Hello! This is my first post here and I’ve been reading a little bit, but it’s a lot to take in. I have been growing a sourdough starter and I think it’s ready for it’s first sourdough bread.
I am using https://sourdoughcalculator.info/ to get my numbers and shooting for using 400g of flour. I plan to make a boule for my first sourdough.
With the 400g of flour, I was planning on doing 350g bread flour and then 50g whole wheat flour. Does that work or should I mess with that ratio from bread flour to whole wheat?
Also the main area I’m confused is the starter amount. Am I going to use 100g of my starter and then activate it?
Welcome to the board. I am pretty new myself to this board also, and would not consider myself in any way an expert - particularly with sourdough. Each bake is still a new adventure for me! As such, I will defer to others on here with far more baking experience than me.
That said, I figure since I’m logged in I would offer my two cents. When I bake, I typically go somewhere between 10%-20% of the total flour weight being whole wheat. I’ve found that, in my experience, the higher the percentage the tighter the crumb is but the deeper the flavor is, as well.
So if you were to go by my method (and please feel free to NOT do that and follow better advice from others on here), I would say anywhere from 40-80 grams of whole wheat could work. Speaking of flour breakdowns, is your starter all made with one type of flour, or do you blend different flours in your starter? For example, my starter/levain is typically 90% bread flour and 10% whole wheat flour.
As for when you incorporate your starter, I’ve found a lot of varying advice online. All I can offer is my experience. I’ve found that I’ve gotten the best performance from my starter/levain when it is at or near its peak. So if I am going to make a sourdough dough ball, I will typically feed my starter the night before, and then add it to the mix the morning I make the dough ball.
My hope is that I get the most active starter into my loaf. I keep my house rather cold, so it is a slower rising starter, which at times yields a slower rising loaf. I tend to prefer a younger starter, as I’ve found that can provide a less acidic final product. While I enjoy sourdough, some can be too sour for me. I look for the complexity of flavors without the abundance of sourness. Here again, different sources online will tell you different things, but I’ve found a younger starter is less sour, while an more mature starter has a bit more acid.
Thank you for the detailed response! My starter is all bread flour (it’s what I had on hand at the time).
I think I’ll try out the 10-20% whole wheat.
The calculator told me I need 100g starter, is that 100g before I activate it? Or do I take 25g of my starter and activate it and then use 100g of that?
100g of starter is around what I typically use for that sized loaf.
My advice (and here again, feel free to get advice from others on here with more experience) would be to feed your starter, give it enough time to double or triple in size (depending on how active it is), and then use 100g of that when it is at or near its peak volume. When you feed your starter, what ratio do you use? I’m typically 1:2:2 or 1:3:3.
My starter takes a little longer to peak, because I typically keep my house around 60f (15-16c). For me, that can take 6-10 hours, sometimes even a little longer. While I typically use a proofing box for a loaf, I just leave my starter on the counter.
There are probably as many ways to manage sourdough starter as there are people who use it, but you might want to have a look at this little tutorial page from @eric :
The reason I suggest that is that feeding 2X a day is both a lot more work than you need to do and also - unless you are also baking every day - going to generate a lot more starter than you probably need to have on hand.
I bake bread once a week and I personally keep only a very small amount of starter in a small jar in my refrigerator. I feed it about once every month or two
First sourdough bake. I think next time I’m gonna use more flour. From the recipe above I changed it to:
350g BF
50g Whole Wheat Flour
306g water (it was 268, but upped the hydration to 80% since I’m good with dough from Neapolitan pizza)
8g salt.
Although with sourdough doubling is not always necessary, you can’t go wrong with it. For now keep it simple and aim for the dough to double before shaping. Once you’ve got a few good bakes and you get the feel for it then you can implement other techniques. I’d even advise to keep the hydration low and give the dough a good old fashioned knead.
Does it have to be 100% bread flour? I’ve been adding whole wheat. I don’t have much experience, but doesn’t higher hydration create a better crumb? I was shooting for 80% or close to that.
What is a better crumb? Some people like a more holey crumb and others like more of a closed crumb. What we’re aiming for, for now, is judging the bulk ferment correctly. To do this keeping it simple and doing away with all fancy methods is best. Enabling more focus on the ferment itself and not a fancy crumb. It’s always best to start off at a lower hydration and work your way up if that is your goal. I can add in a bit of whole-wheat if that’s what you want but it’ll be mainly a bread flour recipe.
If you are happy with 70% kneading then instead of me constructing a new off the cuff recipe I know just the recipe for you and it falls in at 71% hydration if using 100% hydrated starter. It’s a very good recipe and easy to remember as 1:2:3!
1:2:3 Recipe
That is the ratio for Starter:Water:Flour and 2% of the flour for salt. So however much starter you begin with you’ll have twice as much water and three times as much for the flour. Let’s type in some numbers…
150g starter (75g water + 75g flour)
300g water
450g bread flour (if you wish to add in some wholegrain then make it 400g bread flour and 50g whole wheat flour - up to you)
10g salt (2% of total 525g flour is 10.5g so make it 10g)
Prep your starter overnight so it’s active and ready by morning to make the final dough. Make sure you have 150g to go into the dough plus extra as starter for next time.
Method: We’ll make it a no fuss method…
1: In a bowl mix together 450g bread flour and 10g salt. Make a well in the flour.
2: To the well add in the 150g starter + 300g water.
3: Form the dough and knead for a good 10 minutes till you have a strong dough.
4: Cover the bowl and leave till doubled.
5: Shape and final proof till ready. Always watch the dough but as a guide 1.5 - 2 hours.
6: Bake.
Awesome thanks! So with this when you say 150g of starter, but then 75g of water + 75g of flour. Could I just use 150g of my starter that I prep overnight with 75/75?
