I usually make a poolish, levain or preferment the night before baking bread, but wanted to try my hand at making my own sourdough starter and if successful, to keep for as long as I am willing to maintain it. Alternatively I also plan to dry some of the Mother and keep it in a sealed jar in a cool dry place when I might not be able to use it for months. When I need it again, simply rehydrate some of the chips and use as a normal starter would be used. At least that is the plan.
There are a multitude of sites to read and learn about developing your own starter and some say you can use it within a day or two but the longer it is fed and allowed to ferment the more flavour it will add to the product. King Arthur Flour and Kitchn sites have good recipes to develop your own starter as well as some nice recipes to use with the starter and discard:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe
I planned on leaving mine at least 21 days but gave in at 14. I am still pleased with the outcome and now have the Mother in the fridge and depending how often I plan to bake sourdough bread or sourdough products, I will feed it every 7-14 days.
I am not sure why I changed volumes throughout but the end product appears to be a good sourdough starter
Day 1
Thursday September 03, 2020
Mix together in Tupperware bowl with lid:
About 1 cup of organic seedless red grapes cut in half
1 cup dark rye flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups warm water
Cover and let sit on the counter checking occasionally and opening the lid
Day 3
Saturday September 05, 2020
I noticed it had peaked and fallen from the line on the side of the bowl (I did not have a marker) and there were some bubbles
Remove grapes
I decided to reduce the volume and transfer to a wide mouth mason jar. I had another clean wide mouth mason jar on hand to use for each refresh feed.
In a clean wide mouth mason jar:
100g starter
70 g all-purpose flour
30 g dark rye flour
100 g warm water
Stir and place lid on very lightly so as to allow air in and out
Place a rubber band on the level of the starter
Day 4
Sunday September 06, 2020
The line was visible where it had peaked and fallen so it might need more frequent feeding
In a clean wide mouth mason jar mix:
100 g starter
70 g all-purpose flour
30 g dark rye
100 g warm water
Cover, place rubber band on level
It was already starting to bubble and the smell is developing nicely
Day 5
Monday September 07, 2020
Cold snap this weekend so I put the starter jar in the oven with only the light on to maintain a steady temp. and noticed bubbles forming within minutes.
In a clean wide mouth mason jar mix:
100 g starter
70 g all-purpose flour
30 g dark rye
100 g warm water
Cover, place rubber band on level and place in off oven with light on
Day 6
Tuesday September 08, 2020
Not much activity and it does not appear to have peaked.
Fed this morning about 7 am and decided to feed again around 5 pm to see if it makes any difference; it might need more food.
5 pm feeding just added to existing starter and did not discard any:
70 g all-purpose flour
30 g dark rye
100 g warm water
Day 7
Wednesday September 09, 2020
Starter bubbling and working overnight so I think it needed more food.
Discarded all but 113 g of starter and fed:
70 g all-purpose flour
30 g dark rye
100 g warm water
Checked at 9 pm and it had exploded! Pushed the lid off the jar it grew so much so I know there is yeast and it is feeding.
Discarded all but 113 g of starter and fed:
50 g all-purpose flour
25 g dark rye
75 g warm water
Day 8
Thursday September 10, 2020
Overnight not much so I left all starter in the jar and fed:
50 g all-purpose flour
25 g rye flour
75 g water
In less than an hour it had bubbled to the top of the jar again.
It seems like it needs more starter left in the jar. Maybe I will try leaving 150 g starter and feeding tonight.
Feeding 2
~185 g starter
200 g water
150 g AP
50 g rye
Within an hour it had more than doubled. I have started adding the water after the starter then the flours and mixing well. Seems to help.
Day 9
Friday September 11, 2020
Will try less product and twice daily feeds for a few days to see how the fermentation develops.
Feed 1 morning
~80 g starter
80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Within an hour it was growing and almost doubled in volume. I think it is now reaching a stage of fermentation where the bacteria is regularly feeding on the yeast so it is a matter of maturing the product to a proper sourdough. As I am feeding twice daily I will reduce the volume used to 75g.
Feed 2 evening
~80 g starter
80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Day 10
Saturday September 12, 2020
Feed 1 morning
~80 g starter
80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Feed 2 evening
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Day 11
Sunday September 13, 2020
Feed 1 morning
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Tasted the product and it is very sour. The fermentation is working well and within about 2 hours from feeding it has almost tripled in volume to peak before falling. I am very tempted to use it now in bread but want to develop it at least one more day.
Feed 2 evening
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Day 12
Monday September 14, 2020
Feed 1 morning
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Did the float test and it practically bounced out of the bowl it is so buoyant.
Feed 2 evening
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Day 13
Tuesday September 15, 2020
Feed 1 morning
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
Feed 2 evening
~75 – 80 g starter
75 – 80 g water
50 g AP
25 rye
I decided to make a levain tonight and bake bread tomorrow.
Day 14
Wednesday September 16, 2020
Made two loaves of sourdough which turned out amazing!
One baked in a Dutch oven and one on a stone with misting.
Both fabulous.
Crumb and crust are great, sour taste could be more developed but it is distinctly sourdough. The starter is now in the fridge and I will feed weekly to bi-weekly depending on requirements.
Very pleased overall.
Check out my post on Dijon for more info and pics.
www.monicabernard.com