Hello
I have taken some great advice and used Sourdoms recipe and hints and my starter is looking fantastic. I used 100g of freshly milled wholewheat flour and 100g spring water.
It is 14 days old, been living in a styrofoam box with a lamp on it (approx. 8hrs) @ 30C. About day 7 it was smelling absolutely great - lovely yeast smell and was doubling in size with holes galore. It now seems to be slowing down and I am
wondering if I have missed the peak, and if so, will I get it back?? Should I be putting it in the fridge now and only feeding once every couple of days or so??
If it is time for the big bake, can someone give me a great recipe to try as I am a bit nervous using any one of my
'normal' bread recipes!!
Cheers
Monny
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Replies
Monny,
How often are you feeding the starter now that it seems established? If it's not in the fridge you'll need to be feeding it probably 2-3 times a day depending on it's hydration and the temperature.
You could probably drop the temperature a bit a lot of people like to maintain their starter the low to mid 20's rather than 30.
It's time to bake when the starter is good and active (over the first couple of months you''ll probably notice that it becomes more stable and reliable) and just before it starts to "drop"in the jar. You can tell it's dropped when the middle is lower than the sides (rather than the domed top as it rises up the jar) and a bit crinkly and the starter starts to drop back down the jar (leaving a high tide mark). If it's just started to drop it'll still bake fine.
As for recipies, there are some good starting recipies in Doms beginners blog, or you can search through the recipies section of the forum.
Regards
Matthew
I usually stick a little tab to show the original level, then give my starter (out of the fridge) 2 refreshments over 18 hours and that should be enough for it to bubble to double, at the very least. If I gave it another refreshment, I expect it'll try to escape out of the jar...has happened before. But double is good enough for me. And, I don't worry too much about catching it on its way down either, as I know it'll have lots of food in the dough mixture.
All the best, monny!
Thanks Matthew and TeckPoh.
Wow, I certainly haven't been feeding it enough as it is out of the fridge and about 20C now. Sometimes I still put
on the lamp for a 30C hit for a couple of hours.
I will give it a feed and then put it in the fridge I think.
As for the recipes, yes, I found quite a few on the recipe section of the forum. I just happen to be doing things
back to front lately and typing before looking.
Cant wait to show you my first effort at baking a SD loaf!!!
Thanks
Monny