[HN Gopher] My sourdough starter has twins
___________________________________________________________________
My sourdough starter has twins
Author : Tomte
Score : 190 points
Date : 2025-04-29 08:20 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (brainbaking.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (brainbaking.com)
| philsnow wrote:
| In the first image ("How old is [Stinkie] compared to the other
| _mumble mumble*_ starters? "), the cumulative age distribution
| mostly falls off as you might expect, but it looks like there's a
| very noticeable bump about 4-5 years ago. I guess people in
| Europe were making pandemic bread too.
|
| * I can't read Dutch
| uptownfunk wrote:
| I must say that making my own starter, and making pizza from
| this.. incredible. It has been a very fun and fulfilling journey.
| It is better than going out for me and I now have it dialed in to
| where I can crank out 12 pizza in an hour from my oven. We have
| friends over and it's a great time. The dough I feel like is also
| well adapted and suited to my particular environment and the
| flour I bake with and there is something unique in that this
| culture you can only get from me and my house
| amatecha wrote:
| Yeah, the sourdough my wife and I bake now is so fine-tuned
| that we haven't had better sourdough from anywhere. Indeed the
| sourdough pizza is insanely good! We make crackers, pancakes
| and waffles with the discard. Oh and chocolate chip cookies...
| freakin' glorious.
|
| We did the Tour du Mont Blanc hike (170km/105mi) last summer
| over 8 days, and we took one of our sourdough starters to let
| it take in the different particulates in the air all over the
| alps. Whether it makes a big difference or not is hard to say,
| but it was a fun way to hopefully bolster the "diversity" of
| the starter's makeup. It is indeed a very strong starter that
| we get great results from. I would have been really curious to
| submit it to this study, had I the chance, because we've taken
| it all over the place now!
| proteal wrote:
| This is a brilliant company idea! So happy it exists.
| Aloisius wrote:
| _> I wonder what might happen if I was to feed it twice a day at
| room temperature for a month or so._
|
| If that S. cerevisiae is from accidental contamination from
| commercial yeast, it'll probably stay dominant. Commercial yeast
| is a bit of an overachiever.
|
| Temperature matters though. You only really see San Francisco
| style sourdough cultures, with L. sanfranciscensis cooccuring
| with K. humilis yeast, in bakeries that regularly backslop at
| room temperature and never use commercial yeast. That's not easy
| for most home bakers.
| hersko wrote:
| How can you see what type of yeast is in your starter? Are
| there ways to test?
| notorandit wrote:
| > The graph shows five different vertical bars
|
| Actually 6
| schrectacular wrote:
| "Five different bars containing unique combinations of typical
| sourdough classes, with the sixth bar being the combination of
| your own starter."
| vintermann wrote:
| How's that for a startup idea: 23andMe, but for yeast. So 16andMe
| I guess.
|
| Seriously though, I love stuff like this, and wish biotechnology
| services were more accessible for regular people. Probably not
| much of a market, though!
| ljf wrote:
| I will assume most people reading this are already sourdough
| bakers - but if not, baking sourdough can be extraordinarily
| simple, easy and cheap - give it a go!
|
| All you need to flour and water to make your starter, and a
| little salt for baking. I've got my (BakeWithJack style) process
| down to about 10 minutes (across 30mins) in the morning, 12 hours
| proofing, a few folds then into the fridge for 12 hours, then
| bake. A loaf lasts us 2 days and I can do the dough or bake while
| getting the kids ready for school.
|
| My wife offered to get some sort of bread machine, but it is the
| process that I love as much as the bread (same as brewing beer).
|
| This guy made baking really simple for me
| https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos
| AnonHP wrote:
| Thanks for the link. It has hundreds of videos though. Any
| specific videos you'd recommend to get started and to fine tune
| it?
