Discarding a starter necessary?

Ladislav,

I am the same, and I hate to toss out a portion of my potent starter. I don't believe there is a way around not taking half the starter out, however, there are certainly ways that I have found to use that bit your pour off. I have become quite creative in finding ways to make the excess starter useful.

For example, pancakes, pizza dough (and freeze it), I have dehydrated it as a backup starter, and mostly, I experiemnt with the 100-200 grams of extra starter I have after feeding and this has lead to the creation of some tasty recipes. I hope my ideas help.

 I don't see any reason to waste starter, and I never pour it down the drain.
If you make bread every week, the portion that you use in your bread is the portion that would be discarded, if you were simply feeding it.

If you have too much, then you need to keep less starter in the first place, or make something with what you are flushing away.

There's only so much pancake and pizza dough most people can consume.

If you work out the cost of the flour in the starter you're discarding, it's not much. I just put it down to part of the cost of making bread, which is very low - especially for the quality you're getting.

If you're really worried about it, it's surprising how small a starter can be and still "work". You just build it up when you want to bake.

I'm surprised to see you only discard half of your starter - it's usually much more. As I understand it, that method would result in much higher acidity, which maybe is what you want?

Kym.

 I puzzled over this myself until I realised that the problem was one of terminology. What you develop in the jar by regularly discarding and feeding is your CULTURE. That takes several days, even weeks, to create. What you eventually take from this to make your loaf is your STARTER. If you bake weekly then you only need to refresh your established culture once a week. (I have neglected it for as long as two weeks without adverse effect). It will keep well, covered, in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to make bread, refresh your culture and put it back in the fridge for use next time, keeping the discarded amount to make your starter.

Take the amount of culture you have discarded (for me it between 100-250grams) and add flour and water to it to produce your starter (also called preferment).   Let  it bubble and froth over several hours at room temperature, then add the final amount of flour and water to make up the finished dough; fold and stretch the dough adding salt as you do so. You could probably create a good starter (preferment) with as little as 50 grams of culture). 

To make the final dough I use the 1:2:3 formula . To 300 grams of the finished starter I add 600 grams of water and 900 grams of flour. At high baking temp this produces a very nice crusty country-style loaf.

 Ok here is what I have been doing.  I feed my storage starter once a day.  The size of my storage starter is 20 grams.  2 grams is saved each day and feed 6 grams of water and 12 grams of flour.  The storage starter is kept at room temperature.  The "discard" is placed in a container and placed in the fridge.  I make a huge loaf, 2300 grams, every week that I use to make sandwiches from for my lunch.  I just add my discarded starter into the dough of that loaf and I have no waste. 

I am relatively new to sourdough and I was wasteful at first before I finally got the rhythm down. I keep a very small amount of starter in the refrigerator, about 50 grams. On baking day, I pour out 33 grams of the cold starter into the mixing bowl and mix in 33 grams of flour and 33 grams of water for my loaf. I let it wake up for 3 to 4 hours. At the same time, I add about 15 grams of flour and 15 grams of water to the "refrigerator" jar and leave it out next to the the mixing bowl on the counter. Then, when I am ready to make the dough, I pop the refrigerator jar back into the fridge.

Those portions suit my personal baking needs, but you get the idea. I bake a sourdough loaf at least once a week. Because I put the culture in the fridge after about a 3 hour wake up, it doesn't take too long to revive whenever I want to use it.

My first post here...

 Just to add one further idea - I compost my discarded culture.  I figure it feeds my family one way or another.  (This also helps me justify the produce that sometimes does not get used before it becomes compost!).

[quote=Ladislav]

Hi everyone,

I have found (as probably most of you have too) that discarding a half of the starter when feeding is really necessary for building-up  a healthy and vigorous bacteria colony. I take out a portion every Saturday and bake a bread from it but as it isn't enough, I still have to waste some (more feeding added then taken out).

Call me a penny-pincher but personally, I really hate sending it down the drain...and I can almost hear the poor bacteria screaming too :)  But obviously if I try to keep most of it - the starter becomes very weak...and then ultimately useless (the "acetone smelling stage").

Has anyone found any way around it?

Thanks

Ladislav

[/quote]

I never discard starter when I feed it. I use a large container, and use more starter in my bread, I get the benefit of a more sour loaf by using a larger starter. If it fills the container, I move it to the fridge to slow it down. I never need to throw it out.

 well, to tell you the truth, I use the slow, cold method of composting, which means I may not know if it does any actual harm, but I figure that any natural decomposition or growth processes that go on will work toward the ultimate health of the compost...

You can make waffles with your excess starter. I found this fantastic recipe this morning and made waffles for lunch! Delicious!!!

Sourdough waffle recipe from King Arthur's Flour 200th Cookbook

Combine 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 2 T sugar, 2 cups buttermilk (warmed slightly) and 1 cup sourdough starter.  Let this work for a least 2 hours, best is to let it work overnight in the fridge.

Beat 2 eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil, and 3/4 t salt and 1 t baking soda.  Blend into the sponge.

Ready to cook in the waffle iron, or as pancakes.

I used plain yoghurt instead of buttermilk.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/lessons/sourdough#comment-5071