It is when the starter has the most leavening power how much rise it will give to the bread. This will generally result in a better rise in your bread but with a more balanced flavor of sourness to sweetness. Once the sourdough starter has peaked, it will start to run out of food, and hence start to lose its leavening power.
In fact, using it at this time will actually be when the starter has the least amount of leavening power whilst still remaining active enough to raise the dough. In conclusion, if the priority in your bread baking is simply to get the biggest rise, then using it at its peak is best. But if you want to adjust the flavor of your loaf to be sweeter or more sour, then using the sourdough at its respective activity levels is a good idea.
If you want to take a break from feeding your starter every day, have a read of my guide about how to store properly so that it requires no maintenance. Sourdough bread can only be baked once the sourdough starter has become strong enough. It usually takes a few months for it to mature enough to make bread. Check out my article here for inspiration on how to use up any excess sourdough starter you may have. Sourdough starter needs to be revived after spending time in cold conditions such as the fridge.
It can be revived by feeding it every 12 hours for a couple of days, or until it shows signs of being active again. Great article! I have a question please: do you keep your sourdough starter at room temperature? I keep mine this way too, but I don't discard. Instead, I gradually build up my weekly dough. I adjust the hydration gradually at the last couple of feeds. Before baking, I keep a spoon of dough as mother for next dough build up. Did you try this?
Is there any articles you wrote about this method? Yes, I keep my sourdough starter at room temperature, and I also don't discard. In fact, I do exactly what you do! I do this because I hate to throw away perfectly good starter. If I end up with too much starter I use it for other recipes see my recipe section. I am planning on writing some more articles on different ways to maintain sourdough starter so watch this space!
Currently I am experimenting with different ways to store sourdough starter if you want to take a break from baking, so that article is coming soon We would look for information that was repeated in multiple sources to build confidence, and we would look for signs that the sources were known for being trustworthy. In a stretch of sorts, that principle of building confidence applies in a strange way with starters.
We are simply building evidence that the starter is likely ready, by looking for a few key things. Like as if we were building evidence for an article being trustworthy. Time and amounts used being the key things to look for and compare. So look around at a few different recipes online to find the ratio they are using, and how long they say it takes to become ripe. From there you can piece together a range for yourself.
For us, based on our own experience over a couple of years of tracking and looking at other recipes, we got to the hour mark whenever we feed our starter straight from the fridge and leaving out on the counter to become active.
That time is consistently right when use between 50 to grams of our starter to grams of flour and grams water. The closer we are to 50 grams starter to grams flour and water, the closer to 8 hours it takes at room temp to become active enough. The other end is true as well. The closer we are to grams starter to grams flour and water, the closer to 6 hours we get.
Once you have the time frame down, that is the first bit of evidence you are looking for. If enough people say that time frame with that amount of feeding works for them, it likely will translate to your home as well.
However, you still want to see a few other signs to build confidence. Is it bubbly? Has it risen two to three times in volume? Within your time frame? Then yes, it should be trusted to be ready. On the other hand, if it goes too long and starts to fall, you want to catch it before dropping too far. If it goes down by a quarter it is likely less active then you want. Unless your recipe specifically says let if fall before using. This is active starter that's also ripe, ready to be added to bread dough to perform its sourdough magic.
After mixing it into dough, then some rising and folding, the dough can be shaped and refrigerated overnight to be baked tomorrow. An important thing to note about measuring sourdough starter: The more bubbles in it, the less a cup of active, ripe starter weighs. Measuring by volume can mean you have more or less starter in your cup, depending on where it is on its growth curve.
That's not a deal breaker for your recipe, but having a different amount of starter than called for may change the rising times and finished size of your loaf. To be sure you have the lifting power you need, measuring ripe starter by weight is always a better choice.
Once you gain confidence that your starter is vigorous, you can move its "get ready" feeding to the evening, knowing your starter will be ripe next morning to mix into your dough. Your sourdough baking adventures await. We have lots of ideas more than recipes to help you navigate this tasty and rewarding style of baking.
Be sure to visit our sourdough guide for more in-depth information about creating, maintaining, and baking with sourdough. At Sift , we live and breathe baking, and hope you'll join us. Baking together is always more fun. She does demos, appearances, and answers food and baking questions from all quarters. Is it possible or adviseable to use teff in the sourdough process, either in the starter or in the bread?
Hi P Lewis. Teff is not something we typically suggest using in a sourdough starter but if it is ground up into a flour it can certainly be used to substitute some of the All Purpose Flour in your feedings. Happy Baking! Should a ripening starter on the kitchen counter be covered? I keep my cultures in Mason jars in the refrigerator. I generally loosely screw the jar top on while it is ripening. Is this correct?
I live in a very dry climate. Hi Robin, Yes, a light covering of the jars or containers to keep dust, pests, etc. It should be loose enough to allow the gasses given off by your starter's fermentation to escape, preventing any possible build up and breakage from that gas. Does it matter how much starter is left after discarding half? Also, after the starter is ripe, and part of it has been used in a recipe, do I need to feed it right away before putting it back in the fridge?
Hi Kelly, the amount of remaining starter does matter in the sense that if you have a huge vat of starter and discard half, you'll still end up feeding a relatively large portion of starter a smaller feeding, which is likely to cause fermentation to happen more rapidly.
In warmer months, or if you live in a warm climate, you may notice that your starter ripens very rapidly, which sounds like a good thing, but can lead to depressed rising over time. This is because when your starter is stored at room temperature ideally you want to replenish feed it when it's at its peak of rising or just starting to fall in order to keep yeast activity vigorous.
Allowing the starter to fall significantly between feedings can lead to sluggish yeast activity. If your starter is peaking after only a few hours this could mean feeding several times a day, which gets a little crazy. In order to slow down the ripening process and keep to just 2 feedings a day, you might want to try something more like or starter:water:flour, by weight. And remember, you're reducing the starter portion here, so adopting this type of routine doesn't require using up more flour!
When you return your starter to the refrigerator we recommend giving it one more feeding and then letting it sit out for a few hours, or until it starts bubbling, before placing it back in the fridge. Hi there, In your bog you state " Once you gain confidence that your starter is vigorous, you can move its "get ready" feeding to the evening, knowing your starter will be ripe next morning to mix into your dough.
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