I have a very good starter sitting in my fridge, made some pretty good loaves with it.
I just have a bit of difficulty bringing it from the fridge to a recipe. What needs to be done to get a cold starter ready for making dough? I have seen a hundred ways of doing it but would like to settle on a nice standard protocol.
Suggestions?
Replies
Hello Valdus92.
This is what I do. Say I need 180g of 100% starter for the levain. The night before I bake, take the stock container out of the fridge and extract 90g from the jar into a Pyrex jug (500ml capacity) and add 45g flour and 45g water and mix in, cover and leave on the bench until morning. Then I add 45g flour and 45g water to the stock container and mix it in and put the container back in the fridge until next time.
That's it.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
I think I may have it, worked really good last night.
Using Emmanuel Hadjiandreo's book "How to bake bread", I found the most straight forward method. Take a good tablespoon from the mother in the fridge, put it in a glass bowl or jar, fill with generous cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water (I used a whole cup), cover and let sit overnight. Next morning take your measurement of proof for your recipe.
Simple, straightfoward, and made a wonderful puff and froth the next morning. Started a basic sourdough from Ed Wood's book "Classic Sourdough".
I had not realized that the starter in the fridge (and I have over two cups of that) is your mother, your base, your starport using just a tablespoon to start. I was throwing the fridge starter, all of it into the recipe.
Also, Hadjiandreou says to put a teaspoon of flour and water back into the mother.
Hi Valdus92,
Good to hear you have a system that works for you. More ways to kill a cat than choke it with butter!
Basically the same, just the quantities differ.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
UPDATE: I made another post about this starter. It never finished. This bread just did not rise at all, only a bit in the final baking. Dang I thought I had it.