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Sourdough Starter

With the help of Liz Miu, I've managed to capture some wild yeast into a really aggressive starter I've named Carter the Starter. Here's what I did to grow him from an angry not healthy starter to an extremely happy and active starter.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Servings: 1 Starter
Author: Lisa Le

Ingredients

To begin the starter:

  • 100 g whole wheat or wholemeal rye flour
  • 100 g water

Day 2-5:

  • 70 g of previous starter
  • 100 g whole wheat flour/Rye flour
  • 115 g water

Day 6 - Weaning onto AP flour:

  • 70 g previous starter
  • 90 g Whole Wheat/Rye flour
  • 10 g all purpose flour unbleached and ideally organic
  • 115 g water

Day 7-8

  • 70 g of previous starter
  • 75 g Whole Wheat/Rye flour
  • 25 g All purpose Flour
  • 115 g water

Day 9-10:

  • 50 g of previous starter
  • 50 g Whole Wheat/Rye
  • 50 g All purpose flour
  • 100 g water

Day 11+ - Maintaining the Starter:

  • 25 g of previous starter
  • 50 g Whole Wheat/Rye flour
  • 50 g All purpose flour
  • 100 g water

My current feed (for 80% hydration to slow down the starter)

  • 5 g of previous starter
  • 25 g flour mix 2:1:1 of rye : whole wheat : all purpose flour
  • 20 g water

Instructions

  • To begin the starter:In a tall glass jar like a 1-pint or 1 L mason jar, combine whole wheat flour and water. If I were to do this all over again I'd probably just do a combo of both instead of just whole wheat because rye was the game-changer for my starter to be consistently active and strong.
  • I mixed well to ensure the flour is completely hydrated, used a spatula to scrape down the sides, and used a rubber band to track where the mixture begins so I could track how much it expanded. I covered loosely with a lid (these days I just use a silicone lid) and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
  • Day 2-5 of Refreshing + Building Starter:I started to see activity almost immediately, but this is just the beginning of capturing the yeast so I discarded about half (I use a new jar and add 70 g of the previous starter to it, then discard the contents of the old jar), and then added AP flour and water (as per the King Arthur Flour recipe). This caused my starter to freak out because I just shocked it with completely different flour, so if I were to do this again, I'd use the amounts listed in the ingredients for this stage. Anyway, at the time, I stirred to combine, ensuring all flour is hydrated. Scraped down the sides with a spatula, added a rubber band to track growth, covered loosely with a lid and let set for 24 hrs.
  • Once I started to see my starter deflate around 12 hours, I switched to 12 hour feedings instead of 24 hrs. For you, this could happen on day 3, or day 5, you will just have to watch to see the activity.
  • The easiest sign is if you see a clear, almost alcoholic liquid on top, that means your starter has eaten through all the flour and is releasing that alcoholic liquid. Pour off that clear liquid (also called hooch), then increase your feeding schedule to every 12 hours, using the same amounts in the ingredients, only increasing in frequency. My starter started smelling sort of tart and fruity, and then kinda alcoholic/paint thinner (because he was hungry), then kind of like bananas, and finally once the balance of yeast was setting, he started to actually smell like traditional sourdough bread!
  • Day 6 - Weaning onto AP flour:Once my starter was established and healthy, I wanted to wean it onto AP flour so it'd proof well in most sourdough recipes (as most call for AP flour). Liz Miu outlined this schedule to wean my starter onto the new feed.
  • I took 70 g of the previous starter (discarding the remainder), then added 90 g Whole Wheat/Rye flour (I recommend a 50/50 mix), and 10 g flour, then add 115 g water. Again, mixed well to ensure all is hydrated. Scraped down sides, cover edloosely, and marked the growth with a rubber band. Let rest for 12 hours, then repeated the discarding and feeding amounts again. Covered loosely, marked with rubber band, yada yada.
  • Day 7-10:I repeated the same discard and feeding schedule at 12 hours, but the amounts transitioned to my current feed as I was slowly reducing hydration and weaning the starter onto all purpose flour. Use the amounts as per the ingredient list.
  • Day 11+:At this point, you've got your ratio down to 1:4:4 (1 part starter, to 4 parts flour mix and 4 parts water). This is the maintenance for a super strong basic starter, and I found myself feeding every 12 hours when it was normal, coolish weather (18 C). That's it! My starter at this point was ready to bake with.
  • However, once the summer days started rolling, I found my starter SUPER active and eating through all the food at around 8 hours, so I switched to an 8 hour feeding schedule. I then switched my feed to a lower hydration level (listed at "My Current Feed") to slow down the feeding schedule, and eventually reduced it down to a microfeed of 5 g starter, 25 g flour mix, and 20 g water, so I could stop using as much flour.

Notes

Instead of using a new jar every time you feed your starter, you can instead weigh the jar before you begin, and simply subtract that from the full weight of the starter + jar. Then you'll have the weight of the starter itself, then you can take out enough starter according to the feeding schedule marked above, and then continue using the same jar. I highly recommend using a spatula to scrape down the sides of the jar to keep it clean once you've fed your starter.