These temperatures are helpful. (From Hammelman) 20 C - 27 C Most Favourable Range For Yeast to Multiply 26 C Optimum multiplication of Yeast 27 C - 30 C Maximum Fermentation Range So to start a starter or to bring it to peak activity 26 deg C is my favourite temperature. I follow the French tradition of fermenting my dough at 24 degrees C. Yes, 27, or 28 would make my bread rise faster, but I want to brew in the flavour using the slower 24 degrees C. And, keeping the starter in the fridge makes daily feeding a thing of the past. Never any discards either. I remove it from the fridge, feed it and then six hours at 24 degrees C brings it to readiness with anything from 1:1:1 to 1:4:4 . Yes, I have done trials on that. Thanks for your continued great videos. I hope some of this is useful to someone.
I've watched and read A LOT about starters.. (I'm new to the world of sourdough).. this was by far one of the BEST sources of information and has given me a MUCH better understanding of starters and how to manage them. Thank you for taking your time to make this video!
I really struggle with all the maths and hydration terms (have not even started on a starter) but this video (allthough I had to repeat some parts) made it really clear what hydration means, and the numbers with feeding 1:1:1 of 1:4:4 and the effect that it has. Also I did not know the dough became less and more sour and that it "peaked"! Very helpful! Thank you! Makes me more confident about throwing the flower and water together and start on this home made bread journey now :)
I new to this sourdough starter game, I bought my starter on Amazon and this bad boy is growing like crazy, I feed it everyday I kind of stopped measuring. I just leave a tablespoon in the jar put the rest in the fridge, give it even ratios of (flour and water) and its doing great! Found your video very helpful! Thank you!😊🍞
hi from Moldova!👋 i would like to thank you for this video! your advice to feed my starter with higher ratio made it to become very stong! i began to feed it from 1:3:3 to 1:15:15... and .. i was shocked when i fed it once 1:1:1 it reached the peak in 2,5 hours (t 22C) and stayed hungry so long period of time! Unbelievable! it really works! 💪 thank you a lot ❤️.
So I've been putting my starter jar on top of my DirecTV receiver which is pretty warm (90ºF). But then I had an idea that my sous vide cooker might be even better. It can precisely hold the temp of a water bath for up to 3 days. One problem was that the mason jar containing 100 gms of starter wanted to float around. I put the starter jar in a corner of the water tank and placed 2 water filled jars alongside. That was enough to keep it in place. Constant 86ºF. Perfect!!
The only possible risk from high ratio feeding is when the temperature is a not ideal for yeast and conditions are not sufficiently sanitary, as this could allow another microbe to grow faster than the yeast. With lower ratios the quick formation of alcohol and acids from the yeast will hinder competitors. This is more of a concern in making beer because that fermentation can take a week and liquid is a bit different environment.
Sune! First thank you for all you do. You are always in the avangard of making a homemade bread a simple and enjoyable experience. Separate gratitude for your EXPERIMENTS - you managed to fulfill most of my dough fantasies :) Question: while I bake better than a saucer breads, the flavor variety varies greatly. I know, temperatures, flour and acidity of the starter... My infrequent success of getting a deep flavor where the rye smell penetrates everything within 12 feet, is not consistent. I noticed that stopping at 30%-50% bulk growth, results in excellent rise, but lacks flavor; while, fermenting more, better taste but much less rise. I suspect that freshness of the flour is one factor. Since I don't use controlled environment like you, too many variables to consider. Thank-you
Hi Sune, Where have you been all my sourdough-starter-life?! That’s about 2 years now. I’ve come to a place where I know enough to bake a decent sourdough loaf & also enough to know there’s a lot of misinformation out there being presented by *experts.* So many TH-cam sourdough *teachers* make concrete statements that contradict other *teachers’* tips & rules. I love that you explain the various methods without saying there’s only one right way. Today I learned from you that: - My customary 1-1-1 starter ratio is just fine. Mine is very active. Maybe the local organic rye flour I feed with helps. - I can extend the starter growth time by using less starter. Say 1-2-2 or even 1-50-50. - It’s okay to use a warm place to grow my starter. I used to put it in the microwave with the light on (approx 80F). Then I read on another site that’s not good for the starter. I appreciate that you demonstrated Patrick Ryan’s sourdough loaf which tells me that you’re here to help - & not to be the one who’s always right 😉 Since Patrick’s loaf was my 2st successful loaf, he gave me confidence to keep at it. Now I’m excited to try more adventurous bakes from your videos. 🙏 🎸
I've been doing the same thing. It's great. I also keep my starter in the fridge so I can forget about it. Perfect system for lazy people who don't bake much.
