Dr. Mel's Sourdough Series - Part 2

In my last episode, titled "Why Sourdough?" we covered what bread is, and the various ways we can make it. We also covered the different types of leavening, including baking powder (chemical) and using fermentation (with yeast or sourdough starter). Today we are discussing:

• how to create your own sourdough starter using freshly milled flour
• discussing the two main types of sourdough starter, and when to choose one or the other
• how to feed our sourdough starter
• what to do once we feed an established starter
• how to know if our sourdough starter has gone bad
• to fridge or not to fridge

Last class, we learned sourdough starter is just flour and water that has fermented. We also learned that we can use this instead of commercial yeast or baking powder to make bread. We know we totally want to try it because of the added health benefits, but also because the flavor is out of this world!

How to Create Your Own Starter

Option 1 - Get Sourdough Starter

My favorite option - I have a lot of friends who make sourdough, although not with fresh milled flour. Once upon a time, I killed my starter every few months out of sheer neglect and using the wrong type of starter for me. So I would just get a new starter from a friend and feed it fresh milled flour. It works so well! Just get a starter from a friend, or buy a dehydrated starter and follow the directions to hydrate it and move on. You could buy starter from Cultures for Health or even from Facebook Marketplace if you're looking to get an already hydrated and active starter. That would be the faster option. A friend who bakes sourdough would be my top recommendation, though.

Option 2 - Make your Own Starter

Tons of folks have covered this in detail, but for fresh milled flour sourdough starter creation, I'm going to point you to Lovely Bell Bakes. Follow her guide step by step. I am not in this camp of creating a starter from scratch because I'm impatient like that, and when I want sourdough, I want it NOW. That said, I trust Monique, and she's got some great tutorials on her YouTube and web site. Be sure to give her a follow.

Prepare Ahead

Once you have your sourdough starter, I encourage you to spread some out on parchment paper very thin, and let it dry. Flip it over and make sure it's totally dry. Then place it in a freezer baggie labeled SOURDOUGH STARTER, and keep it in the freezer for a day you need a new starter. Now you have one!

Feeding your Starter

How you feed your starter will depend on what type of starter you prefer to use. I have found that maintaining and using a stiff starter has been MUCH more of a positive experience than keeping a liquid starter has. Each type of starter has different benefits and uses, but I've found I can convert ANY yeast bread recipe I love to sourdough starter with zero other changes using stiff starter - and without it being overly sour - and that's a huge win for us. We love a more subtle sourdough flavor and the softness and flexibility usually found in a yeast bread.

Two Main Types of Sourdough Starter

Liquid Starter - this is usually known as a high hydration or 100% hydration starter, because typical feeding instructions are equal parts flour and water. In fact, the sourdough starter you create from scratch is a liquid starter and 100% hydration. This starter is more like a pancake batter, and you could pour it out of your jar if you wanted. You can have liquid starters that are even higher than 100%, if feeding it more than you feed in flour.

• can ferment faster
• needs to be fed more often
• better for bakers on a consistent schedule
• easier to mix into dough due to its liquid consistency
• supports higher extensibility of the dough
• usually used for lean dough such as baguettes

Use a liquid starter if you are prepared to feed your dough more often, and are not neglectful of your starter. That's not me, so I prefer stiff starter. It fits my lifestyle and the practicality requirement much better.

Stiff Starter - this is a lower hydration starter, typically in the 50-70% range. I find my starter to hover somewhere around 63%, which is almost smack dab right in the middle. A stiff starter is usually fed more flour than water, often 2x the flour than the water. This creates a starter that is more like a bread dough consistency than a liquidy batter.

• ferment more slowly
• active for longer, since the process goes much slower
• the fridge slows this timeline down even further - keeping it active for longer
• better for bakers who are less consistent with their baking
• helps maintain structure
• preferred starter for brioche

Use a stiff starter if your baking schedule isn't regular, or if you need more control over the baking process and flavor development. This is my jam!

Want more of a science minded answer to this question? The Bread Code is a terrific resource, including the details on how these two types differ.

How I Feed My Starter

What Do I Feed It?

