So, I’m just curious to compare other people’s experiences to try to understand why feeding starter prior to incorporating it (sometimes several times) is so common and why most people say it’s so important, when that hasn’t so much been my experience…
Typically I keep about a half a cup of starter in the fridge and I take out 1-2 tablespoons to use at one time for a typical single loaf. Most of the time I add this directly to the dough for the bulk ferment, which will take something like 12-15 hours (overnight). Occasionally I do a preferment instead. Once there isn’t enough starter in the fridge left to use, I take the starter out and feed it at room temperature, then feed it again, enough to bring it up to about half a cup again, and put it directly back into the fridge. The entire cycle of using it up takes about a week; I try to bring it out for the feeding about once a week so it stays active and fresh, usually on weekends.
I’m wondering why so many people are always feeding it every time they use starter, sometimes multiple times leading up to it. I have excellent leavening results that seem to compare favorably with what I’ve seen others make, and have never made any “bricks.”
Yes, I can see that it would make it rise faster if it’s already warm and been aggressively fed several times, but faster isn’t better–arguably, it’s worse from a nutrition and flavor standpoint. And while it might theoretically make loaves of of higher volume, volume isn’t everything, but besides, I can still get all the leavening power I could possibly want this way, it just takes a little more time. But for me it’s much more convenient to stretch out the rising time, and it’s much more convenient not to have to plan a feeding schedule days ahead when I can simply decide the evening before to make some bread and just scoop some starter from the fridge.
Am I missing something? Do I happen to have some kind of miraculous super-starter (it’s an heirloom from a relative, but in the past I achieved similar results with the Breadtopia starter)? Is it different because I live in the tropics? Do some people just like to make things more complicated so they can cultivate a mystique? Am I just weird (definitely, but I mean in regards to this method specifically)?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you’d like to share…
The longer it’s been since a starter has been fed the more off flavours and gluten breakdown. It is fine to use un-fed starter however if you use too much starter that hasn’t been fed for a while then the resulting bread won’t taste as nice and won’t rise as much. Sometimes, if it’s been a long time and a lot is used, it can even turn the dough to mush. If it’s been just a few days then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue but if it’s been quite a while then the longer it’s been the less should be used in the final dough. You’ll need to bulk ferment for much longer as well. I’ve often decided to make bread at the last minute and used starter straight from the fridge but it’ll be a very small percentage and i’ll leave the dough at room temperature to bulk ferment overnight to be ready the next day. Another reason is to ensure a healthy starter which is always a good idea.
There’s no need to rush it, plus it’s way easier when you can just grab it from the fridge the night before. It’s probably the same with me - I don’t think I have a magical starter, I just like to do things the simpler way.
No expert here but I guess it boils down to how much you bake and weather you use the levain method. What My method is for what its worth. Is make a levain with the starter (unfed) and bake. Scrape all the excess flour from my board into my starter with about equal amount of water then back in the fridge till next bake. Thats it. Do I feed. It every day? No . Bur everyone has their method. Some feed it every day and name it.
I find that doing it how I described is no different, as far as the health of the starter is concerned, from bringing out the starter once a week to feed and bake, but that by being able to often separate the feeding from the baking “schedule” makes it more convenient and mentally simpler, and as close to spontaneous as it can be. As a result, I actually bake more often, and we have fresh bread much more often, which is great. It’s literally no more complicated than baking with yeast, only takes longer, which as I mentioned is for me a distinct advantage in most ways.
Once I started experimenting and noticed that the difference between using room temperature starter and cold starter wasn’t that significant to my baking, it was a simple step to the current method. Since I feed it right when I put it away, it eats all week in the cold, usually peaking around the 5th day or so, so it’s certainly never languishing. I usually wait till the following day after putting it away to take from it because of this, but otherwise I haven’t been able to tell a big difference between its performance at any point along this curve (but I wouldn’t really expect it too with a healthy starter since the starter is such a small portion of the recipe–if it’s underripe, the yeast has ample time to build up its population in bulk, and if it’s overripe, it’s getting such a heavy feeding that it more than makes up for it–either way, sourdough is forgiving enough that it seems to adapt and gets to near enough the same endpoint in near enough the same period of time).
50-70g ish un-fed (a week after last feed) wholegrain spelt starter @ 100% hydration
Tangzhong:
20g dark rye flour
110g milk
Final Dough:
280g strong bread flour
100g golden wholegrain flour [white whole-wheat]
100g wholegrain spelt flour
enough water to make a nice dough
10g salt
50-70g starter
all of tangzhong
Method:
Autolyse at very low hydration the fours, starter and water while preparing the tangzhong.
Add the salt, tangzhong, water and form the dough. Initially the dough felt very hydrated (thought i had added too much water, at first, but given a little time and it soon became easier to handle). Knead till medium gluten formation.
Bulk ferment till ready giving the dough a stretch and fold periodically. Allowed at the very least double! Must’ve been more. It was a big bowl and it rose significantly. Might’ve even tripled. Difficult to say but it was well fermented.