I usually keep 100g of wholemeal rye starter in my Weck jar in the fridge for the next bake. I bake every week. I don’t measure the flour or water to add to my starter, I just go by eye and feel but I’d say it’s a fairly equal flour/water ratio. I weigh it for the recipe though! Using the proofer has been awesome - no longer do I *have* to bake at night just because my starter is finally lively 😂 The proofer is great for the bulk ferment too.
Thanks Mr. Foodgeek, 7 minutes of super useful tips and reminders. I did the 1/50/50 tip and now my starter's stronger than ever. Keep up the great work, much appreciated.
Thanks so much! MANY questions solved here. I just guess at it and now I see what works why and how with this video. Best explanation for both beginners and intuitive veterans among us all…
I had a Commodore 64, remember how special it was upgrading from tape to floppy and to the GEOS operating system (I know it's redundant). I like to use a small quantity of starter when I feed it so I do collect some discard but I use it up making, blueberry pancakes waffles, crumpets and crackers...it's all good.
You should also say his, if you do not want a sharply sour sourdough, you can put the tiniest amount of honey in with every feeding and it will feed the yeast more than the bacteria, and it will stay fruity but not really sour. That way you can make sourdough sweet bakery like cinnamon rolls and just sweet and puffy anything really.
I have to smile every time I watch your video's! Just when I think I have learned or know enough about a subject to move on, I find out differently. Thanks so much. As a side note, not only are your video's super informative, but the comments are just more chapters so it is a true learning experience! I also just started a 1:50:50! This was done with an already very active starter.
I still have my Commodore VIC-20! Just bought some rye flour and will use that soon. I like that you mention how to basically restart a starter with 1:5:5, if I understood that correctly. Tkx much for sharing this vid.
I tend to keep around 100g in the fridge, generally I make around 1.5 - 2kg of dough. I use most of that 100g as late as possible in the day to make a levain/starter of around 400/500g, feed the scraps in the starter jar at the same time then I put the starter in the fridge in the morning and use the now active levain to make the bread.
I equipped myself with a styrofoam insulation box with a conventional 30w light bulb and a thermostat. At 28 ° C. The fermentation is perfect and easy to control... I maintain my starter with 50% rye and 50% wheat wholegrain flour. It works very good for all kinds of breads and rolls
@@BushyIV I use something like Inkbird ITC-308 thermostat. Its sensor is in the box and switches the bulb around the temperature you dialed in. Use an old school conventional 30 watt bulb not LED. LEDs do not heat enough. Put the bulb with its socket in a Glass with marbels or hexnuts or screws that keep the bulb in distance to the box and provide it to melt the styrofoam of the box. it also buffers the temperature
This was great! However, I’m really curious if you can do a video on how water quality affects starter. I recently moved from super hard city water (but filtered/softened), to well water (also filtered/softened and also UV sterilized). With the exact same recipes, ingredients and starter, there is a massive difference on how my starter behaves. Same thing with my other non-sourdough bread recipes using regular dry/instant yeast. I know there’s got to be some hints or science out there for this, I just haven’t been able to find it…
I usually feed 1:10:10 for overnight peak. I use 13g of starter and 130g water and bread flour. That gives me around 240g for my 3 loaves of bread (which I bake around once a week) and a little more than I need to the next feeding, just in case. It's almost no waste. I store in the fridge and in the morning prior to the feeding Intake it out to warm slowly.
