mother starter for his sourdough bread recipe (ABED).. Hello, I've been successfully maintaining a 100% hydration starter this past month and finally made my very first sourdough loaf. We were pleased with how it tasted (not ready for my first photo shoot though ...	Confusing.... Your question is confusing at several levels...for you seem to differentiate betweeen "your" sourdough starter and "wild yeast" starters. First question would be "What is your starter?" Is it wild or from a purchased starter package, or is it based on commercial yeast. There is a difference though it is n...
transporting sourdough starter overseas I am travelling for 2 weeks in Southeast Asia culminating in a 24 hour airport-to-airport journey from Asia to North America. I am trying to figure out how to take my beloved sourdough starter with me. Any ideas?	Easy Solution Dry it. Thin your starter so it resembles pancake batter. Pour a puddle onto a non-stick surface and let it dry thoroughly. Don't try to speed it up by heating in any way -- just air dry. Put it in a plastic bag and throw it in your suitcase. When you get there break off about a teaspoonful, crush it...
Sourdough starter is ready. Don't laugh, but: do I put it in the fridge now? Hi -I feel like such a dummy! I see so much conflicting info online about sourdough starters so I'm just going to ask here, if you don't mind!I won't tell you how many containers I have going - it's embarrassing - but I've felt like a mad sc...	Just One Opinion "I won't tell you how many containers I have going - it's embarrassing . . . I'm out of flour.":)". . . do I just give away some and put the rest in the fridge until I'm ready to bake?"Exactly!!!Or make pancakes.So how much do you need to keep? One lousy tablespoon will do. Feed it with one tablespo...
Over fermented dough with slow little activity Hi everyone, so glad I found this forum. Hope you can help me to understand what I did wrong. I baked a loaf yesterday and used a aliquot jar to monitor the bulk fermentation. After 6 hrs of mixing everything, I saw some little bubble on the surface but no movements in the...	What temperature did you keep What temperature did you keep the levain at?I've had similar problems when my starter was not very active and too acidic, then gluten starts to degrade before the yeast manage to inflate the dough. So perhaps your levain was overmature, for example?
Starter one hydration and dough another is ok? I have kept a 100% hydration starter for almost two years.It is usually 10g starter to 20g water to 20g flour (50/50 Whole Wheat and All Purpose mix)Four days ago I just started to make it thicker, I read on here 1:2:3 ratio some people use. So I have be doing 10g starter...	Hydration = 20g water ÷ 30g Hydration = 20g water ÷ 30g flour = .67 x 100 = 67%Yes, you can continue mixing the levain at 100%. Just add whatever amount of water is needed to the quantity of starter so as to bring the hydration up to 100%, then mix in the equal parts of flour and water needed to continue building the l...
How to increase STRENGTH of starter I see so many posts on how to maintain a starter, I got that. What I want to know is what is the process to actually INCREASE the amount of yeast in your starter IE - tripple when fed rather than double. I want my soughdough starter to be extremely healthy and ACTIVE. THANKS!	I am not certain of this, but I am not certain of this, but from a lot of reading, I think if you want the sort of starter that will triple quickly, you need a lot of a commitment. I think it would involve keeping it out on the counter at a nice constant warm temperature and feeding two or three times a day.But it depe...
Hello and first problem Hello, Fresh Loafers. This is my first post and I need to learn the ropes but I'm happy to have found this site.I am also in need of some problem solving help. Short version: my sourdough doesn't develop a skin and goes flounder instead of springing up.Longer version: I'm more familiar with ...	Hello and welcome. Is your Hello and welcome. Is your main problem the dough holding its shape whilst proofing? I think this is what you are asking, forgive me if I have the wrong end of the stick. You say you have lots of baking experience with conventional yeast and have made sourdough but with a tighter crumb. Wer...
Sourdough struggles Hi All,I've been reading the Tartine book for a few months and am still struggling a bit with my starter and bread. Can someone point out what I may be doing wrong?When I began the starter, it was just living in my kitchen until I had the 'predictable 24 hour cycle' where it would rise and crash an...	I keep my starter in the I keep my starter in the fridge. I usually take it out the night before I want to bake and feed it, then feed it again early the next morning and start using it around lunch time. I always feed it twice before baking, just to get it really going.I am wondering could it simply be that you are ju...
