I've been nurturing my first sourdough starter. It's been about six days and I have enjoyed the process of watching it go from a smelly mess into something that smells like sourdough. I have been using a mix of all purpose flour with rye flour at about a 2/1 ratio, 90% hydration, fed at 12 hour intervals. The weather and kitchen have kept warm since it's summer time. While the starter has a good, strong flavor (yeah, I tasted it this morning to see how its flavor profile was coming along), and bubbles form in its surface, I don't feel it has the yeast profile to properly leaven bread...yet. I've been storing it in a smallish plastic container with a lid (like half pint), and I do try to stir lots of air into it between feedings. I'm afraid to leave the cover off for more aeration as something not as nice might take residence. I have three questions: 1. Should I change the all purpose flour to bread flour? Would this help produce the leavening activity that I need? 2. Should I change containers, or how I cover it? 3. What other methods or additions could I use to produce a stronger rise in my starter? Any help or suggestions would be deeply appreciated!
Category:
Replies
After six days of feeding and activity I would think that you have more than enough yeast to do the job. I suggest that the next time you feed it, take the half you remove and use this to make some bread. This way you wont waste any of your culture and you will be able to determine if the baked bread is sour enough (or too much) for you. Unbleached bread flour would be better than all-purpose flour for feeding your culture. The yeast and bacteria come largely from the flour not the air so covering your container is quite appropriate. Good luck.
You can get a starter going with just about anything - the more variety the better. If you're going to bake with bread flour however, you will be better off converting your starter gradually to work with that, otherwise it could take a hit trying to work with a completely different flour.
I'm not sure why you're trying to stir air into your starter - as eyendall says, flour is the source of the organisms, not air.
As your starter matures, and providing you maintain a good feeding regime and schedule (I would say twice a day for the first few weeks), it will become more vigorous. It's not uncommon for starters to be muted in performance initially.
Thank you for the suggestions and comments so far! The idea behind stirring in the air was to assist the yeast in developing, not introducing more yeast cells. Does yeast benefit from extra oxygen? I think I read about it somwhere. I know it doesn't develop well with too much Co2 gas in the bread (which is one of the reasons why the dough is folded or punched).
I took one of the above suggestions and tried making a mini batch of bread with my starter. I made a dough with 60% hydration, 1.5% salt to 100% bread flour. I allowed this mixture to autolyse for about 20 mins to develop the gluten before kneading it. I covered it lightly with plastic and set it aside to prove for 4 hours. When I came back...it was still the same ball of dough that I placed when I started, albeit it developed a lovely sourdough scent.
I gave it a few more hours and noticed a few very small bubbles forming on top of the dough, but still no real rise. I don't think my starter was quite ready. In a mad scientist attempt to not waste any ingredients, I performed a dark ritual of sourdough heresy and kneaded a little yeast into the dough. I set this aside to prove and after a few hours -- still nothing. My guess is that the pH is a bit wacky from the starter so the yeast that I introduced isn't acting as it should. Nonetheless I placed the whole thing in my fridge, covered, to see what evil science experiment I'll have in the morning.
Hi Holo
The sourdough action - the production of lactobacillus etc - is primarily anaerobic, so trying to incorporate air is of no benefit. When you get to the dough stage, air is actually a disadvantage as it oxidises the carotenoids, reducing flavour.
CO2 is not a problem either - it's not something to get rid of. The reason you punch the dough down is about getting a more even crumb and to reinvigorate the dough (to produce more CO2 amongst other things).
I don't think it's necessarily heresy to add commercial yeast to a sourdough - though my view is that it should only be added in very specific circumstances when the process might benefit, not as a crutch for an underperforming sourdough culture. If the culture is not working properly, best to take the steps to fix it. In your case, I think it's just a matter of time before the new starter attains full vigour.
You are absolutely right! Today -- after the addition of a little bread flour -- the starter started to rise and bubble, to full and wonderous effect. In fact, it just blew the top off its container and produced a very satisfying bang. When it happened I was in another room, and I immediately knew what it was. The dough that I "crutched" with commercial yeast cold-fermented overnight and baked up into delicious bread. The sourdough profile was there but it wasn't as punchy as I thought it was going to be.
I'm quite thrilled my starter has finally hit puberty. Thank you, again, for the information and input!
Exploding starter, pubic starter... did you know it was going to be this exciting?
Yes! I imagine soon it'll be crawling out of its container to take over the world at some point.