Make Your Own Sourdough Starter With Me! Page 2

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1. 

   gene March 27, 2018

   High Teresa,

   I watched your YouTube series on making your own sourdough starter, which I really enjoyed. My starter is on day 16. A lot happen this past week and I wasn’t able to bake my first test loaf. I’m feeding my starter twice a day with a 50/50 mix of King Arthur organic unbleached all-purpose flour and some flour I milled from hard white wheat berries. I’m feeding it with a 1:2:2 ratio at 100% hydration. I tested my starter today and it takes 6 hours to double its volume and that’s also when it starts to collapse back onto itself. So I’m guessing my starter is at its peak around the 6 hour mark.

   To get the best results from my bulk fermentation is it better to mix my dough around the 6 hour time frame when my starter is at its peak? Or will I get the same result by feeding my starter at 9pm and mixing my dough at 8am? Is there an advantage to waiting 11 hours between feeding the starter and mixing the dough? I’m sorry if I’m asking something you’ve already addressed.

   Thanks,
   Gene

   1. 

      Teresa March 27, 2018

      HI Gene, there is a variable time in which you can still use the starter because it hasn’t actually had a lot of the microorganisms die off yet. So you can use it before the curve around 4 hours and have a younger starter (which has stronger gluten) or you can use it at peak, which a lot of bakers like, or you can use it when it’s older as long as it isn’t so old that your dough timing is slowed down because it doesn’t have much yeast/bacteria brought to it.
      However, even then you can use it and it will just take longer and the dough will be a bit weaker from spent gluten. I would advise experimenting around with it so you can feel more comfortable with it’s limitations.

      1. 

         gene March 27, 2018

         Hi Teresa,

         Thanks for the quick response and very useful information! I tried an experiment with my starter today. I’ve been feeding it a 1:2:2 ratio (twice a day) and it peeks at 6 hours. So I figured if I fed it a 1:3:3 ratio it would take longer to peek. But to my surprise it still peaked to 6 hours. What am I missing? Will it always peak at 6 hours no matter what its fed (1:4:4 or 1:6:6) unless I put it in the frig?

         Thanks,
         Gene

         1. 

            Teresa March 27, 2018

            If your temperature, flour and hydration are constant, then the starter should take longer to peak as the food ratio is higher.

            However if you are working with tiny amounts of starter or small increases of food ratio, it may not show much difference unless the ratios are much higher/lower.

            For instance feeding 10 grams of starter with with 20 grams of water and 20 grams of flour might be almost the same as 10 grams of starter with 30 grams of flour and water. The amount is small, the room temperature, especially if it’s warm, would penetrate through the starter quickly.

            If however you had 10 grams of starter and 200 grams of flour and water or 10 grams of starter and 500 grams of both flour and water, you would definitely notice a difference.

            So if you want to notice a difference increase the ratio by a lot more, not just a tiny amount.

            Try even 10 grams of starter 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water.

            A warmer temperature will increase the fermentation time of any dough.

2. 

   Teresa January 25, 2018

   Good idea Philip, it might take me a while to listen through all of them and do a review, but it’s on my list. 🙂 Thank you!

3. 

   philby January 25, 2018

   A really great series of lessons that really helped fill in some of the gaps.
   Perhaps it would be possible to add a brief review of the subjects covered in each of the clips so that it would be easier to find a specific issue.
   Again, thanks for the time, the effort and the help.