When is starter ready

Cut the starter in half, use the same ratio of flour to water that you used to begin the starter. The other half discard can be incorporated into a recipe reducing flour and water by the amount of discard you have. The other half can also be used as the base for another starter batch that is on the same schedule for feeding as your original batch. Your second feeding should be small and does not require discarding any of your starter.

For mine, I use 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water thus I use 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of water for the evening feeding. I started a sourdough starter from scratch about 7 days ago. It more than doubled in size on day 2 or 3 and now it just barely doubles by the time of the 2nd feeding 12 hrs later. Is this accurate? Just a few comments to help others. Keep feeding and it will happen.

Sometimes, it just takes a while. I do have a question — once it gets fully mature, can I go to all purpose? Thank you. I started the first 2 days with whole wheat daily feeds and when I ran out of it, i used all purpose flour.

By day 6, it was tripling by 8 hours. Kept the discard in a large plastic tub for making rolls. Waiting for the starter to mature a bit more before tackling bread. You can look into different ratios and combinations of flours later on, as that becomes the real separating factor between good and otherworldly sourdough. Also temping everything in the beginning worked wonders for me. Melissa, thank you so much. My starter is fed every morning, bumbling but it separated on day 2.

It has a water separation in between. I fed it this morning with flour only, as I read that it has to have a consistency of a thick butter.

We live in Malaysia at the moment, so warmth is not an issue here Thank you again!!! Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Join 11, families served since ! Learn more here…. When you request this free offer, you'll be automatically added to our email newsletter. You can unsubscribe any time, no hard feelings. Table Of Contents. Download Free Recipe Now.

Bible-based cooking program Click For More Info. Comments This is so helpful! Any clue as to why the lack of sour smell or taste? This is an active starter, growing and expanding, producing bubbles of carbon dioxide. But it's not yet ripe at the top of its yeast and bacteria growth arc , nor at full strength for raising dough.

The same starter at 4 p. It's doubled in volume, and shows signs of just beginning to sag under its own weight. 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.

Adding it your bread recipe at this stage will cause the dough to ferment quicker. This will result in a sweeter tasting bread. Peak time is considered to be within 20 to 30 minutes of the sourdough starter being at the highest level in the jar. This is the most common activity level that is used when adding starter to the recipe. 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!