| ljf wrote:
| Hey,
|
| Try this series from him that is a great intro:
| https://youtu.be/vmb0wWKITBQ?si=S3MVF8qyKLOuCHmq
|
| I was then inspired by
| https://youtu.be/ZxCf39G_7pY?si=Mf5dfcZIngyXCuEY
|
| The worked up my own process below through seeing what worked
| for my flour and starter:
|
| 100g sourdough starter 300g water (cold and filtered) 12g
| fine sea salt 10g olive oil 550g white and brown bread flour
| mixed (I use 200g brown, 350g white)
|
| Morning of the day before (24 hours), or on the night before
| (12hours) you will bake: Feed the sourdough starter 50g brown
| bread flour and 50g water. Make sure that this is at least 12
| hours before you plan to make the dough, allowing time to
| double in size and form a very bubbly starter before using.
|
| Morning: Measure 100g of bubbling sourdough starter into a
| bowl, add 300g cold water and whisk with a fork for 1min. Add
| 12g salt and whisk briefly again until the salt is dissolved.
| Add 10g olive oil and 550g flour and stir until all flour is
| mixed in, at least 2 mins of mixing. Use your (wet) hand to
| complete the mix. Leave for at least 5 minutes then gently
| lift and fold one corner of the dough into the middle, rotate
| the bowl 1/4 and repeat. Fold the dough 4 times then cover
| and leave for 15 mins and repeat the folding, before one
| final folding 15 mins later, before leaving to proof for the
| rest of the day.
|
| Proofing: Cover the dough, let it proof (rise) for 10-12
| hours at 16-19c in the kitchen. It only needs to double in
| size - you don't want it to over proof.
|
| That evening: Shape. Check your dough, and when it has almost
| doubled in size, it is ready to stretch, fold, and shape.
|
| Wet your hands, and bring the dough in from the corners of
| the bowl, then reach in from each side and lift up the dough
| in the middle, letting it stretch down front and back. Let it
| stretch for 15 seconds, then fold these two dropping sides
| over itself, turn the bowl and repeat until folded this way 4
| times.
|
| Shape roughly into the loaf you want, onto a lightly floured
| parchment-lined bowl - if your shaping has formed a seam, put
| the seam side up and pinch it closed. Cover and this in the
| fridge overnight.
|
| The next morning preheat the oven to 225c - if you have a
| cast iron pot add this to the oven to pre heat with the lid
| off.
|
| Remove the proofed loaf from the fridge, and add any cuts or
| slashes to the loaf before baking.
|
| Place the loaf (still on the parchment paper) into the cast
| iron pot, cover and bake for 20-25. Remove lid, and bake
| 10-15 more minutes, until very deeply golden. For my oven
| total baking time is 35 mins, 25 covered and 10 uncovered.
|
| Remove from the over and the pan, then remove the parchment
| paper. Let it cool on a rack for at least an hour before
| cutting.
|
| If you don't have a cast iron pot you can bake in two
| roasting trays placed face to face, or you can bake just on a
| baking tray, uncovered - if so add a small pour (20ml) of
| boiling water to the base of your oven, every 10 mins for the
| first 20 mins (at start, at 10mins,and at 20mins).
|
| Iterated from these instructions (with videos of the folds)
| https://www.feastingathome.com/sourdough-bread/#tasty-
| recipe...
| piva00 wrote:
| As an alternative, I can recommend Hendrik's "The Bread
| Code": https://www.the-bread-code.io/
|
| He has a very simple beginner's recipe on his YouTube
| channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqU-ylXWUs
|
| It's the resource I shared the most with friends who asked me
| how to bake sourdough breads, even though I didn't learn the
| basics from it I really like his style of teaching, concise
| and thorough at the same time.
| Spellman wrote:
| I also highly recommend The Sourdough Journey for a lot of
| the science and showing how different variable can affect the
| results.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMNnFRtsaxxzZsbxK3yAj.
| ..
|
| His chart showing Temp and Time for Bulk Fermentation gets
| referenced A LOT. Key is higher temp means faster bulk
| fermentation.
