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Maintaining Heritage Sourdough Starter
If you have obtained a small amount of starter from a friend or from Sunrise Flour Mill, use these guidelines for building it up and maintaining it.
Instructions
- First, the quantity of starter needs to be built up by feeding it and doubling it in size every day for 3 or 4 feedings. This will bring it up to its peak strength. 30 g of it can be used to make a levain, keeping the rest as starter. About 1-11/2 C will be enough to do this.
Feeding
- Estimate the amount of flour and water in the beginning starter.Every time it’s fed it needs to be doubled in size meaning flour and water always will be added in equal parts so that the result will double the size of the starter.Estimate or weigh the starter. As an example, if the starter weighs 100g the feeding will be 50g of flour and 50 of water. Add water first and mix it well with the existing starter, then add flour until the desired viscosity is obtained. Initially, with the small amount of starter we provide, about a tablespoon each of water and flour will be added the first time; two of each the second time; four of each the third time. Three or four days after this feeding schedule the starter should be ready to use for a levain. Take the 30g needed for the levain, feed the starter again and put it in the refrigerator.It should not need feeding again for a week.
To use it again in a week
- Take it out of the refrigerator the day before making a levain and feed it. The next day take what is needed for the levain, feed the starter again, and put it back in the refrigerator. It should be good for another week.
- The routine works well for baking once a week. After several weeks if the starter is losing strength, it can be refreshed by leaving it on the counter and feeding it a few times at 12-hour intervals. It should regain its strength. The once a week routine can then be maintained.
- Variation of a day or two in the routine is not going to be critical, but in three days it may start to lose strength. There could be some darker colored crust forming. Remove the discolored part and find a small portion of the starter that looks like the original. Use that to feed and reactivate it. A clean container should be used for this restart. From this condition it should be fed a few days before baking with it.
Long- term storage
- Thicken the starter so it is like a stiff, dry bread dough.Cover it with flour and put it the refrigerator. It can survive like this for several weeks.
- To revive it, shake off the excess flour and reach into the center starter to get a spoonful of what looks like active starter. Proceed with feeding it and building it up as before.
Notes
This is a very active starter based on feeding the starter and baking with heritage flour. Other flours may react differently.
The starter is a very good substitute for using commercial yeast. If a more sour taste is desired, will require longer fermentation with the levain and the bulk fermentation of the bread dough.
Experiment with slow-fermented doughs that are one or two days old by keeping them in the refrigerator. Longer and cooler is sometimes the best. Leaving a dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours develops the more flavor. The longer the ferment the more sour the dough will become. You will want to experiment to discover what best suits your taste.
To reduce the volume of starter when you are building up its strength and volume, see our recipes for using discard starter. Scallion pancakes, regular pancakes, English muffins, and adding to regular baked goods all work well. It’s a good alternative to throwing the excess away.
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I’m on day 5 with my sourdough starter, but I can’t get to baking for 3 more days… do I just put in fridge for 2 days ,feed it leave on counter and bake on 3rd day???
What does levain mean. Never heard of it.
Levain, also known as preferment, is a mixture of starter, flour, and water that is mixed and let process over 4-5 hours or overnight. It serves as a strong leavening for sourdough bread. It differs from just straight starter. It’s especially helpful for those of us who bake at higher elevations, rather than just using straight starter.
Levain, also known as preferment, is a mixture of starter, flour, and water that is mixed and let process over 4-5 hours or overnight. It serves as a strong leavening for sourdough bread. It differs from just straight starter. It’s especially helpful for those of us who bake at higher elevations, rather than just using straight starter.
How does one go about getting a heritage Sourdough start from Sunrise mills?
They offer it occasionally for free with purchase. Get on their email list and they’ll announce when they have it available. You have to be quick. They run out fast. Took me three times before I got some.
The Sunrise starter is great, but you can make your own from scratch that will be uniquely your own. My personal starter is much more active than the one that I received from Sunrise when they were offered one time. I made it originally according to the Sunrise instructions to create and maintain sourdough starter.
I do have some undiagnosed stomach issues and I am trying sour dough bread.. Can I use my starter with the new bread flour.you are selling ..? Can you email me with suggestions.. How much for flour cost, etc.. I would probably make 2 loaves everyother week.. thanks.