Question for Sourdough Bread Makers

[audreyh1]

So, I know I can research it but from your experience what is the process to make the starter come to life.

I will get it out set on counter to thaw out. Once it is back to liquid form how much floor and water should I use??

I'm excited to start but will wait till mid Nov. at the earliest because of a busy retired schedule. Lol

Similar to the initial process. Thaw and feed. We received freeze-dried starter initially. Reconstituting our own frozen starter I think we just thawed and fed until we had the volume desired and it was behaving normally.

 

[street]

Similar to the initial process. Thaw and feed. We received freeze-dried starter initially. Reconstituting our own frozen starter I think we just thawed and fed until we had the volume desired and it was behaving normally.

Thanks!!!!

 

[audreyh1]

I froze in small amounts - 1/4 or less.

 

[ERD50]

Yeah, I had a short stint in microbiology back in the day (I drew short straw in the lab.) Freezing living organisms and reconstituting them years later always freaked me out. How is that possible?

They are simple single-cell organisms.

Not just single cell creatures:

Tardigrade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

they can go without food or water for more than 30 years, only to later rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.[3][50][51][52][53] Many species of tardigrade can survive in a dehydrated state up to five years, or longer in exceptional cases.[54][55] Depending on the environment, they may enter this state via anhydrobiosis, allowing tardigrades, along with some other micro-metazoans (such as worms, rotifers, and crustaceans), protozoans and plants, the ability to survive in habitats that might otherwise be fatal. In addition to offering protection from desiccation and freezing under normal circumstances, anhydrobiosis also permits resistance to unnatural abiotic extremes such as subzero temperatures,

 

[walkinwood]

.. I had to share these...
These are the highest rise loaves I've baked. a 100% rye (or close to that) levain + King Arthur Bread Flour. 72% hydration.
I do a slow final proof in the refrigerator overnight & usually, the dough has risen just above the banneton. Today - it surprised me. I still have to cut the loaf, so don't know if I over proofed it.

 

[Kings over Queens]

Nice work. I'm sure they are fine. Mind do the same thing doing the overnight proof.

 

[street]

.. I had to share these...
These are the highest rise loaves I've baked. a 100% rye (or close to that) levain + King Arthur Bread Flour. 72% hydration.
I do a slow final proof in the refrigerator overnight & usually, the dough has risen just above the banneton. Today - it surprised me. I still have to cut the loaf, so don't know if I over proofed it.
View attachment 52817View attachment 52818

Very Nice!!! Looks so Good!!!! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[street]

Not just single cell creatures:

Tardigrade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 52805

Wow! That is an interesting picture.

 

[folivier]

Our starter was gifted to us in Wiseman, AK. If you think about it sourdough used by gold miners, trappers, etc. probably had their starters freeze often. Didn't stop them from having bread.

 

[Chuckanut]

Has anybody used a banneton for shaping their loaf?

 

[calmloki]

Actually all I use is a banneton, dusted with 1/2 rice and 1/2 wheat flour. This loaf got crazy on me today and was pushing against the lid - had to stick it back in the pan after cooling for a picture tonight:

 

[tmitchell]

Ok I need help. I just jumped on the sourdough bandwagon and have been following The Perfect Loaf's recipe. Sourdough Baking Guides | The Perfect Loaf

I've got a good starter going, but when I move to levain and autolyse I'm not getting a proper rise. I've worked to keep the kitchen around 75F and still no good. I feel like it's the levain that's not going right.

The loaves I've made so far are like hockey pucks. Super dense, heavy and too chewy to eat. I'm wondering if I should just try using the starter instead? I'm surprised how difficult this is!

 

[walkinwood]

Ok I need help. I just jumped on the sourdough bandwagon and have been following The Perfect Loaf's recipe. Sourdough Baking Guides | The Perfect Loaf

I've got a good starter going, but when I move to levain and autolyse I'm not getting a proper rise. I've worked to keep the kitchen around 75F and still no good. I feel like it's the levain that's not going right.

The loaves I've made so far are like hockey pucks. Super dense, heavy and too chewy to eat. I'm wondering if I should just try using the starter instead? I'm surprised how difficult this is!

Try feeding your starter daily for a few more days. Use whole wheat or even better, rye flour to feed it. I found my starter took a couple of weeks of feeding before it got strong enough. My first loaves looked very much like yours. They're still tasty! Keep at it.

Now, a few years later, I can keep the starter in the fridge for a week or 2 (or even 3 if we're traveling), feed it once and then use it for a levain with great results.

Has anybody used a banneton for shaping their loaf?

I do all the time. I have a couple of round ones and a couple of the boule shaped ones. I use them with the linen liner that they came with. After a few uses, I only have to lightly dust them with flour & the dough doesn't stick.

 

[tmitchell]

Try feeding your starter daily for a few more days. Use whole wheat or even better, rye flour to feed it. I found my starter took a couple of weeks of feeding before it got strong enough. My first loaves looked very much like yours. They're still tasty! Keep at it.

Now, a few years later, I can keep the starter in the fridge for a week or 2 (or even 3 if we're traveling), feed it once and then use it for a levain with great results.

Ok I'll give it a shot thanks. Been using rye and it's definitely doubling up etc. Do you use a levain as well?

 

[Kings over Queens]

Has anybody used a banneton for shaping their loaf?

Pretty much all I use. sometimes with the cloth, sometimes without. without gives you a much more decorative loaf.

