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?

@YummyInMyTummy :) Yes, leaven is starter. Leaven just means the thing you use to make your baking rise. It's from 'levain' in French, I think; also we talk about unleavened bread, meaning bread which doesn't use yeast (bakers' or natural).
Good luck to all you new sourdough bakers! It's so much fun. Just baked my weekly batch :))

Amazing bread on this thread Am having a bash at my first fougasse today. We'll see how that goes!

Thank you!

Oops, couldn’t tag @CaptainNelson for some reason!

@orangina OMG I didn't realise you were still to make your first loaf! HOW exciting! I've been baking for a couple of years now and I still get a rush of excitement every time a beautiful loaf emerges from the oven. Enjoy

There's a lovely book called English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David. Great for lockdown!! It mentions that the 'starter' was the first method used in bread baking many thousands of years ago. So you're all in good company!

I’m addicted and my starter is now bubbling and doubling, but I only have wholemeal and plain, no strong white (can’t find at all and not turning up in my Ocado shop). Should i still give a first loaf a go with a mix of wholemeal/plain?

How much starter do you have going at a time??

Each recipe I look at for a loaf seems to use a different amount, so not sure how much should be kept going at one time?

My "mother" starter is about 175g at 80% hydration.

The amount called for in recipes is made up the night before use by simply adjusting how much I feed I my starter. In other words, the night before use, I decant 2/3 of the starter and feed it [flour (x)+ water (.8x)] = the amount needed for the recipe. After use, I just feed it a small amount and put it back in the fridge.

Just discovered the joy that is sourdough. Made our first loaf yesterday and it’s a thing of beauty and wonder!

I use Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe from the guardian. It’s really given great results.

@Mominatrix ooo that makes sense, thank you! Going to try my first loaf this weekend 🤞🏻

You'll all be thinking I'm lazy for not prepping my own starter BUT my excuse is that we have a baker (and actual grower of organic spelt\wheat flours) in the next village!! We order and collect a beautiful sourdough spelt loaf every week !! It's long enough to cut in half and freeze to last the week.

I do think it's important to keep the local artisans going!!! In France.

Arg someone help! I separated out and fed some of my Starter to try my first loaf today, but it never bubbles up or looked ready. It almost is hard around the edges? Is there any saving it?

Mine has only frothed up once....after the second or third day, but it is very bubbly...like an aero iyswim, like a raw crumpet!

I made another batch yesterday, proved it all day then divided into three...two pizzas and put the third bit into my little oval banneton and left it to prove on the kitchen table overnight
I also popped it into the freezer for almost an hour....I read it as a tip if you are worried it might flop due to over proofing, anyhoooo, it was such a cute teeny loaf and now it's allll gone, we had it slathered in butter with our supper .

There's always the Paul Hollywood method of adding a few chopped grapes to help a sluggish starter get going again.

Successfully baked my first loaf, with many thanks to all the tips on here. My starter was very active and frothy and definitely doing the doubling thing - I used wholemeal for the starter to get it going, fed at night and morning before baking. Flour sourced at great expense from fancy deli (Bayley and Sage) but Dove box coming today. DD says better than Gails!

That loaf looks amazing 😍my starter has died on its ass.well its still alive but only bubbling on top and barely any rise. So frustrating. I'm following a method a friend has which works for her

I fed my twice daily for a couple of days (sat & sun) and that seems to have livened it up a bit...it was always bubbly, but this morning it had noticeably crept up the sides of the tub...maybe try that @Myshitisreal ??

I made more dough this morning and I am proving a third of it in the instant pot just to see how that goes, compared to the one I'll bake tomorrow.

Can anyone share their timings/fridge or not for occasional bread baking? Mine is in the fridge happy but I am not sure I'm getting it right.

My first loaf was a complete fail. Like a dense brick. 😩

Need to track down more flour so I can try removing half/feeding twice a day with my starter to liven it up more...

Can anyone help me please? I followed the ilovecookingireland youtube however my dough has been proving for 3 hours and not risen or doubled in size. :-( I thought my starter was ready it was bubbly, I kneaded it until it was transparent, proving at about a room temp of 23C but I must have done something wrong. Can I rescue it at all or am I going to have to bin it?

I don't know if this helps, but I made mine this morning at tennish, and took off a third to prove in the instant pot ...my house is pretty chilly

let it prove for 4 hours, then out of the IP and some tucking and smoothing and into the small banneton and I let it prove some more until half six....then into a hot oven on a hot tray, with a dozen ice cubes in the grill tray underneath.

I am going to tuck and smooth the other two thirds, (that has just been in the bowl all day) before bed and put that into the bigger basket and leave it for its second prove overnight and bake in the morning

so to sum up, I'd probably leave yours overnight and see what its doing then

My first attempt at a sourdough loaf has just gone into the fridge for its second prove. Fingers crossed. The starter took well over a week to be ready. I nearly gave up and binned it. I can now see why a sourdough loaf is so bloody expensive to buy!

Hi I would stick it in the fridge and look at it in the morning - it should be puffy then. Photo of my dough pre fridge and then after - it had large visible bubbles and felt puffy