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?

@NoGravyForYou yum - think I might have to try that one instead of hot cross buns!

I just made the clever carrot hot cross buns. They are delicious and very light and fluffy. I skipped the cream cheese frosting cross and used a flour and water paste applied with a calpol syringe . They do taste a little on the salty side but I think I may have used salted butter www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/how_to_make_sourdough_08213

Forgot a photo. Didn't have the right sized tin for the recipe.

I FUCKING LOVE SOUR DOUGH

And the correct link is www.theclevercarrot.com/2020/03/sourdough-hot-cross-buns/

THREE CHEERS FOR SOUR DOUGH

I under proved my bread 😭😭 and my starter isn't as active as I'd like, so I'm going to give it a few more days of feeding and sitting on the windowsill and try again 🤞🏻🤞🏻

I just managed to nab a 16kg bag of plain (not bread) flour on Amazon. It doesn’t matter what time of day I go to the supermarket around here, it’s impossible to buy.

My sourdough starter has also separated into liquid and paste this afternoon! It doubled in size last night & has progressed today. I’m so excited

My starter is bubbling really well, however I've no strong flour

I did my HCBs they are very tasty but they really did not rise as much as I expected, or my usual recipe tbh....the dough was wet and sticky as the recipe said, but all they did was morph into a flat uber bun all over the tray.

anyhoo, I fed the starter again this evening, and am going to have a look at that cinnamon roll recipe ...it feels wicked to be throwing it away.

Ooooh. Hello! I’m so glad to have found you. I started my first starter earlier this week and am amazed that it’s working. I was considering making a loaf tomorrow but i actually have enough bread at the moment so I might use my discard for something else (pizza dough? Cinnamon rolls?) and keep the starter going for a few more days.

I’ve also just realised I need to name him...

I want to do this but google gives so many options to start!

Flour is at a premium so Id rather not waste it or do huge amounts to begin with. I so want it to work. I like the idea of a "pet"!!

Okay need advice please!
I'm on Day 5 and 'Stevie' has gotten real stinky (know that's normal) and separated with water/liquid on top.

I think this is the hooch? But I've seen both you just mix that in when you're feeding it and to skim it off?

Which is better??

So I put my starter in the conservatory and it went crazy - very bubbly and fuzzy to the point that it rose out of the container and over spilt (even though it was only two days old). Was that a mistake? Because it was bubbly - I poured some away and started feeding it but it’s only been a few days and so now I’m wondering if I’ve messed up with too much heat and / or feeding it too early. Will it be ok or have I just wasted a lot of precious flour?

@ps1991 the black dots look like bubbles to me which is a good sign. You are trying to make your starter give off carbon dioxide and bubbles in the mixture mean it's doing it

Do you have to use bread flour or does plain flour work for the starter?

Thanks @deplorabelle I carried on and fed it and it looks fine now :)

Plain flour is fine. You just need something starchy for the yeast to eat

Does anyone have a good sourdough pizza base recipe?

Nigel has been steadily growing stronger but I don't think he's quite there for bread yet. I'd like to do something with the discard and pizza Sunday is looking tempting!!

I would be interested in this too! Love aldi sourdough pizzas and would be great to try to replicate

well the starter perked up a little yesterday and so I set to and made the dough for the cinnamon buns, it barely moved overnight so let it sit in the instant pot on yogurt setting to get a bit of warmth and it did pouff up a bit

they were nice but not as nice as usual...however there's three of us here, I made 12 and they were all gone by 2 pm.

Looking at the starter it was livelier again by five ish today so I am going for the first loaf....it's mixed (used my kitchen aid) and sat until ten when it was nicely risen so I kneaded it into a lovely round ball and it is sitting in a fresh well floured teatowel in a bowl to prove overnight and be baked in the morning.

I re fed the starter and they are both in the sitting room window that catches the sun first thing

Posting more to bookmark, I started my starter (Ernest) today. Very excited, I've been sourcing bread from the bakery near work and with 3 pre-teens/ teens at home it's costing me a fortune!

I've had my starter since 2013. Originally, I followed the Paul Hollywood method to get it going.

I made this yesterday: it's chocolate(mix of dark, milk and white), nut and raspberry sourdough. It's really tasty, and not too sweet.

Wow you're all making me feel guilty for not starting my own yet! ('ve still got lots of dried easy yeast in the fridge ).

I did make a lovely gingerbread though

I started my first sourdough starter a week and a half ago, I baked my first loaf yesterday.

It was more beautiful that I could have imagined, I’m so proud of it.

Well done Jolly, I made my first loaf yesterday too.