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Re: Sourdough starter

"Mike Avery" <mavery@mail.otherwhen.com>
Sun, 15 Jun 2003 00:06:50 -0600
v103.n029.2
On 13 Jun 2003 Cindy Chiu <cychiu@ctimail.com> asked:

>If a recipe call for say, 1 cup of starter, will the raising power varies 
>from one starter to another? If so, there may be a need to varies the 
>raising time by judgement. Then, does it means that sourdough bread cannot 
>be prepared in ABM because it is all automatic? I have no experience of 
>making sourdough bread. I am just playing around with flour and water 
>hoping to come up with a "starter" but I am very skeptical whether it can 
>really raise my bread, because it looks very weak with a little bubbles 
>only. Has anyone successfully create a starter from just Flour and water? 
>Wish to hear some comment.

Oh my... so many questions in one short note.  And so many of them verge on 
religous topics.  For more in depth answers, I'll suggest my web page, and 
the links to better sites that are on it.  Look at 
http://www.sourdoughhome.com  You might also see if you can subscribe to 
the rec.food.sourdough usenet newsgroup.

And now for some answers.  Starting with the last question... YES, you can 
make a starter with just flour and water.  And it is the recommened way to 
do so.  Some people suggest using baker's yeast.  However, it can't 
tolerate the acidity of a starter and soon dies.  At that point, the 
starter slows down until a better yeast colonizes the starter. Some people 
suggest using grapes (organic grapes), cabbage leaves, or other strange 
flora on the theory they have yeast on them.  Again, that's true, but it's 
the wrong kind of yeast.  It's a yeast that lives on grape sugars or 
cabbage sugars, not a kind that lives on flour.  So, the starter takes off 
fast, and then slows down until the right kind of yeasts take over.  It's 
faster to just use flour and water.  There's a page on my web site about 
how to start a starter.  However, I strongly suggest beggining sourdough 
fans get a known good starter from any of the sources I list on my 
page.  Until you know what a healthy starter looks like, you won't know how 
to tell if a starter you capture is a healthy one.  And when you have 
problems, you'll wonder... is me, or the starter?  So, get a known good 
starter.  That way, you'll know it's you. <g>

As to bread machines, it's very hard to make sourdough in a bread 
machine.  For a sourdough flavor to fully develop takes many, many 
hours.  16 to 24 hour fermenations are not uncommon.  Another interesting 
problem is many bread machines "nudge" the dough by moving the paddle a 
small distance during the rise.  This helps conventional bread.  And causes 
sourdough to collapse.  A common approach is to use a bread machine with a 
"bake only" setting.  The bread is started, and when the dough is kneaded, 
the machine is unplugged.  When the dough is ready to be baked, the ABM is 
plugged in and told to bake now.  Or, if you have a fully programable bread 
machine, you can work with that.  However, either approach destroy the ease 
that an ABM should deliver.  In short, sourdough and ABM's are not a happy 
combination.  Well, you ask, what about using regular baker's yeast to rise 
the bread with a sourdough starter? Given that yeast rises bread in a few 
hours and it takes much longer than that to rise sorudough bread, you might 
suspect that you won't get much taste in the bread that would suggest it's 
sourdough bread.  And you'd be correct.

Sourdough starter is very variable stuff.  It changes not only from strain 
to strain but - for most bakers - from batch of bread to batch of 
bread.  Consistent handling of the starter insures consistent activity 
levels of the starter.  However, this is hard for most home bakers to 
do.  So, you have to be flexible and follow the starter's lead.  It is very 
important to refresh your starter before using it to the point where it 
will at least double in height after feeding.  If it can't raise itself, it 
can't raise your bread.

As to starting a starter... there are lots of old husband tales out 
there.  I suggest you pick one way and stick to it.  However, here are the 
general rules of thumb..

1.  Organic.  Stone ground.  Unbleached.  Unsifted.  Unenriched.  Whole 
Wheat.  Rye. The more of these words you can use to describe the flour you 
are using to start your starter, the better the chances of success.  Many 
people use a mix of coarse whole wheat and rye.  I'd start with something 
like 10 grams of each and 20 grams of water. Knead it, put it into a large 
container, and let it sit for 2 days or so.  You should see some 
bubbles.  (If you measure by volume, using 1 1/2 parts of flour and 1 part 
of water is about the same as a 1:1 by weight ratio.

2.  It's alive, don't starve it.  Once it shows signs of life, it's time to 
start feeding it.  Every 8 to 12 hours is the maximum length of time 
between feedings of a room temperature starter.  8 is better.  When you 
feed the starter, you should double or triple the volume of the 
starter.  So, if you have 40 grams of starter, you need to add 80 grams of 
food (perhaps 20 grams whole wheat, 20 grams rye,40 grams water).  Stir it 
well between feedings.  Feeding too infrequently and feeding too little are 
the two most common problems when someone tries to start a starter.

3.  Good heavens, it's a monster!  If you keep tripling it's size, it'll 
fill your swimming pool pretty quikcly.  As much as it hurts, you should 
discard starter to keep the size manageable.  What's manageable?  That's 
your call.  But I'd keep it around 1/4 cup. Use the starter you discard to 
make pancakes, waffles, or bisquits.

4.  Switch it to white flour.  Once it's going well, you can feed the 
starter cheaper white flour.  The starter will be happy, and so will your 
budget.  Your flavor comes from a long rise, not from a taste in the starter.

5.  Yes, it is called sourdough, but it's not all that sour.  When your 
starter gets too acid, it's ability to rise the bread is diminished.  So, 
feed the starter often and triple it's size so it will stay sweet.

6.  The refrigerator is your friend.  You probably can't afford to keep a 
starter going at room temperature.  If you refrigerate the starter after it 
reaches it's peak height after a feeding, it's time to refrigerate the 
starter.  When it's refrigerated it can be kept for weeks or longer between 
feeding.  Pull it out a day or so before you want to bake, feed it with 
your usual feeding, wait an repeat.  It's not uncommon for a starter that's 
been refrigerated to take 3 or 4 feedings to be ready to be used in bread.

Hope this helps,
Mike
-- 
Mike Avery
MAvery@mail.otherwhen.com