|
| https://thesourdoughjourney.com/tools/
| amelius wrote:
| I just wish there was a way to make it taste less ... sour.
| orthoxerox wrote:
| Get a bread machine if you don't like the sour taste.
|
| Or bake a basic no-knead loaf. I would mix the dough in the
| morning and bake it in the evening.
| ljf wrote:
| Proof then bake soon after - I find the sour flavour develops
| more the longer I leave it to rest in the fridge.
| iainmerrick wrote:
| If you don't like sourdough, you don't need to make
| sourdough!
|
| Use baker's yeast instead. That doesn't limit you to basic
| recipes -- there's a vast range of interesting stuff you can
| bake. You'll usually need to make a preferment with flour,
| water and yeast (a "poolish" or "biga") so the overall
| routine is very similar to sourdough.
| inferiorhuman wrote:
| You don't have to make bread. My current favorite thing is
| sourdough English muffins, but King Arthur has a whole list
| of recipes that use the sourdough discard. The sourdough
| pancakes are excellent, especially after you drown them in
| maple syrup.
| mweibel wrote:
| sourness is depending on quite a lot of factors - amount of
| water in starter, how long you proof, temperature etc.
|
| I also prefer less sour breads and since I started using a
| stiff starter it's much better than more liquid ones. I still
| haven't found the perfect recipe yet but it is possible.
|
| A good intro into the difference of starters is at the bread
| code: https://www.the-sourdough-
| framework.com/Sourdoughstartertype...
| eadmund wrote:
| Unfortunately 'sourdough' has come to mean two things: on the
| one hand it is a general term for all wild starters; on the
| other it is a particular term for actual sour bread, most
| particularly that made from a San Francisco starter which
| spoiled in the 19th century.
|
| Like you, I find the latter really quite unpleasant (to the
| point that I really am surprised anyone willing eats San
| Franciscan sourdough). But wild starters can range from
| tasting just like ordinary commercial yeasts, to tasting
| similar but with a richer flavour, all the way to the funk
| that we both dislike.
|
| I have never had a San Franciscan sourdough in Europe, so I
| doubt that this sourdough is the nasty (to my taste -- many
| folks love it) kind, but maybe there is some subculture of
| inedible (again, to my taste) European breads. More likely, I
| suspect that this is just a good wild starter.
| japanuspus wrote:
| I use a mix of bakers yeast and a wet (1:3)
| starter/sourdough. Just 2g yeast/kg flour makes a huge
| difference, even with 150 g starter.
|
| My wet sourdough is 1 part flour to 3 parts water. As noted
| in a sibling comment, this favors the sour parts (lactic
| acid?), but compared to a dry starter, there are significant
| advantages the the starter/yeast combo:
|
| 1) Feeding the wet starter takes 10s: pour flour and water
| onto leftovers and stir quickly with a spoon. No sticky stuff
| to deal with.
|
| 2) The starter seems exceptionally stable, maybe because of
| the water layer: I only wash my starter jar every two or
| three months, and the 10g or so that I put back in the fridge
| after starting a dough, will last for weeks and consistently
| restart overnight when fed
|
| 3) Being able to independently adjust yeast-levels in a
| predictable way, means that I can easily play with sourness
| levels and adjust leaving times when I have to match the
| timings with other activities.
|
| There is the downside, of course, that I need to keep bakers
| yeast in the house as well...
| nyeah wrote:
| You can. Twenty years ago "sourdough" didn't mean the
| finished bread was particularly sour. But people's
| expectations have changed, maybe because of the name. And
| it's easy to let the bread get very sour if that's the goal.
| FunkyDuckling wrote:
| Sourdough doesn't need to be sour!
|
| I think the main factor for this is how "mature" your starter
| is.
|
| After feeding your starter it will expand, then collapse,
| then grow more sour. I generally time it so that my bread
| isn't as sour.