Forkish Levain maintenance Hello everyone! This is my first post here.I've been lurking in the sidelines for a little while and really enjoying the info and dynamics of the Fresk Loaf forum, and now it's time to get a little involved and ask some questions.I'm a fairly new baker. I've been using Ken Forkish's book for ...	Culture maintenance Ask 5 people how to maintain a starter and you will get 10 methods that work. Find one that fits your life and baking style. I keep 225g in the refrigerator and use it as a mother starter. Mine is a 100% hydration mother refreshed every weekend with 25g old mother, 100g bread flour, 100g tap water l...
activating a dehydrated starter ... gone green Hi friends - I keep a small stash of dehydrated starters on hand ...haven't baked in a while. The other day I decided to activate 2 different starters ...both have been in storage for about 2 years. They both started beautifully.The first starter is now at 60 hours and b...	Most likely a mold strain You did right to discard it. Throw away any leftover dried starter from that envelope and sanitise your recipient with bleach for 30 minutes. The rinse and wash with detergent, rinse really carefully and let dry.
Soap in Starter I cleaned the bowl I keep my rye sourdough starter in. I put my starter back into the container. Let it rise as bit and now I see bubbles that look like soap bubbles. I have never encountered this before and I can only imagine I did not clean all of the soup residue out of the container before I replace...	let the starter tell you. Tensioactives are not exactly yeasts' best friends, but not necessarily you killed your starter's microflora.
flour Has anyone tried making sourdough bread using a lower protein flour - I've accidentally bought the wrong sort of flour in France for breadmaking! A combination of not having specs with me and not having good french... The flour I've bought is 10% protein and the flour I normally use is about 12 / 13 %. Any idea w...	Re: Flour Yes, I have used it before. It will work. Your bread will have a finer crumb and a less chewy texture--more like a dinner roll would be. I don't mind it at all.
Will I regret using dark rye AND sprouted wheat in my first starter? I don't know what possessed me. I kept reading so many conflicting things online and watching conflicting videos on youtube about how to make a starter and late at night I went to the kitchen for a snack (naughty) and thought "what the hell" so mixed...	There is nothing wrong with There is nothing wrong with using those 2 flours together. If you are really worried you can mix in some AP flour when you go to your first refreshment.There are many posts on this site to guide you in making your first starter, with the most popular being the pineapple juice method but you ...
To discard or not? A question that came up the other day. I try not to discard any starter. I keep just small amounts in the fridge. I bake a couple of times a week. I build the small amount I keep into enough for my recipe plus a small amount to go back in the fridge.Another friend who bakes was showing a friend who w...	If you always feed the same If you always feed the same ratio, usually there is no need to discard anything. If you do not bake for a while or irregularly and do not discard any and always just feed the same amount of flour and water, the starter will starve and start to smell like acetone. It also might loose its acti...
Over or under proofed Hi everyone, I need some help as I am new to this journey of sourdough bread. Can anyone tell me if this bread is over or under proofed? By a little or by a lot? I need some guidance in the proofing department. 30C2ECFA-FA3F-4B41-86EB-9D87B2008386.jpeg	The majority of the crumb looks good. I wouldn't call it under or overproofed. The bottom crust is darker. Can't see the corners or sides which might tell more. There are a few large bubbles tunneling the loaf. Interesting. Where are they coming from? I'm trying to look for a pattern that shows how the loaf was ...
100% hydration conversion to 60%? I have a 100% (mostly) AP hydration starter that I'd like to take a bit and use for a 60% ciabatta recipe.Is that possible or do I need to start anew?	Easily possible.Simple Easily possible.Simple version: Take a small quantity of your starter(a tablespoon, or so) and begin feeding at 60%.
