Calling sourdough starter experts!

[stclair]

As I can’t find yeast for love nor money, I’m on day 3 of a sourdough starter (from bbcgoodfood recipe). What I am confused about is the pouring off of half the starter when ready to bake. Is this to be used to add more flour and water to keep the starter going? Otherwise It seems wasteful! If it isn’t, why pour it away?

I've had this recipe recommended on reddit. www.francomanca.co.uk/stories/sourdough-recipe/

So my loaf turned out well i think. Would need to be bigger for sandwich purposes but pretty pleased

Next loaf has to wait til the weekend. Gonna go for a no knead spelt recipe I saw on YouTube. *

Myshitisreal* that looks great. How did it taste?

So after a few starter disasters and a first loaf which looked ok but tasted a bit 'meh' (I didn't add nearly enough salt...), I have finally cracked it I think! Val the 3rd is a very active starter (now living in the fridge), and I followed Seamus Blackley's twitter tutorial (will link later) and bake in a dutch oven (aka a lidded casserole dish). I am SO pleased, as I am really not a baker. TrudiLavigne I managed it! The bread is DELICIOUS....

Seamus Blackley link here

Ahhh nice look forward to seeing how you get on. I love seeing everyone's progress. I was really worried about the shaping, i need clear instructions so I used the method from this video about a minute in

That King Arthur video is quite informative so I've made a mental note to watch more. I like to know what to look for and understand a bit better and there's so much to bloody know!

Next i want to try introducing some wholemeal or rye flour. I would really like to stick to the method/recipe I know and adapt it accordingly. Also intrigued about adding flavours etc when to do it and how.

Please if anyone can help please do 😊🥰

I found it so great my starter came back to paas the float test the same day it was taken out of the fridge. I took pics of it at peak and post peak of anyone would find it helpful? Mine isn't this crazy spongy bubbly monster I see on Google but it does pass the float test so 🤷‍♂️.

I use my starter (about 25gr of it) as a base for a levain, and feed that 80-90gr flour and water and let it double or more in size. Then it is super active and elastic and smells delicious. Then I add it to the water and olive oil (where it floats like a weird alien creature), and then I add the flour. I have a friend who has been baking for years who just uses her starter direct into the dough. Sounds more efficient time wise (it can take between 3-8 hours for the levain to rise properly), but don't know what effect either method has on the final loaf.

Hi all sourdough experts, please help. I made a starter using this method ,

The starter worked really well ( all very bubbly) and I also followed the recipe for the load. But it did not work. I kneaded it for ages (at least 20 mins ) using a stand mixture but and it did come together but was it was a glutinous sticky mess. It did proof (according to the timings on video) and rise but when I tipped it out onto a baking sheet it just spread out and stuck to to the banetton so i chucked it away in disgust. What a water of flour! I have been baking bread for years but it just didn't feel right. I am asuming the hydration was too high? Anyway I would love try again so please let me know a very simple recipe to start off with.

Hi looking at the recipe doesn’t look like too high hydration. I do think the low knead approach is easier with a soft and sticky sourdough, maybe try the Dan Lepard one? Or a no knead approach (Bread ahead have a recipe and their book is discounted at the moment to £5).

After 5 days my starter took off. Made bread yesterday and mixed results. Looked more like a big biscuit but texture and taste was good. Wouldn't hold a loaf shape and spread, so did I add too much water or not enough flour. Followed the Paul Hollywood recipe.
375g/13oz strong white flour,
plus extra for dusting
250g/9oz sourdough starterr_
7.5g salt
130-175ml/4-6fl oz tepid water
olive oil, for kneading.
Any comments greatly received.

Does anyone use the discard ? What do you make ? (Currently trying to see if Norman is still alive and following the Seamus link thanks @orangina )

I have given part of my discard away to friends who using to make their own discard, but apart from that, no. I have plans to make crumpets, but I haven't managed it yet.....

Sorry, to friends who are using it to make their own starter.... duh!

(maintaining appropriate social distancing etc etc.... )

Yes - my neighbour has some !

Crumpets and pancakes.

And here's the finished product ... cooling as I type.

Dough rose quite rapidly last night (it was on a heating mat) so I decided to whack it in the fridge overnight. Took it out this morning, allowed it to get to room temp, then shaped, popped into a (annoying oversized) casserole dish and ... voila !

Thought I was being clever using a smear of olive oil to prevent it sticking ... but it stuck. Next time cornflour as suggested.

So that's soup & bread for dinner !

This should have been added to my post before.

Sorry for repeat. Easier to start again combined with pics.

After 5 days my starter took off. Made bread yesterday and mixed results. Looked more like a big biscuit but texture and taste was good. Wouldn't hold a loaf shape and spread, so did I add too much water or not enough flour. Followed the Paul Hollywood recipe.
375g/13oz strong white flour,
plus extra for dusting
250g/9oz sourdough starterr_
7.5g salt
130-175ml/4-6fl oz tepid water
olive oil, for kneading.
Any comments greatly received.

Grrr, can you give the times for your kneading, bulk fermentation, 2nd fermentation, etc.

Your loaf does not appear to have much structure so I think that your bulk fermentation stage was inadequate - this is where you are building up the strength of your flour (glutens). What did you do and for how long?

@Mominatrix I followed this pretty much or so I thought. I must admit I found it hard going. I'm buying a whisk which happens to come with dough hooks. Are they any good with sourdough or is it best to do it manually?

This is a good recipe to start baking sourdough bread. It is much less labour intensive and more reliable than active kneaded starter loaves. No dough hooks necessary.

With time, you can adapt and tweak it to get different crumb structures flavours, flour mixtures. However, in order to do this, you need a reliable starter recipe to get a feel for dough and what it is like when it is at its Goldilocks moment.

I don't knead mine much after the original proving, I tip it out of the bowl and pat it about a bit and then gather it up into a ball with a scoopy sort of movement from the board and then keep smoothing/pulling it round in my hands....like it is falling through them but then gathering it up to a pucker

then I put it in a clingfilm lined and floured banetton, with a oiled layer over the top and leave it overnight to prove.

if I think it's gone a bit over and it looks soft, like it might run all over the tray I set it in the freezer for the half hour the oven takes to get really hot

then it goes in to the oven onto a hot tray with a mug of ice cubes in the tray directly underneath.

@orangina ...your loaf is BEAUTIFUL... I get all anxious about getting it back into the oven once it is out of the basket and just quickly slash a zig zag in it in a panic!

Fed it last night and now for the first time we have passed the float test! Very excited!

@Blackbirdblue30 what's the float test? 😳.
@Mominatrix thank you I would have left it overnight but thought it would overprice and hadn't a clue how to solve that problem. It definitely never resembled a ball, always a trying to escape of the tin. 😂

Apparently a spoon of it should float in a glass of water. It looked active last time but didn’t float. That loaf, my first, turned out awful.