Hi! I'm a beginner and I'd love to feed my starter and use it in the morning cause it would fit my schedule, but I'm struggling to find infos about this practice. Which temperature do you keep overnight? The fed starter stays in the fridge overnight or not? And in the morning do you use it straight away or does it need to be fed again? Sorry for these questions, I know they're a lot I hope I'm not bothering you🙈🙈
Fermentation is exponential, not lineal, so saying 1/2/2 feed will last double time than 1/1/1 feed is an error. If 1/1/1 feed peaks around 3,5h, 1/2/2 feed will peak a little later, maybe 4,5h or 5, depending on temperature.
Yeaaah Commodore 64 was my first computer in the 80s as a toddler lol I’d still be buying store bread if it wasn’t for your channel 🙏🏼 current “problem” I’m working on is scorched bottoms. Using a cast iron Dutch oven @500° for 20 min sprayed and covered then ~20 min off...
@@Foodgeek thank you for the reply!! Yes I use a cast iron fry pot turned upside down and place it at the bottom of the oven - in attempt to have the bottom marginally cooler than the top side. Also have a baking stone but no peel to slide the dough onto (yet). Perhaps the oven heats unevenly? I let it stay warm 30-60 min to saturate the iron with heat. Perhaps less than 20 min covered would suffice? 🤔 Bayou Classic 7477 Oval Fryer... www.amazon.com/dp/B004EWLCUW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Having a hard time following tip#2. Replayed it multiple times and finally giving up, I hope you can respond. You say you always keep a 100 grams in the fridge, then you go on to say how you build your levain from starter saved from your last bake. Is the Starter from your last bake the 100g in your fridge? If so do you feed it with enough flour/water to bring it back to 100g?
i usually keep 50g of my starter in the fridge over the week. I feed it friday night with 50g water and 50g flour. Its usually done growing midday the next day. I use 100g for a bread the next day, which leaves me with 50g of starter, so no discard. i use rye flour, so it smells pretty wild after a week in the fridge, but the smell is usually gone the next day :P
Great advice, I have been feeding my sourdough as you advised at the end of the video. It seems to be working wonders on the strength! Thanks Sune for sharing.
I've ordered the proofer (which I will refer to as the "Sune Special") and I'm going to try that 1:50:50 trick. I would never have thought to try such a high ratio. Looking forward to the results!
Hi ,, Sune ,, I have experimented with retarding the starter when it reaches its peak or slightly before - I wait for the starter to arrive at peak ( for me its triple in volume ) then I place in the fridge , I have found that it pretty much stays at that volume level for a few days , i can then use it whenever i need to , I just dissolve it in lukewarm water to bring it up to temperature and bake with it - - and feed whatever is kept as a starter for the next bake - when its at peak I put that one in the fridge and so on!
Great tips, thank you! Question on your build. You say you make 150 if you need 125 g, with 75 g each flour and water. Then the 25 g starter you add, does that come from the stash of 100 g you keep in the fridge? Do you ever feed the one kept in the fridge?
I do a LOT of experimenting to minimize the amount of starter in the refrigerator. I tend to use Bake with Jack's scraps method in combination with Ben Starr's Simple Sourdough for Lazy People. I have left my scraps in the refrigerator for a couple months without use. When I want to use it I feed it with enough flour and water to make my loaves of bread and leave it out on the counter until it bubbles. If in a hurry I can leave it in the oven with the oven light on and the oven temperature rises to the 88F (give or take). When done I'm left with scraps to go back into the refrigerator. Like you, when making biscuits, pancakes, muffins, etc. that usually use sourdough scraps I again make what starter I need, use it and put the scraps back in the refrigerator. Works for me. Rather than worry about whether my starter is trying to jump out of my starter jar from being super active I just feed it, let it rise until it is ready. The only penalty (if you can call it that) is having a dough that will take much longer to rise ... and THAT provides more flavor for me.
Wow since i live in a hot place, i don’t need a proofer. Normally i make my levain built before bed and put it at my bedside where i got aircon to keep my room temp at a constant 25C. I always start w/ only 20g of starter then feed it 3-4x the amount of “food”. Works wonder to grow in 10-12hrs.
