Made my first loaves yesterday! They came out great but they were a little dense. I will plan to improve my stretch and folds. I also didn’t use a damp kitchen towel or shower cap when cold proofing – I just used a dry floured kitchen towel in a colander. I have since invested in banneton baskets. I’m thinking my stretch and folds should be better to increase tension and give more of a lighter dough?
Now that I’ve made them, I have have 300 grams of inactive stater I left out at room temp (65 degrees F in the Northeast). I would like to feed to make it active and start another loaf. Looking for advice on how much flour and water to put in to get it active.
- Do you refeed in the same jar or should I move 30 grams to a new jar and add 125 grams & water 140 grams flour? If you refeed in the same jar, how much flour and water should I add to 300 grams of inactive starter?
- After I make what I need for my new loaf, how much do you refeed to maintain the starter?
- Advice on making my dough less dense?
by arhbe
5 Comments
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Looks amazing
What are your hydration levels of dough? Also maybe bulk ferment for longer for more air bubbles and maybe proof a bit longer in the banneton. Do the poke test and you should get a rough gage as to when it’s ready to bake. Tightening the dough more will just make it less slack and easier/better to score.
Those look awesome.
Starter maintenance doesn’t have to be complicated, and you don’t need to save much (there are tons of discard starter recipes). The basic ratio is 1:1:1 of starter:flour: water. If you need more starter (for more loaves) or you want it to eat slower, scale up the flour and water to 1:5:5, 1:10:10, or another number. I like 1:5:5 as I can feed before bed and mix dough in the morning. Your limits are available flour and size of the jar.
Speaking of the jar, you can reuse the one you have or swap it to another, clean one. When I’ve used enough of my starter in a loaf that I only have a 5-10g clinging to the jar, I’ll guesstimate the weight and mix in 5x the flour and water to build it back up. Other times (most), I’ll scrape out the jar into two bowls, one to feed and one for discard. Then, I’ll wash the jar, add my flour and water to the feed bowl, mix, and return it to the jar for next time.
Once you’ve done this a few times, you’ll find your rhythm.
My personal method (not as scientific as most of the bread magicians in this group) is basically to feed it with the amount I want for my next loaf.
I use around 100g of starter each time and feed 2 tablespoons of strong white bread flour, 1 rye flour and enough warm water to get a slightly-wet-dough consistency. I leave about 1 teaspoon of starter in my jar. I’ve had this starter for 6 months and not changed jars.
Your loaves look lovely. Get your rhythm and you’ll figure out what works for you.