Sourdough starter notes

The mysteries of sourdough starters...

First off, this isn't going to be about creating a sourdough starter from scratch. There are plenty of sources for that. It is simple. You mix flour and water, set it in a container that's open to the air (but not to insects, dirt, etc.), feed it every day or twice daily discarding as much of it as you add new each time until it gets bubbly.

That's about it, except that it isn't and it only gets complicated from that point.

A sourdough starter resembles a household pet in terms of how you relate to it. No, you don't have to pet it or pick up its poop, but you do have to feed it (maybe that's petting it) and throw parts of it out regularly (okay, maybe that's like cleaning up poop?)

But, ...

Let's talk practically!

There are hard, mysterious things about sourdough starters. You learn about them from kind people teaching you how to make, then you do as they say. Yet, they never tell you why you're doing it. And you wonder.

Sourdough feeding, consumption and discard...

Before you use your sourdough starter, that is, before you bake, you should feed it so that

1. there's enough starter to make bread from, that is, leaven your bread flour,
and
2. the starter is active enough that it will work without making you wait an eternity for it to impart its magic to your dough.

Afterward, there should be enough starter left over to innoculate the next feeding. How much? That depends. When you watch YoutTube or read a recipe, you often learn that the author posits a relationship between starter, flour and water during feeding.

starter : flour : water

For example, 1:1:1 means one part starter, one part flour and one part water. All by weight. Or, the author may suggest 1:2:2. (Flour and water are pretty much always going to be equal.)

Discard

Obviously, if you maintain (read: "feed") your starter by ratio as noted above, you'll be throwing away some of it. Let's say that, last time, you had about 1 cup of starter left over from your bake. Today, you want to bake again, so you feed it. If you plan to do 1:1:1, you're looking at

1. weighing your starter
2. adding the same weight in flour
then
3. adding the same weight in water

Doing that will create a huge amount of starter, possibly a cup more. If you make a 1-pound loaf of bread (500 grams of flour), you'll probably use about 100 grams of starter. That's not a lot; it's not usually a cup. So, the next time you feed your starter it's going to be even bigger than that.

So, you throw out all but just how much you'll use

1. one part such that adding more flour and water will equal 100 grams
2. a little more so you have innoculant left over to turn the flour and water fed into more starter.

Anything you throw away as too much from your existing starter is termed discard. What's it used for? It's either wasted (down the drain or in the trash) or you use it to make sourdoug pancakes.

Activation is about weights and ratios. If you keep building up your starter, increasing the volume, you're in essence retaining your discard. Why is this significant? Each time you add to your starter, you're only creating an impoverished starter of a) already consumed (fed upon) starter plus b) a fractional part of active starter content.

When you feed your starter, you cannot reactivate the existing starter that the yeast has already fed upon. You're just adding a fractional increase to that previously digested content.

What you really want to do is to discard all but enough existing starter to ensure innoculation of the actual, active amount of starter you hope to have for your imminent project. The starter you use to make your dough with should be fully active (probably 1:1:1) and not full of past-their-date yeasties (3:1:1)—as tasty as they might be.

This is what most recipes and YouTubers don't explain very well.

Sourdough starter maintenance

Daily

 25g starter
100g water
100g flour   (50% whole wheat or rye,1 50% all purpose2)

1. Mix starter into water thoroughly. Add in flour and stir thoroughly.
2. Ensure no dry bits. Once mixed, scrape inside of jar down to top of starter.
3. Always keep it clean. Cover in such a way as it can breathe a bit.
4. Set aside on counter top until needed.

Weekly

1. Do as above (a through c).
2. Set aside on counter top for a few hours until it manifests activity.
3. Tighten lid.
4. Refrigerate until needed.³

A stiffer sourdough starter

Why? See this chart:

Hydration Chart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
500% (1:1:5*)     100% (1:1:1)     50% (1:2:1)*

watery            normal           dry
favors bacteria                    favors yeast
minimal CO2       some CO2         lots of CO2 (high lift)
dairy notes       vinegary notes   fruity notes
                                   e.g.: 10g starter : 20g flour : 10 g water
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:
* This ration is: starter : flour : water

Making a drier starter...

Start by measuring 10 grams starter, then dilute with 10 grams water. Once diluted (and mixed), add 20 grams of flour. Use 50% whole wheat and 50% plain white flour. Knead well; it will be dry and crumbly.

To get rid of the vinegary notes from your usual starter (before making this new, stiffer starter), make a high-hydration starter of 10g starter, 10g flour and 50g water. Wait until bubbles appear. Do this every day for 3 days. Then make the low-hydration starter here.

The new starter is ready once there are pockets of air in the starter. Sample recipe:

-------------
300g water
 80g starter*
  8g salt
400g flour
-------------

Notes:
*20% of total flour (400g) in winter, 10% or 40g in summer