Anyone have Sourdough Starter?

[PippinTheChicken]

I'm looking into making and raising Sourdough starter. I wanted to see if anyone else does this.
How old is your starter? Does it have a name? Do you have any tips for me (a beginner)?

 

[Alohacayo]

I'm looking into making and raising Sourdough starter. I wanted to see if anyone else does this.
How old is your starter? Does it have a name? Do you have any tips for me (a beginner)?

Hi ,
Ayup, I do sourdough. I make about 10# of bread weekly. The original starter was given to my uncle abt 40 years ago from a friend in Germany. We’re in SoCal.

Eventually, no matter where your starter originates, it will be colonized by your local yeasts. Unless you keep it under lab conditions…

I abuse the heck out of mine, and it just keeps trucking. Once it’s stable, and you get a feel of it, it’s very easy to keep going.

Mine stays in the fridge.

Are you on Twitter? If so, I can point you to several people that have extensive threads on wild yeasts.

Patience is needed because not much happens fast with sourdough…

 

[topochico225]

Had to share this— this is what a good starter should make!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Ever made sourdough pancakes? They're really good too.

Not a pancake fan, but it does sound tasty.

 

[topochico225]

I like to make a quick fermented feed by feeding my starter at night, mixing the discard with enough layer feed to make it somewhat non-gloopy, then leave it on the counter overnight and put it in the big girls’ run in the morning.

 

[Blooie]

Yep!!

 

[Blooie]

I always have dried sourdough starter on hand. I spread discard super thin on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and let it dry completely, then flaked it and put it into an airtight container. It sits in the pantry. If anything ever happens to my starter, I can rehydrate and feed the flakes and I’m back in business.

 

[Blooie]

Wake up!! Where did everybody go?

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Hey! I still have my starter. I want to attempt to make bread again soon

 

[Blooie]

Hey! I still have my starter. I want to attempt to make bread again soon

Yayy!! As quiet as the thread had gone, if it weren’t for having a lot of the same folks being over on the Baker’s thread I would have thought everyone had given up.

I gotta say, I did end the life of my old starter. I dehydrated and flaked some of it and have it stored in a jar in the pantry, but I‘m so happy with the “no-discard” starter I also had going that I’m just going to stick with that one. It’s a robust starter, as you can see from these photos. I had just the scrapings left in the jar and kept it in the fridge. But I made bread earlier in the week and boy, was I impressed with the way it roared back to life. I just let it warm on the counter for a little bit, added 50 grams of water and 50 grams of rye flour, (my recipe calls for 100 grams of starter) and let it rip. I honestly thought it might take two feedings to get it ready to use. It only took the one. After I took out my 100 grams of starter, I put the empty jar with its little bits clinging to the bottom and sides into the fridge for next time. I’m impressed with this starter!

After sitting out on the counter ready to be fed.

A mere 10 hours later it was active and strong. I got it out of the fridge and fed it early in the morning - by that night I was able to make my dough and set it out for its overnight rise.

Look at the result!!