I can't help myself. It just irks me to throw that much starter away. I know you must be shaking your head in disbelief - is she STILL on that stupid starter??? OK, I promise this will be the last . . .
I have decided to experiment. As I have said before, when I feed my starters, I deal in smaller quantities and I very seldom throw any of it away. So, as an experiment, I have decided to keep the portion of the starter that I would have normally thrown away today (are you still with me???) So now I will have two Tartine Starters. One I will continue to follow the instructions per Ms. Stewart - kept 75 tiny little grams of starter, throw the rest away and feed the tiny little 75 grams with 150 grams of the flour blend and 100 grams of luke warm water. Starter #2 will be MY experiment which I will feed it the way I normally feed my starters - each day it gets feed 4 T of the flour blend and 3 T of the luke warm water. Instead of covering the mason jar with a dish towel, I have placed a jar top on it with a hole punched to let the "gases" out.
At the end of the 15 to 20 days, I will bake two loaves of bread - one with the starter made per Ms. Stewart's instructions and one done my way. May the best baker win!!! If my theory proves me right, there really should not be any difference between the two breads (BUT if there is, I hope mine is better!)
As you know, I am making this starter also, as per the instructions. In my opinion, it is very wasteful of flour.
ReplyDeleteI have been feeding it for 5 days now and I do not see very much activity.
I normally feed my regular starters twice a day, about 12 hours apart. I am wondering if the once daily feeding is giving the poor critters enough food to munch on to become strong, strapping young fellers?
I am almost finished with my two weeks of feeding and am going to make my first loaf this weekend. I am very new to the "baking bread with a starter" world, so I have a question: once the starter is mature and used for baking, must I still keep up the feeding of the starter every day? Can I ever put it in the fridge and leave it unattended for a few days? Do I give it to a neighbor to care for when I go on vacation? I may be in over my head...
ReplyDeleteNo, you are not over your head. Yes, you can put it in the refrigerator when you are not planning on using it for a while (so your neighbor is off the hook!!) When you want to bake more bread, just take the starter out a day or two before baking and feed it. You might notice a dark liquid on top of your starter. Don't worry - that is called hooch. Just stir it back in. Start your feeding schedule. Let us know how your bread turns out!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I tried a batch this weekend, but my starter had not matured. The starter is now looking better-rising throughout the day. I am confident that this weekend will be a success.
ReplyDeleteI am glad it is working out for you. A lot of it is trial and error. I find bread making very addictive! Good luck!
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