 

[Kings over Queens]

The loaves I've made so far are like hockey pucks. Super dense, heavy and too chewy to eat. I'm wondering if I should just try using the starter instead? I'm surprised how difficult this is!

I don't autolyse or use a levian, it's pretty much 100% starter for me.

You might consider a longer proof time, especially if you are at a higher elevation. I managed to bake a halfway decent loaf my first time visiting my daughter in denver, but it was very different than when I bake at home at sea level.

 

[Chuckanut]

Ok I need help. I just jumped on the sourdough bandwagon and have been following The Perfect Loaf's recipe. Sourdough Baking Guides | The Perfect Loaf

I've got a good starter going, but when I move to levain and autolyse I'm not getting a proper rise. I've worked to keep the kitchen around 75F and still no good. I feel like it's the levain that's not going right.

The loaves I've made so far are like hockey pucks. Super dense, heavy and too chewy to eat. I'm wondering if I should just try using the starter instead? I'm surprised how difficult this is!

I struggled with my starter for weeks until I ditched the fancy Einkorn flour I was using and bought plain old generic whole wheat flour to replace it. Something about the Einkorn grain just doesn’t work well with many of the little bugs that make up a starter.

 

[Chuckanut]

Pretty much all I use. sometimes with the cloth, sometimes without. without gives you a much more decorative loaf.

I found that the raw dough ends up sticking to the cloth making for a mess when I transfer the bread dough to a cooking bowl.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I've never had that problem and if I were to give advice, I'd check for hydration....is your dough too wet? Also, when you shape on the bench, make sure you are getting a smooth exterior with enough surface tension. I also dust my bread before putting into the basket.

My dough rolls right out of the banneton to the parchment paper and then I lift that as a sling into the dutch oven.

 

[calmloki]

Thought the first picture of your dough looked pretty dry - I do 1 1/3 cup + a tablespoon or two cups warm water, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp diastatic malt powder, and 1 1/2 cup level unbleached all purpose flour. Take my starter out of the fridge maybe an hour or so beforehand, then dump about 1/2 my starter in, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup? Stir.
Then add a heaping tablespoon of rye flour and a couple of regular unbleached to the pint jar holding my starter and enough water to make it like thick pancake batter and stir. Let the starter sit out for an hour or so, then seal and refrigerate till the next loaf in about six days.
Meanwhile, The mix in my mixing bowl sits covered with plastic on the counter for 6-8 hours. Then two cups more unbleached flour is added and the kitchenaid mixer beats it up till glossy. Then sits covered for 4-6 more hours. Then I scrape the dough from the sides, consolidating it, get both hands wet under the tap, and ball the dough up, moving the outsides up to the top and trying to lose big bubbles. I don't put it on the counter or dust with flour. Then into the banneton for about 30 minutes on the counter and 15-30 in the frig. Then upend into my cast iron chicken fryer which has been preheating at 450, stick it in the oven and cover, set timer for 28 minutes, uncover, and cook 16.5-17 minutes more, remove and cool ALL THE WAY. This is at ~100' elevation, SoCal rise times are faster than Oregon

 

[walkinwood]

Ok I'll give it a shot thanks. Been using rye and it's definitely doubling up etc. Do you use a levain as well?

Let me clarify the terms I use. For me, the starter is what I keep in the fridge - usually only about 24-30g. I feed this weekly, discarding most & then adding flour/water in a 1:1 ratio. A day or so before I make the levain, I leave the starter outside the refrigerator after a feeding to wake up the bugs. I don't know if this is necessary, but I've been doing it for a while & like the results.

The Levain is made the night before or morning of the dough making. I use a bit of the starter & then flour & water (1:1) till I get 20% of the flour weight for the dough I'm making. So, if total flour for the dough is 400g, the levain weight is 80g. I ferment the levain till it at least doubles in height, has a nice domed top with a few bubbles. Takes about 6-7 hours at 75f. It is usually fine even if I leave it for 8-9 hours. You'll learn over time, just how much starter to use - the levain will take longer to rise if you use less starter.

Hope this clarifies what I was saying earlier.

 

[GaryInCO]

I've never had that problem and if I were to give advice, I'd check for hydration....is your dough too wet?

I agree with @calmloki -- see if your dough is too *dry*. Dry dough is to stiff, and the bugs can't exert enough force to push the dough higher. With a high-hydration loaf (75% or so) the dough is much more pliable and easier to expand.

 

[street]

Well, today I got my starter out of the ice box. It had thawed out so I mixed in some rye floor and water late afternoon. I just looked and there is activity going on so at this point it looks like it will come alive for anothah sourdough baking wintah.

 

[street]

I think I might have killed my starter. I got it out of the freezer about a week ago and thawed out and added a cup of rye flour and a cup water. No action what so ever in a week time of any life to the starter.

I decided to try to make a loaf from that starter and was a total flop. After reading up on my failure it sounds like I should have just used a few teaspoons of rye flour to give it some zing not a cup full.

Darn, I did freeze two small containers of the starter early summer, so I do have one left to try.

Any takes/thought/views of my failed attempt to rescue my last frozen batch of startah??

 

[Kings over Queens]

I;ve never used frozen or dried starter, but in my mind, if I were too, I'd probably start out with a small amount of flour/water, perhaps equal to the amount of starter, or less, and build from there. Typically, I feed my cold starter with 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water, then 75 or 100 of the same depending on how it responds, and then perhaps 150 of each, depending on how much I need based on what's being baked.

1 cup of flour is 5 oz which is approx 140 grams. I think you fed it too much for the first time after hibernation.