|
| If I am baking soon -- larger leftover starter and smaller
| feed. if I am baking tomorrow -- tablespoon or so of starter
| with bigger feed to get my leaven.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| As I understand it it's mostly the balance between lactic
| acid and acetic acid bacteria. There are different ways you
| can encourage the balance to shift one way or the other and
| they have different growth patterns under different
| conditions so timing your bake around it can work but may
| have other compromises. The yeasts are important too and
| are on yet another schedule.
| chickensong wrote:
| As others have indicated, this is indeed possible. A common
| technique that helps with this is to make a levain the night
| before. I use 1 tbsp of starter into 200g flour and 200g
| water. The levain develops overnight and becomes a "young"
| starter the next day. This produces a less tangy bread,
| compared to using a larger amount of full-strength mature
| starter.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| It's not really substantially different priced than yeast based
| bread baking
| ljf wrote:
| Agreed - though before I baked I thought sourdough was
| complex process that likely needed stuff I didn't have to
| hand, and assuming getting a starter would require and Etsy
| order.
|
| I bake 'normal' bread on occasion but since we all prefer
| sourdough and it costs so much in the shops for good
| sourdough, it is my go to.
| iainmerrick wrote:
| I'd like to add one piece of advice that I don't see very
| often.
|
| You tend to see pictures of sourdough starters in big jars.
| _But you don 't need a big jar!_ A tiny amount of starter is
| enough to get going.
|
| Each time you feed it, the size multiplies, so you can start
| with a teaspoon of starter and make enough for a big loaf in
| just a day or two. When I'm in a bread-making routine, I keep
| like 10g of starter. One feed brings it up to ~50g, another
| feed to ~150, and that's enough for a loaf (saving 10g for next
| time).
|
| If you keep your starter in a big jar, it'll just go to waste.
| Keep it small and you'll never need to throw any away.
|
| On more than one occasion, I've made sourdough pancakes or
| something, and forgotten to save some of the starter. The
| tiniest scraping of uncooked batter from a leftover spoon is
| enough to keep it going -- just mix it with flour and water and
| the magic happens.
| ljf wrote:
| Totally this! I was using huge jars when I first started and
| making massive levain - now just 10g in a jar, 50g water and
| flour as you say and it is good to go.
| inferiorhuman wrote:
| Yeah I just use a wide mouth pint jar. Stays in the fridge
| until I feel like making something with the starter.
| torvald wrote:
| > If you keep your starter in a big jar, it'll just go to
| waste. Keep it small and you'll never need to throw any away.
|
| I tend to make <<sourdough discard crackers>> if I have
| leftovers. It works well timing wise, I'm in the kitchen
| doing the initial stretching of my loaf anyways.
| troyvit wrote:
| Those crackers are the absolute best!
| rpicard wrote:
| My wife makes sourdough discard cookies and they're
| amazing.
| chickensong wrote:
| This is the way. Here's a recipe to get the curious going:
|
| - 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard - 1 cup
| (113g) White Whole Wheat Flour or WW Pastry Flour - 1/2
| teaspoon salt - 4 tablespoons (57g) butter, room
| temperature (or 50/50 butter/olive oil) - 2 tablespoons
| dried herbs, of your choice, optional - coarse salt for
| sprinkling on top
|
| Mix well and knead briefly. Let sit out for 30min-6hrs.
| Roll out thinly, cut (deep score) into rectangles, prick
| w/fork, brush with water and sprinkle flaky salt on top.
| Bake @ 350 for 20-25 min
| rfrey wrote:
| The other thing I'm surprised people (by which I mean makers
| of youtube videos) seem to worry overmuch about is feeding
| the starter. Everyone gets out the scale and has some view on
| ratios - 20g flour to 35.23g water or whatever.
|
| Put a heaping tablespoon of flour in the starter, add enough
| water to make a paste, stir and you're done. Not enough
| water? Add a bit more. Too much water? Meh, add a bit less
| tomorrow.