I'm lost - how to add sourdough to my breaddough Hello fellow bakers,I'm at a loss and need some advice. I have been baking spelt bread with yeast for a while. It worked well but I really want to use my spelt sourdough starter instead of yeast (instant), First of all my sourdough starter is very watery. I followed t...	Baker's Math and Starter Stoertebecker:You need to determine the hydration of the starter. Suggest you start a separate container of starter for a batch of dough (a "levain" of sorts) ... get a bowl and do something like this:Starter: 50gWater: 110gFlour: 200g (you can mix white, ww, rye, whatever)If your starter is "w...
Question on sour dough recipie I followed the crust and crumb recipe for San Francisco sourdough from Peter Reinhart and i have a few questions about the process . The bread surprised me with the flavor and oven spring but why so many steps? First i have starter on my counter that i feed daily. It says to take that sta...	Yes you can use AP flour for feeding instead of the much more expensive bread flour. I too refrigerate my starter, levain builds and bread dough to bring out all the sour that my starter can muster. My experience points to temperatures of 36F and 92 F mean that the Lab are outproducing the yeast between 3 and 13 time...
sourdough lack of rise HI, all, I posted earlier and really appreciated the responses. I did feed my king arthur starter around my schedule, and made bread using the extra tangy sourdough bread recipe last weekend. The bread came out pretty tangy, with a good sour flavor, but with relatively little rise during the...	Well done on achieving a nice Well done on achieving a nice loaf. Like you I have to proof in the oven at this time of the year. I usually do an overnight retard on the counter though and bake in the morning. If you want to prevent a skin forming you can use some oiled wrap, a damp tea towel, or I just use a plate to c...
Rubbery and Chewy White Sourdough Loaf Hello Bakers, I wonder if you can help, I am making progress with my sourdough bread making and have made a number of lovely brown loafs, but when I make a white loaf, the centre of the bread is rubbery and chewy. It also has the taste of crumpets. I used the Dan Lepard recipe an...	Sounds like outside baking faster than inside 210C (410F) is not too hot to bake bread at but I wonder if the placement of the elements is baking the top of the loaf too quickly before the inside is done.Since you mention an overnight retard in the fridge-Another thought is that the inside of the dough is cold when it ...
Sourdough Starter - How Much is Too Much? Hi all. I had a previous post on here with my first sourdough bread - Vermont Sourdough from JH.As mentioned before, I was happy with most aspects of the bread, just wish it had a more sour flavour. It was barely detectable.Now, I have seen recipes with all different amounts ...	These are the 'tricks' that we use to get a more sour taste.Use a Rye Sour starterUse 40% of the total weight of the dough as levainPut a little minced white onion in the Rye Sour Build in the beginning. 1 tsp will be enoughRetard the Rye Sour Levain for 12 hours in the fridge after building it.Use 5% each home milled...
Friends of Carl Sourdough starter I received my dried starter from Friends of Carl in August. I haven't used it yet, since I have plenty of another starter. How long will it keep until I activate it? I've been keeping it in its original plastic baggie in a cool, dry place in my kitchen.	Typically, years Dried starter should keep for years. How many will be determined by how it is kept. If you keep it cool and dry, as you've said, it should really last a very long time! But, if you have plenty of the other starter, you may never need the Carl's starter. I suppose it can make a good backup, in case you ...
Wanted: A Great Traditional Sourdough Panettone Recipe Hi folks. I'm after a tried-and-true traditional sourdough panettone recipe. I do have Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and his recipe looks excellent, but it uses dry yeast and I have to confess to being a bit of a sourdough purist. If anyone can help, woul...	Simili Sisters Recipe Hi Ross, There is a well-known Simili sisters recipe which was translated and adapted from the original italian recipe at this blog: http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/stories/4485754/ FP
sourdough newbie and king arthur Hi, allNewbie to both the site and sourdough, although not entirely to bread. I received a King Arthur's flour sourdough starter for Christmas. It said 'feed within 24 hours', and I was excited, so I started it.I realize there might be opposition to king arthur's starter, but it's what ...	Fussing Too Much "if I am constantly discarding half and then adding in 1/2 cup water/1 cup flour, won't it keep getting thicker and thicker?"1:2 is probably the most common ratio of flour to water for a starter; that gives you 100% hydration, which will produce a starter that is somewhat thicker than pancake batter. ...
culture and crumb? How do you get good ciabatta crumb? I recently took what I been using for pizza doe for a experiment and wanted to see if I would get large air pockets. It did not produce large air pockets, many smaller with a very light texture. It’s been a goal to get air pockets into my pizza crumb, but it did...	You want a wet dough You want a wet dough aomewhere around 80%. Loaves will look more like flat fread but bubbly when ready to bake. The oven spring at that point will give you the crumb you're looking for.
