Hi all!
I created my starter about a month and a half ago, using KA unbleached bread flour and filtered water. She took maybe 2 1/2 weeks to become active, eyeball feeding a 1:1:1 ratio every 24 hours. She blossomed after 3 weeks and I was finally able to get some really beautiful loaves. At week 4 I noticed that her structure really strengthened, she started doubling within 3 1/2-4 hours, tripling at 5-6 hours. I have maintained eyeball feeding roughly every 24 hours, and I’ve noticed now that she will triple and stay tripled for 24 hours. I can feed her at 8am today and use her for baking at 8am tomorrow. She will also double again after I remove some for baking.
My question is, is my starter 𝘵𝘰𝘰 active? From everything I’ve read, it seems like after 24 hours my starter should be hungry, but she shows no signs of hunger. She still smells sweet and tangy. I removed some a few hours ago for a double batch of sourdough and I could use her again this evening without another feed. The second photo is a loaf I made using my starter without feeding for roughly 24 hours.
I am almost positive that all of these things are good, but I am new to this and have very little experience.
Someone please tell me, what does it mean?? 😂
by Least_Negotiation410
15 Comments
You only need to feed your starter once a month after it’s been established. Stick it in the fridge, and look up “levain”.
It’s ready for the soccer world cup
By eyeballing you disturbed hydration. Lower hydration starters stay up for longer periods of time. There’s no way you’ll repeat same hydration every time by eyeballing, that’s why almost everyone uses scale for feedings. Of course starters can be kept at lower hydrations, stiff ones are also equally awesome but in any way, scale is highly recommended
That’s the kind of thickness that I’m talking about. I reckon we should all strive for an active starter – such as the one there in the photo.
There is no such thing as a starter that is ‘too active’. Also, the fact that it’s not collapsing in 24 hours after a feeding isn’t a sign that your starter isn’t hungry, it’s a side-effect of creating and maintaining a stiff starter.
Regardless of how ‘active’ your starter is, you’re always still in control of fermentation even with a very active starter – by doing things like using cold water to slow it down, or by using less of it in a recipe.
Gorgeous color on loaf!
FEED ME🦕
I want to eat the whole thing.
It means it’s time for butter!
I have starter envy🤩
I’m just here to say I hate you 😂 my starter is struggling to survive I need some of your starter karma
There’s no such thing as a starter that is too active. Your starter is just fine. But are you baking every day? If not, why are you feeding it every 24 hours? All you need to do is keep a little bit in the fridge, and feed it when you’re ready to bake. Otherwise you just throwing stuff away. There’s no need to feed it if you’re not using it.
And by the way, the way you’re making it is the way people made it for probably a few thousand years, gram scales only became widely available in the 2000s. My grandmother never used one and she made some damn good bread. If you learn how it’s supposed to behave, by feel and by eye and by smell, that’s what’s called cooking.
I think feeding with bread flour makes it more bubbly.
Looks excellent. Would love to see a photo of the cumb.
I feel like you just came here to flex on us. Looks amazing.