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Questions tagged [sourdough-starter]

Culture of yeast and lactobacilli in a flour/water mixture, used to leaven bread (also known as levain)

A sourdough starter, or levain, is a fermented mixture of flour and water. This resident colony of microorganisms (yeast and lactobacilli) produce leavening for bread or other baked goods.

Questions may include how to:

  • start
  • feed or maintain
  • use
  • troubleshoot problems
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Sourdough starter hydration

I’m making my first sourdough starter. Actually my second; the first one dried up and turned into cement. I figured that it wasn’t hydrated enough (the original directions called for 35g rye flour, 15g AP flour and 50g water), so in my new starter,…
Just Joel
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Making sourdough bread with just flour and water (and no starter)

Suppose I do not have a starter and I am not interested in creating one. Would the following recipe work to create an edible sourdough bread? If not, why not? Recipe: Mix 10 cups of flour with about 5 cups of warm water. Mix well. Store the…
eakbas
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Possible to make sourdough starter quickly?

I was hoping to use a recipe that requires sour dough starter tomorrow for dinner. When looking online for recipes I found several, but all of them required several days (examples here, here and here) to make. Is it possible to prepare a sourdough…
Brh
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Commercial yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in a sourdough culture

I would like to know a good reason for adding commercial yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to a sourdough culture and would it survive?
Philae
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Why did my Sourdough starter stopped rising?

Ok so I started my starter (no pun intended) a few days ago. I got a recipe that said I should keep it at room temp and feed it once a day with 1/2 cup of any flour (I used whole wheat) and 1/4 cup of water. I live in a place over the sea level,…
Caro Valdez
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Question about new sourdough starter, specifically smell

I'm trying to start my first "successful" sourdough starter. I posted a question about getting it started here: Initial Question Since I asked that question, I started a second starter according to a book suggested by one poster. Once started, it…
Dalton
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Remedy a sourdough which used milled red winter wheat

I followed a sourdough recipe that said to use bread flour, I thought a hard red winter wheat ran through our grain mill would suffice if I sifted out the bran... Apparently not. Is there any way to salvage this? The bread just is not wanting to…
Holly W
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Wild Sourdough Starter Never gets more than 1/3 bigger - Am I doing something wrong?

I made a wild sourdough starter back in July of last year. Did some baking with it, but it has never doubled in size the way that I see described in articles online. I initially started it with all-purpose flour and aired-out tap water, but I've…
notovny
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What is this on sourdough starter?

I have a sourdough starter which I feed roughly once every 2-3 days (throw away 95% of it, refill with water and flour). Sometimes I forget and wait 5 days between feedings, and by that time it often has developed what looks to me like mold on the…
John Pardon
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Feeding my starter so that it will be ready when I need it

I have mature starter that I've been using for awhile. I'm planning on baking tomorrow, so I started to prepare the starter by leaving it at room temperature and feeding it every 12 hours yesterday morning. Last night it expanded quickly, and this…
peteck36
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What is a good feeding schedule for a "creamy" sourdough starter?

I was given a sourdough starter from a bakery that was excellently "creamy" and had light fruity notes, as opposed to a highly acidic starter. My understanding is that a creamy starter indicates a high ratio of lactic to acetic acid. I am interested…
MeowBlingBling
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How to take care of a sourdough starter?

I am a beginner bread maker and just bought a San Francisco Sourdough starter. The instructions ask to discard part of the starter on day 5 of activating the starter. Why is that?
BundaSuja
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Modifications to a sourdough recipe

I'm using this recipe, with the following ingredients: 450 grams Strong White Bread Flour 300 grams Warm Water 150 grams* Active Sourdough Starter 12 grams Sea Salt *This amount is can be adjusted to 50 grams for a longer 12 hour bulk…
Michael
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Why stirring an over-fermented sourdough starter caused it to rise a second time to about double the original size?

After feeding my sourdough starter, I let it rise to about 2.5x the original height. It eventually collapsed. 24 hours later, after it was well over fermented, I stirred the starter with a spoon. It then suddenly grew back to 2x in about 1 to 2…
Pat
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Sourdough Starter Very Runny

I think I'm having a problem making a sourdough starter. I'm using the technique from King Arther Flour I started with 113g of whole wheat flour and 113g of water. Every day, I retained 113g of the starter and added 113g of AP flour and 113g of…
Misanthrope
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