| nchmy wrote:
| In addition to youtubers, there's also a bunch of people
| who have nothing better to do with their lives than
| frequenting sourdough forums - reddit, facebook groups
| etc... - insisting to all newcomers that if you don't
| cultivate your starter with lab equipment in a Clean Room
| over the course of 6 weeks, you'll absolutely die from
| botuliusm.
|
| Ive been making sourdough multiple times per week for 7
| years and I do as you do - just make a thick paste, in
| increasingly large quantities over the course of 2-3 days
| before making the full batch of dough. I do weigh the dough
| measurements since I have a scale, but I could totally just
| do it by eye/feel.
|
| I make very large batches and once the dough has started
| rising while doing periodic stretch and folds, I just put
| it in the fridge and then take it out and bake a bit over
| the course of 5ish days. So, I really just make a batch
| once a week.
| randomNumber7 wrote:
| Absolutely. When I bake bread I just keep a rest of sourdough
| starter (~ a tablespoon) and in the fridge for the next time.
|
| It also doesnt need this long amount of resting like some
| people believe. I can start with the tablespoon old sourdough
| and add 60g flour + 60g water. After like ~5h it will be 3x
| in size in a jar. Then I make the dough with all in all 600g
| flour and 72-75% water (more with more whole wheat flour).
|
| The dough rests ~4h is then formed into a bread and then
| rests ~3h before beeing baked (assuming around 25degC while
| resting). The times really depend on the activity of the
| starter and temperature, but it isnt that hard to learn to
| "see" the right time. It clearly increases in size the first
| time and also the second time. Too long is also not good.
|
| If it is too sticky you need to learn to knead the dough.
| Since the dough has a high water content this is done more in
| a lift up and folding motion, since classical kneading would
| stick too much.
|
| The final bread then looks like normal german bread that you
| could buy in bakeries, before everything went down the
| shitter. (Assuming you add 20% wholemeal flour). If it is
| 100% white flour it should be almost as fluffy as toast or
| you are doing it wrong.
| bluGill wrote:
| Unbleached flour. My attempts at making starter failed until I
| got unbleached flour.
| ljf wrote:
| Brown flour is brilliant, and already has plenty of wild
| yeast in it.
| bluGill wrote:
| I'm not sure what brown flour is - at least where I live in
| the US that is not something I've ever even heard of
| before.
|
| I know that our whole wheat flour is sometimes bleached.
| This doesn't change the color (much?), but it kills a
| number of nasties and thus makes raw flour safer. (you
| should still never eat raw flour, but if you do bleached is
| safer... I know many people do eat raw flour, but there are
| some things can can hurt/kill you if it isn't cooked). I'm
| not sure if whole wheat is what you mean by brown flour or
| not.
| dsr_ wrote:
| To a first approximation, nobody eats raw flour.
|
| Flour is cooked in a pan with fat to make a roux; a roux
| plus broth can become gravy.
|
| Flour is cooked in a pan with liquid to make pancakes or
| crepes.
|
| Flour is cooked in an iron to make waffles.
|
| Flour is cooked in an oven for baked goods.
|
| Who do you know who eats raw flour, other than by
| accident?
| im3w1l wrote:
| I used to eat the batter that had stuck to the walls of
| the mixing bowl with a teaspoon as a kid. It had both raw
| flour and raw egg.
| alt227 wrote:
| Flour is used to make food not stick to cooking and
| preparation surfaces, therefore lots of raw flour is
| eaten intentionally on the outside of baked goods (bread,
| pizzas etc).
| roboror wrote:
| Baked goods don't need flour to not stick, it's added on
| the outside before baking.
| lmm wrote:
| People eat raw cookie dough deliberately unless they know
| not to (it's delicious).
|
| When a pie or soup is too wet people may add flour at a
| late stage in the cooking process, when it won't
| necessarily get fully cooked.
