Rehydrating sourdough starter

Supplies:

• Bread flour
• Warm filtered water (free of chlorine)
• Glass jar - you can start with a pint size jar but will want to move to quart size once starter is rehydrated and larger in volume
• Kitchen scale (everything is measured in grams)

 

Goal: thick gooey starter

Ideal temp: 70 to 75 degrees

 

Morning 1:

1. 20 g starter (entire package of Alice)
2. 50 g warm filtered water
3. Stir infrequently until dissolved about 3 hours
4. Then add 50 g flour
5. Stir
6. Cover lightly with lid. Does not need to be airtight just prevent starter from drying out. I usually just set lid on top of jar without screwing it on.

 

Evening 1: (12 hours later)

1. Mixture will most likely be super dry you can spray with filtered water if too difficult to work with but not necessary
2. Feed 50 g water and 50 g flour
3. Stir and cover lightly with lid

 

Morning 2: (12 hrs later)

1. Discard all but 50 g starter (aka measure out 50g into new clean jar)
2. Feed 50 g flour
3. 50 g water
4. Stir

 

Evening 2: (12 hrs later)

1. Move to larger jar - quart size or bigger. You will now be keeping a larger volume
2. Feed 50 g flour
3. 50 g water
4. Stir

 

 Note:

• Always discard starter in the garbage not in sink (or see how to use discard portion). Sourdough starter can clog sink and cause damage.
• You should  - start to see bubbles - you can mark the outside of your jar with a rubber band or dry erase marker to see how much it grows.
• notice the nice smell - sourdough and yeast
• When the starter is active and ready to bake with it will double in size in 4 hours or less.
• It is at “peak activity” when it doubles in size and stays elevated

 

Sourdough starter maintenance

• If stored at room temperature your starter should be fed daily.
• You can keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator and feed it just once a week or when preparing to bake.

1. Take the starter out of the fridge and allow it to warm up before feeding. The night before would be perfect.
2. The next morning discard a portion - keep 100g starter
3. Feed 100g flour and 100g water.

You can decide how much starter you want to maintain based on your needs but it should always be equal parts starter, flour and water.

 

Preparing starter for baking:

Sourdough should be active and at its at peak activity when using for baking = at least doubles in size in about 4 hours and has not fallen back down.

Here is an example of my routine

1. Thursday evening pull starter out of fridge and let it warm up on counter.
2. Friday morning feed starter
3. 4 hours after last feeding I start mixing dough for baking - bread Saturday morning.

 

Sourdough Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

 

• Active sourdough starter 150 - 200g
• 500g bread flour
• 375g warm filtered water (free of chlorine)
• 15-20g salt

 

Supplies:

• Kitchen scale
• Large bowl
• Cast iron Dutch oven
• Proofing basket
• Tea towel
• Dough scraper

 

Step 1

3 day process - for example

Thursday evening: Take starter out of fridge to warm on counter overnight

Friday morning: Feed starter

About 4 hours later: start mixing bread. See Step 2

 

Step 2:

Mix dough

In large bowl mix (150 - 200g) sourdough starter and 350g water

Stir in 500g flour slowly using wet hands and dough scraper.

Cover with tea towel and let sit for 30 mins.

 

Add 25g water and salt. Mix with wet hands

Cover with tea towel and let sit for 30 mins.

 

Perform 2-4 sets of stretch and fold waiting 30-45 mins between each set.

Using clean wet hands lift and grab one side of dough ball pull on one side then lay it down on itself folding in half. Turn bowl to stretch and fold each corner. This is one set of stretch and fold. Let sit at least 30 mins between each set.

 

Pre shape loaf: dump dough onto floured countertop. If you doubled recipe this is where you would separate dough.

Pull and pinch sides together to form dough ball. Flip dough ball over so pinch side is down. Lightly flour the top and cover with teal towel. Let sit 30 mins

 

Last shape before proofing basket: Repeat shaping process by pulling and pinching sides together to form dough ball. Use cover, tea towel pr place directly in proofing basket. Lightly flour. Place dough ball pinchy side up into proofing basket. Cover with plastic wrap (I keep this piece of plastic wrap and reuse every time. You can also cover with tea towel or bees wax to keep from drying out. Then place into the fridge for a cold proof. This is the final fermentation.

 

12 hours later

Aka Saturday morning:

Preheat oven to 500 F with cast iron inside oven 1 hour before baking.

Wait until last second to grab dough out of fridge.

Cut a square of parchment paper (I reuse mine) and place on top of proofing basket. Flip bread over so that dough is now pinchy side down on parchment paper. Using a bread lame score bread aka make cuts into top of bread. This helps to direct rapid expansion and preventing it from cracking.

Turn oven down to 450 F. Move bread on parchment paper to cast iron. Place lid on and bake covered for 30-35 mins. Turn down to 385 and remove lid. Bake uncovered for 15- 20 mins. Let bread cool before cutting and enjoy!

 

Notes:

Bread can cold proof in fridge for longer than 12 hours. I’ve found 36 hours or less to be the sweet spot although I’ve enjoyed bread that has cold proofed for 5 days!

There are different flour combinations you can try such as substituting a portion of normal bread flour with whole wheat or rye flour.

You can mix in different ingredients such as garlic, herbs, nuts, fruits. This is usually done early in the stretch and fold phase.

Different baking times and temperatures may work better depending on your bread and oven. Typically, the bake time should be a total of 45- 55 mins. You can try baking it longer or shorter, lowering temp or keeping it at 450 F, with lid on/off.

 

What to do with discard portion of sourdough?