Which grain should I mill to feed my sourdough starter? Common question I totally overlooked! Honestly, you can feed your starter any grain you want, but some will do better than others depending on what you are making. Let's discuss:

• bread - hard white wheat, hard red wheat, Einkhorn, or Rye are popular
• pasta - same as for bread, or you could ferment Durum, Kamut (Khorasan), or Emmer.
• pastries - softer grains such as soft white wheat, soft red wheat, spelt, barley, or rye could work well here, but any of the above will also work
• combination - sometimes I like to add a little rye to my hard wheat when feeding my sourdough starter, other times I feed it Einkhorn, and there have been times I fed it Spelt because I was low on hard wheat and did not have Einkhorn.

I love the flavor complexity of Einkhorn, and yet it is a really sticky flour to work with - so I prefer to use only what is in my starter and call it a day. Plus, it's expensive! Hard white wheat is my #2 go-to, but if I'm wanting to make something super soft and delicate I'll use spelt, barley or rye. We can even feed our starter a combination of grains. Try some different grains and let me know what YOU love best.

If you used to feed your starter bread flour, hard white wheat would be the equivalent to that. If you fed your starter all purpose, give a blend of 2 parts hard white wheat and 1 part soft white wheat a try - or Einkhorn, which I consider an EXCELLENT all purpose flour replacement.

Stiff Starter

Most stiff starters I've seen feed this way (by weight):

• 1 part starter
• 1 part water
• 2 parts flour
• 50% hydration

Since we are working with freshly milled flour, I adjust this because fresh milled hard wheat absorbs 15 - 20% more water than bread or all purpose flour does. Here is how I feed my sourdough starter:

• 1 part starter
• 1.2 parts water
• 2 parts flour
• 60% hydration

How I feed my stiff starter

Liquid Starter

Most liquid starters are fed equal parts starter, flour and water - like this:

• 1 part starter
• 1 part water
• 1 part flour
• 100% hydration

Since we are working with fresh milled flour, I would adjust the feeding accordingly for the same effect as bagged flour:

• 1 part starter
• 1.2 parts water
• 1 part flour
• 120% hydration (but equivalent to bagged flour starter at 100%)

How I Feed a Fresh Milled Liquid Starter

What if I don't have enough starter for 1 part?

That's totally okay. Just feed whatever amount of starter you DO have, even if it's just scrapings from the jar. If you don't even have that for some reason, and you just put together some sourdough bread, grab a tiny bit of that dough and feed that. When I have scrapings left in the jar, I typically feed my starters as follows:

• Liquid Starter
• 1/2 cup water (120 grams)
• 1/2 cup grains, milled fine (100 grams)

• Stiff Starter
• 1/2 cup water (120 grams)
• 1 cup grains, milled fine (200 grams)

What if I don't want to feed my starter that much?

You can feed your starter any amount you like. Some people prefer to keep really tiny amounts of starter so they don't have to worry about what to do with their starter. Some prefer to keep larger amounts so they always have some on hand to make other things with it, like crackers, pasta, pancakes, waffles, or muffins. Here is a suggestion for feeding your sourdough starter a lower amount, but still have enough for baking a loaf of bread on one feeding:

Liquid Starter

• 15 grams starter
• 18 grams water
• 15 grams of grain, milled fine
  Starter weight: 48 grams

Stiff Starter

• 10 grams starter
• 14 grams of water
• 20 grams of grain, milled fine
  Starter weight: 44 grams

Feeding your starter this way, you could feed your starter 1 time and bake 1 loaf of bread with the lower range of sourdough starter, and have scrapings left to feed. If you fed your starter 2 or 3 times before baking, you would have a higher amount of starter available for your bread with a little left to feed besides just the scrapings. Either option would work out great.

The downside of this method is that you won't have a lot of extra starter to throw into other recipes if you decide you love the benefits of sourdough, and to me - that's a crying shame. One of my favorite things to make is sourdough crackers from almost entirely stiff starter. They are the best crackers I've ever had. If you are not into that though - that's cool. You do you, honey!

What do I do after I fed my starter?

Sourdough starter is a product of fermentation, similar to yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, or beer. We let it do it's thing - feed and rise!

What to Expect

Liquid Starter will typically double in height in your jar within 4-6 hours in a warm place.