| not_wyoming wrote:
| Um, _what_?
|
| Baking has been a major hobby for 15 years. I know the
| dangers of raw egg and flour but licking the
| bowl/beaters/spoons is still a major highlight of many of
| my recipes. And, of course, there's always raw cookie
| dough.
|
| Maybe not the smartest choice for longevity and health,
| but yes, eating raw flour is _totally_ a thing!
| Spellman wrote:
| I assume they mean Whole Wheat Flour. The hulls contain
| lots of wild microbes which helps the starter get going.
| Similarly people recommending Rye.
|
| The key though is finding unbleached flour.
| misiti3780 wrote:
| I feed my start with bleached flour but ever week feed it
| with whole wheat. this works for me
| rfrey wrote:
| The only thing that's tough is the timing. It's gotta sit for
| an hour before slicing, which means if it's to be ready for
| school lunches it has to go in the oven at 5:30.
| eitland wrote:
| Yep.
|
| It is one of my life hacks: when I know I can/have to bake in
| the morning I find it much easier and much more enjoyable to
| get up at 0500.
|
| (Before I used two alarms, one that could only be defused
| with a barcode next to the sink on the bathroom + an
| (un?)healthy dose of self discipline. Now I enjoy it.)
| e40 wrote:
| Does the amazing smell of bread baking make it easier for the
| kids to get out of bed?
| misiti3780 wrote:
| As a sourdough baker, I wouldnt say it's easy to make good
| bread consistently but it's not super hard to learn. As long as
| your starter is in a decent place and you take your time with
| the stretch and folds, you will arrive with something edible.
|
| I split my time between the north near canada and miami and
| fermentation works a lot differently even indoors in the winter
| in Buffalo vs Miami in the summer :)
|
| This is a good video for learning the process:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| I've tried to get a starter going multiple times, but it
| eventually gets to a point where it doesn't grow. It just forms
| a pool of liquid on top whenever I feed it, and never grows
| again afterwards. I've never been able to figure out why.
| dottjt wrote:
| The bit I always struggled with sourdoughs is the baking part.
| It would just never bake correctly and end up either exploding
| (large pocket of air) or be some kind of subterraneous sponge
| cake. I've never had this issue with baking regular yeast
| bread.
| d1sxeyes wrote:
| Sounds like you might be over proving it. If you're at a high
| altitude, or live in a warm place, or it just keeps
| happening, try knocking half an hour off your proving time,
| and keep going until it starts getting worse.
| taneliv wrote:
| This caught my eye:
|
| > reverse is true for that twin in Finland where rye is more
| predominant than wheat
|
| Calling yield of 26 mtons predominant over 869 mtons[1] seems
| like an exaggeration and maybe barley was meant instead of rye?
| Or I'm misinterpreting something.
|
| [1]
| https://vyr.fi/app/uploads/2024/01/inengl_1ca381b_Production...
| Etheryte wrote:
| Knowing Finns, I'd wager that they mean rye flour is used more
| for bread than wheat flour. They're not talking about general
| production of flour, but usage in bread.
| taneliv wrote:
| Ah, that would make more sense. But even so, wheat seems to
| be three times more popular than rye:
| https://ruokatieto.fi/wp-
| content/uploads/2023/09/Tietohaaruk...
| ninalanyon wrote:
| milli-tons? Isn't that kg?
|
| It should be Mtonne or just Mt.
|
| Why is it so difficult for writers on economics to understand
| SI prefixes?
| Smar wrote:
| I had thought rye was used for sourdough starter outside of
| Finland also.
|
| Rye based starter can be used for wheat bread without problems,
| but it may make sense to feed it some wheat beforehand.
|
| Also if you can find Finnish (== white colored) rye flour,
| consider baking some sourdough Finnish rye bread.
| 4gotunameagain wrote:
| Calling Romania Greece is US levels of geographical ignorance.
| Impressive.
