If you're looking to start your Sourdough journey, begin here with Richard Hart's Rye Starter. It's flavourful, relatively simple and reliable.
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Rye Starter
Makes 175g
I think you should make your first starter with whole rye flour. It’s packed full of the enzymes, nutrients, and complex sugars that yeast and bacteria thrive on, and it will begin to ferment faster than any other flour. You can make a starter out of any kind of grain flour, but rye will be the fastest and most reliable, and the results will help you build confidence as a sourdough baker.
Once you’ve established life in the matrix of an all-rye starter, which should happen within two or three days, you can blend in whole wheat and white flour, converting it into a wheat sourdough starter (see Wheat Starter, page 73). A wheat starter requires twice-daily feedings, versus once- daily required by rye, but wheat flour may be easier to find and less expensive.
As for the ideal container, I recommend a glass jar or transparent (or translucent) plastic container, so that you can see the bubbles and expansion happening. It ought to be taller than it is wide, to keep the surface area at a minimum.
I mix my starter by hand to get a feel for its viscosity, temperature, and texture. You could use a wooden spoon, but why not get into an intimate relationship with what you’re doing?
One last thing: Antibacterial soaps are the standard in many kitchens, but as the name suggests, they kill bacteria, all bacteria, even the good ones. When you wash your hands to use them to mix the starter, I suggest using a simple bar soap that isn’t antibacterial.
Actually this is the last thing: If you’re too impatient to wait on the power of flour and water, just go to your local bakery. Ask really nicely if you can have some sourdough starter. Some bakeries will sell it to you, but I think that’s ridiculous. I’m happy to give it to anyone who asks. The more of us bak- ing bread, the better.
Ingredients
125g Warm Water
125g Rye Flour
Timing
Day 1: Mix starter.
Day 2: Check and mix the starter.
Day 3: Feed the starter, mix and ferment.
Day 4: Discard half the starter, feed, and ferment. Day 5: Discard half the starter, feed, and ferment. Day 6: Discard half the starter, feed, and ferment.
Equipment
Jar or plastic container, flexible plastic dough scraper, digital thermometer, bowl or other vessel for water bath
Day 1
Mix the flour and water: In a clean jar or plastic container, combine 50g of the flour and 50g of the water and mix it well by hand to form a homogenous dough. It will be quite sticky. Use the dough scraper to scrape any excess from your fingers and back into the mixture.
Take its temperature. If it’s below 77°F / 25°C, set the con- tainer in a larger container of warm water to bring it up a few degrees. The water should completely surround the starter container in order to insulate it. Don’t go crazy with boiling or scalding water, as there is an upper limit (131°F / 55°C) to how warm the starter can be before you start to kill off the yeast and bacteria. Put a lid on the container.
Don’t expect much excitement in the first day or so. As long as you’re keeping the starter warm enough, you can leave it alone for 24 hours.
Day 2
Check on your starter: To be honest, it probably won’t look all that different. It may have separated a bit, with some liquid at the top, and if that’s the case, just mix the liquid back in. Don’t worry! That’s just evidence that the process has started, but the mixture hasn’t entirely fermented yet. It’s completely normal, as unappetizing as it may look.
Put your clean fingers into the mixture and stir it around a bit, to add some oxygen. Take its temperature and warm the container in warm water as necessary. Cover the container and let it sit again for 24 hours.
Day 3
Feed the starter: By now, you should be seeing some noticeable bubbling and expansion in the mixture. Go ahead and add 25g of the flour and 25g of the water and mix it in by hand. Scrape the excess off your fingers and add it to the mixture.
And if you’re still not seeing clear signs of life, don’t worry. Just check that it’s warm enough and wait another day.
Day 4
Feed it again: Check again for bubbling and expansion, which should be evident by Day 4. Discard half the mixture and mix in the remaining 50g flour and 50g water.
If by Day 4, there is no evidence of fermentation in your mixture, despite your having refreshed it and kept it warm, it’s quite likely that your starter is fucked. And definitely so if you see red or orange streaks of mold or other visible growths. You should chuck it out, buy some fresh flour, and start over.
Day 5 and beyond - Maintenance
At this point, you should have a nicely fermented starter, with real, clear signs of active life: bubbles and a steady rise in volume over the course of several hours, after which it will likely deflate a bit as the gas bubbles break through the surface. You are now ready to use this starter to make bread.
From here, you will maintain a daily feeding schedule by discarding about 90% of it and refreshing it with flour and water, equal parts by weight. For a rye starter, you can do this once a day. For wheat, I recommend feeding it twice a day, which is what we do at my bakery, because it keeps the starter active and happy, and it fits best with our production schedule. Some bakers feed their wheat starter three times per day; some do it just once. I believe deeply in feeding your starter every day; it needs healthy, happy yeast to make great bread. Some people try to feed it less frequently or put it in the fridge, the idea being that the cold temperature slows down the whole process, allowing you to feed it less frequently. While that’s true, the fact is that the yeasts are also not multiplying happily. I don’t recommend it, but if you do do this, you’ll need to bring it back to room temperature and give it a good feeding for a few days before it will make good bread for you.
Keeping your starter fed while not baking
For days when you’re not baking, you really don’t need to keep more than 100g of starter on hand. Every day, discard all but 10g of your starter and feed it 45g flour and 45g water. That way, it’s fed and healthy, and you’re not wasting too much flour keeping your starter happy and alive. For rye starter, you can do this once per day, and for wheat starter, do it twice a day, roughly 12 hours apart.
Planning ahead for the bake
Before you go to bake, plan ahead to know how much starter you’ll need, and adjust your feeding amounts accordingly. For example, for the pan loaves, you’ll need 250g of 12-hour starter, so the day before you make your dough, you would discard 90% of your existing starter, leaving 10g, and feed it 125g flour and 125g water, which would give you enough for the recipe and leave you with starter to carry over for the next feeding.