Stiff Starter will typically double in height within a few hours, but at a slower rate than the liquid starter.

The temperature of your environment will make a difference in how slow or fast that is. The warmer the room, the faster it will ferment. The slower the room, the slower the rise. If you put your starter in the fridge, it will slow exponentially. Don't do that unless you are going to be away for a week or so and don't want it to die.

Once your starter has (at least) doubled in size, you are ready to bake some bread! This is what is called active starter and is considered at it's peak (the highest it will go before deflating).

That said, I've made bread using freshly fed (yet unrisen) sourdough starter, active (peaked) sourdough starter, and starter that's been starving in the fridge for a week and guess what? I made great bread with them all. So, I don't care what anyone else says - it truly doesn't matter as much as "they" say it does. What DOES matter is learning the sourdough bread process, as in what your dough should look and feel like when it's ready to shape and bake. So long as you follow those guidelines and master that - your bread will rock no matter what.

What if I'm not Ready to Bake Bread Yet?

That's okay. If you have a liquid starter, you'll likely need to feed it again - those buggers are high maintenance. If you have a stiff starter, my favorite thing to do when I'm not ready to use a peaked starter is PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE. This will significantly slow the process of fermentation, keeping it active for longer so you can use it when you are ready!

Another option if you aren't ready to make bread with your starter once it's peaked is to make something else - like crackers, or add some starter to whatever other flour products you are making. Pancakes or waffles are an excellent choice for throwing some starter into. It'll make the flavor even better! Stiff starter should be mixed with the liquid portion of your recipe before adding the dry ingredients.

How Often Should I Feed my Sourdough Starter?

For what I consider a great flowchart on how to maintain your starter, check out The Sourdough Framework. I feed my starter the night before or morning of my baking, and USUALLY wait until it has peaked (or at least doubled). After that, I keep it in the fridge until I'm ready to use it again. I don't feed my starter unless it looks VERY hungry (dark in color on top, smells like alcohol). If I'm not using my starter, it stays in the fridge - otherwise it MUST be fed to avoid it becoming overgrown with mold. We don't want to kill it with neglect.

Henrik even advocates freezing your starter if you aren't going to bake within the next two weeks, and even tells you how to get it started again when you are ready to bake. Check that chart out.

Did My Starter go Bad?

Sometimes you'll pull your starter out of the fridge and it has a really dark black, gray or brown color to it. It may even have some liquid on top. This is not mold - it's a sign of a starter that's STARVING, and the darkness is called hooch. It's alcohol, and it will taste very strongly like it.

So, what to do? Feed your starter! It's best if you discard (in the trash) all but the scrapings of that starter, and feed that to avoid the overly acidic flavor of a lot of starving starter. Trust me! However if you love that super strong flavor, feel free to leave it all in there and feed that.

When Starter Goes Bad

Starter is bad when the colors are red, yellow, pink, blue or green. These are signs of a mold and must not be used! Throw it out! Start again with a new starter, bonus points if you saved some starter at some point and put it in the freezer for a later date. Thaw that puppy and feed it.

Sometimes a white growth can occur on the top of the starter, called Kham Yeast. This comes from serious neglect, so you could clean it all out except the scrapings and feed it, but you'll need to do a better job feeding your starter regularly. Sometimes the bitterness of Kham yeast can be strong, and you may just want to start over with fresh starter. That's up to you.

To Fridge or Not to Fridge

Lots of people say NOT to use the fridge, but if you are not a regular sourdough baker, I've got to say this is a fantastic tool. You can place your starter in the fridge to slow down the fermentation process, and take it back out again when you're ready to do something with it. It's an excellent thing to do when you go out of town and don't want it to be dead when you get back.

The fridge has it's place.

Some folks will say you weaken your starter in the fridge, but I have to say - with stiff starter - I've had ZERO problems with this at all. So long as you follow the bread method and pay attention to what your bread looks and feels like, it will be good bread.

In our Next Lesson

Now that we know all the things about feeding and maintaining our starter, our next part of this series will be on Baking Sourdough Bread! I'll have videos showing my process from start to finish - using both stiff starter and liquid starter. Stay tuned!