| aloe_falsa wrote:
| > the uniqueness of your starter is defined by the local climate,
| local flour, and the way you feed it to keep it alive. The
| weather in Greece is much warmer...
|
| There's actually a word for this: _terroir_ -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir
| trkaky wrote:
| I thought there was millions of different kinds of bacteria and
| yeast inside a sourdough, in fact there are only a few..
| arichard123 wrote:
| How surprising to find this here. I've just started making
| sourdough bread. It turns out that I can't make it like the local
| bakery, but actually, that's fine. I had to really think? Do I
| like open crumb? Actually no! I want sandwich bread.
|
| I've been exploring what I can get away with. Leaving the bread
| to rise overnight on the counter? Yep. It's fine. Leaving the
| starter for 2 days instead of feeding every day when it lives on
| the counter. Sure - no problem. Knock it back or just quickly
| shape. Doesn't matter. Bake at 1.5 or 2 or 2.5 the size. It
| doesn't matter enough.
|
| Things that are not fine, shaping the bread, leaving it to rise
| in the oven which is on a timer and then the oven turns off but
| I'm not back for an hour to take it out. Crust too dry!
|
| Your mileage may vary of course. But sourdough just seems so much
| more forgiving than a fast acting yeast.
|
| I've yet to see if I care about a difference between a proper
| knead after the first rise or just a quick shaping. It's quite
| fun trying the different possibilities.
| mariusor wrote:
| In my household we have "Starterday" for Friday - when the
| starter gets fed, "Riseday" for Saturday - when the dough gets
| kneaded, shaped and left to rise, and finally "Bakeday" for
| Sunday, when the bread goes in the oven early in the morning. A
| 1.5Kg loaf usually lasts until next Bakeday for both me and my
| partner.
| kaishiro wrote:
| How do you keep the bread fresh/edible for the entire week?
| I've been baking sourdough for only a few years now - but I
| find that after 2-3 days the bread is basically ready to
| become breadcrumbs no matter how I store it. Lately I've
| actually started slicing it two days after baking and
| freezing the slices so that they can be re-toasted to stretch
| things out.
| amluto wrote:
| I'm suspicious that an open crumb has little to do with the
| dough per se and a lot to do with large air bubbles being
| trapped in the dough while it's being folded and not getting
| popped.
| p00ter wrote:
| This is very interesting. I purchased what is claimed to be a 400
| year old German / Bavarian culture and it's one of the most
| prolific I've ever had. I really enjoy the heartiness and it's
| ability to live in the fridge for a few weeks when I'm not using
| it (yes I know, bad parenting). I'd be really curious to see how
| it would compare. Very cool read, thanks a ton.
| 01100011 wrote:
| I tried to supercharge my starter by putting a small piece of
| pineapple in it to see if it would pick up some more wild yeasts.
| I'm pretty sure the pineapple had bread yeast on it because now
| my starter is as active as commercial yeast and lost all of its
| sourness. I even tried putting yogurt kefir in to give the acid
| producing bacteria a foothold and slow down the yeast but no, the
| yeast continue to dominate.
|
| Oh well, time to start over.
|
| I generally have good luck with whole wheat + dark rye flour.
| Takes a week or two to get started.
| yumraj wrote:
| I'm genuinely curious how important regularly feeding the starter
| in the fridge is if you're not a frequent baker?
|
| I leave it in the fridge, unfed for weeks/months, till I decide
| to bake. I take it out, feed it 50g flour and 50g water, leave it
| for a day or so and then use it. After using, throw a bunch, add
| another 50/50 and put it in fridge for the next time.
|
| Has anyone noticed changes in the quality of the starter/bread if
| they don't feed regularly while in the fridge.
| Zeebrommer wrote:
| From experience, the bread has a better rise when I feed my
| starter for three or more cycles/days after storing it in the
| fridge. As if it needs to "wake up" and increase its speed of
| metabolism.
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