Tartine- do you return to room temperature before baking? Hello all. The NYT article says to return to room temperature before baking and after cold retard. Presumably this could take several hours and over proof the loaf. I have always skipped this step and would be interested to hear what other do. Thank you.	i also bake straight from fridge i think baking straight from the fridge helps with oven spring (got that idea from somewhere on here… maybe a search would bring it up if you’re curious).i agree that it seems difficult to get the proof level correct if i were to bring it back up to room temp. i also find the cold dough...
Turning out from bannetons I've had several encouraging successes following the advice I received here a few weeks ago - particularly from Benny and Mariana. Thanks again, folks :-)One area where I still have difficulty, though, is in successfully turning my proofed dough out onto Challenger parchment paper and then li...	Since you are using a Since you are using a parchment paper, have you tried putting the parchment paper on a cookie sheet, inverting the cookie sheet and parchment paper onto the banneton, then turning the whole assembly so the dough just falls gradually out of the banneton, then remove the banneton, and use the cookie...
Advice needed So I just took the plunge into Tartine sourdough the other day. I've been making yeast breads for almost 20 years and I'm ready to bring my bread to the next level. I made my starter to the specifications in the book and I've begun to realize after reading around here, that they might be lacking a bit in ...	Your mix is too thin. Half and half. flour and water is by weight not volume. Flour weighs about 140 g per cup and water weighs 240 g a cup. What you want is equal amounts of flour and water by weight. Once you thicken it up then all will be well. in a few days you will see it rising and falling as the good wee bea...
Another Newbie Question So I have a nice active starter now. So.... can I use it for whole wheat & rye or do I have to have a starter for each? I thought It just provided the sour and wild yeast but I have seen many posts that talk about specifically rye or whole wheat. Any help would be appreciated.	You can totally use one You can totally use one culture for all manner of bread, I'm not familiar with a dedicated WW chef and if you ever want to make 100% rye breads (that are naturally leavened) you will need a rye chef, but other then that one culture should do ya for the vast majority of your wild yeast needs.
Bake-At-Home Sourdough at Costco?? Stays good for months? Costco just recently started carrying a three-pack of bread made by "The Essential Baking Company" that intrigues me on so many levels. It is shelf-stable (non-refrigerated), organic bread that supposedly will keep for months in their special packaging without m...	gas-flushed? I would imagine the packaging will be flushed with CO2 Mylissa20. This prevents microbial activity as the organisms need oxygen to move around. It is a common technique used in cake packaging.Best wishesAndy
Not growing!! Haven't made starter in a while, first time in the winter. It's not growing. I threw out the first try. I put the current batch on a shelf above a heat register hoping my issue is it's too cold. I also ready somewhere that when it's cold, it helps to feed it twice daily. House stays 66-70F depending on if...	"Wait. Your starter will "Wait. Your starter will rise!" (Daniel Leader, Local Breads)
Fast No-Knead Sourdough Is it possible to make a no-knead sourdough without the long proofing, i.e., in one day. I usually proof mine overnight in fridge and bake the next day. Can the bread done in 8-10 hours?	Add a little bit more starter Add a little bit more starter and keep it in a warm place and you should be good. The crumb might not be as uneven and it probably won't be as tangy, but you should still get a decent loaf.
Sourdough Starter Question I'm new to making sourdough bread. One thing I'm confused about is whether to pour off and discard some starter between each feeding. I store my starters in the fridge until ready to use and put them on the counter for a few days before baking. Do I pour off some of the starter after I tak...	Do I pour off some of the Do I pour off some of the starter after I take it out of the fridge, feed it, and then continue to pour and feed until ready to use?Yes!
Fresh Starter - Peaks so quickly My question is simple...Is it common/normal for a starter to peak (double) and then begin to collapse in less than 4 hours. It is my understanding that your supposed to knock down and refresh (feed) your starter at it's peak going from strength to strength. I am not home enough to feed ...	Thank you for your comment I will try that tonight
Under Cooked bottom and quick 2nd prove Hi All, I have only been baking bread for a few months and have now made 4 sourdough loafs using Dan Lepard's starter and method.I have 2 problems that I am not sure how to solve1) I am cooking my loaves in a UK Fan oven on a metal tray with a pan of hot water in the bottom of th...	Try putting the metal tray in the oven to preheat upside-down or if it is bright and shiny, use a dark tray upside-down. Use parchment and slide the loaf onto the hot tray using wood or sturdy piece of cardboard.and/orTry placing a dark tray upside down on the bottom of the oven (baking on a tray above it) if the ins...
What haven't I tried to get a sour taste Can't get my sourdough sour. I've tried: stiffening it, long cool rise, adding rye, adding vinegar, extra feeding, starving it, and probably a few other things. Usual routine is approx 50% hydration, store in fridge all week, refresh a few times before baking sat or sunday. It's...	Retard dough If you want to increase the sour taste of the bread, try retarding the dough. Make your dough, then place it in the refrigerator for a day or two. Form your loaf and bake it. If that is not sour enough for your taste, then increase the time of retardation and also retard the final loaf.I once made some ...
Ready to try first loaf Ok i have 2 starters that seam active one rye and one with bread flour. The rye shows bubbles on the bottom and the bread flour starter shows a lot of bubbles at the top i guess the rye one is heavier. They have been going about 2 weeks should be ready i think although they don't smell sour? My ...	For the first try I guess it depends on what kind of "try" you're wanting to do. You could just take a recipe you already use with yeast, and do four things:1) Remove the yeast from the recipe and replace with some starter2) Reduce the water in your recipe by the amount in the starter (If you're planning on using 200g ...
Underproofed or overproofed? Hi fresh loaf communityCan someone please tell me if this bread looks overproofed or underproofed? I have been using a new flour and having trouble getting loaf with good volume/nice crumb70% hydration15% starter/levainTemp 26cBulk proof approx 5.5- 6hrs 3 stretch folds 30mins followed by 2...	Over. My guess is just a little over-proofed and under-hydrated. Both due to the use of a portion of rye flour, or whole-grain flour, or high-extraction (contains more bran) flour.Inclusion of rye or bran/germ via whole-grain or high-extraction flour boosts the fermentation rate. To compensate, you can decrease the %...
New Starter smells Like old beer. Well I'm not really sure if it smells like alcohol or sour since I'm not really sure how its supposed to smell. I have been feeding it once a day for about 6 days. It has doubled and even tripled but I read that if you keep doing it you will develop a more sour starter. I have also hea...	@Timbo ... method? Timbo:Need more info on how you feed, etc. Are you discarding about half of the spent starter? What ratio do you use to feed? (I recently tried 1:2:3 (starter:water:flour) What kind of flour do you use? How long does it take to double? What is the temperature that you let it ferment at?Regards-Dave
I killed my starter... I have had the same mother starter going since June 2008 when I created it with the pineapple juice method. A week ago I looked in the back of the fridge and remembered that I hadn't fed the starter for a few weeks, and made a mental note (big mistake for an old guy, LMAO) that I needed to do tha...	Close call You got lucky with the dried starter. Funny that your culture developed mold though, with the pH it usually has mold shouldn't develop. By way of experiment I removed part of my mother culture a couple of months ago and stored it in a small pot in my fridge without touching it for 9 weeks. It had a layer o...
Flat sourdough I have been nursing a sourdough starter since this summer. I initially followed PR's instructions from ABED and then started following a modified feeding schedule in line with the one in Laurel's Kitchen's desem instructions. So, I feed a little on Monday, let it sit on the counter for a few hours before...	Those pesky thiols! Check out this thread and the link to Debra Wink's post about thiol compounds: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34074/dough-liquifies-also-newI had a problem similar to what you describe after I had neglected my starter in the refrigerator for a few weeks. I began refreshing my starter on my kitch...

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