That Bonus tip is awesome. I've only seen one other person talking about doing 1: 50: 50 type proportions. What do you mean by "strong" starter? Taste? Spring?
I make a 100:100:50 (or 2:2:1) starter for panettone (starter:strong flour:water), and it is like a dough rather than liquid and needs kneading before returning to a jar. That’s considered a strong or stiff starter (but may not be the only definition), It’s also called pasta madre or lievito madre. Edit: I use that for my bread, too, rather than keep two types of starter going. Also, I wrote this before getting all the way through the video. Sune is speaking about something different.
Hello, Sune. Is there a way to control which yeast culture dominates when growing yeast? I am looking for a method to suppress growth of brewers yeast when growing wild yeast starter. Hoping to reduce purines in my daily diet.
I don't use a brand. I just like these knitted ones with non-slip pads: fdgk.net/buy-heat-resistant-gloves They say they are super heat insulating, but that's not true. You gotta work fast, but you get to keep yoiur dexterity with these :)
Wow, 1 to 50 to 50? That's a lot! For sure will try it when my starter has matured. How does it affect the starter if I feed it 1 part starter and half/half of different flours + water (like bread flour + whole grain rye flour for feeding)?
Dear mr Sune, I appreciate all the efforts u’ve been putting in this channel, and I have a question if I may ask, I tried this method to strengthen my starter and it did not rise at all! My starter is about 2 years old and every time I feed it with 1:2:2 ratio it rose but the bread never turns good! On the other hand when I feed it with 1:1:1 ratio and bread turns really good! May I know why?? There has to be a reason! Connected to the reason why it didn’t rise using ur method!
Did you figure anything out with respect to your question about the bake experience with different starter feeding ratios? I wonder if you do everything exactly the same with both starters, meaning, if you use 1:1:1 when it peaks are you doing that as well with the 1:2:2 since they would certainly peak at much different times and thereby affect your baking schedule.
Thank you so much for this refresher Stater course!! Now for my question. If my fed Starter (85g + 100g water+100g of AP Flour) has already peaked and has sunk down, is it still usable? Also, how important is it that the Starter float when added to water? Thanks again for all you do for us Sourdough Newbies!!!
The thing about the proportions really blew me away. Back when i started i learned to do 1: 0.5 : 0.25. And i did it like this for a while. Nowadays i just bumped the water content a little more just to be able to mix the starter more comfortably. I'll give it a try on the 1:2:2 for a while, and maybe the 1:50:50 as well
Bonus tip, 1:50:50...? I have always heard of the opposite. Feed 1:1:1 three times a day for some days to get high acitvity - strong startet. Can you explain why 1:50:50 is better?
Perhaps the stronger year strains in the starter has more of an exponential time to take over and eat the goodies compared to the weaker strains of yeast so once you do that a couple of times the yeast will be less “mixed” so actually closer to industrial yeast. Less flavour? @sune? Any thought on that?
I’ve been experimenting with my own starter me it’s been going quite good. Playing with a few parameters it just takes some time and patience to get a very active starter. That being said, I get a nice crumb despite the fact my breads look a bit more like a frisbee. I’ve figured out what makes the bottom of my bread get nice and well done, getting a nice crumb throughout. But I am still trying to get my bread to rise upwards, not outwards (in all directions). We’ll see what happens in the future. I’m still playing with temp and steam a bit, so I might find what works best for me soon.
I know this is an old post but I heard using a smaller cooking vessel 4qt instead of the usual larger cast iron pot or cast iron bakers helps to give support to weaker doughs and you get a nice rise
I don’t think there was quite enough instructions on how to strengthen your starter and make it stronger by feeding it one to 50 to 50… I would love to to hear and measurements how you do that? And you said that you do it four times? Could you possibly explain that in detail?
Not a beginner these days thanks to you and others, but I'm wondering: is there such a thing as a starter that is too strong? I'm using a 100% rye starter and I'm finding it's really active, doubling the dough in 4 hours at 80F. Then the cold retard makes it rise too much. I've been using 140g starter in 1000g flour recipe. Should I use less? Also I only feed it once a week these days and keep it in the fridge otherwise so it's not even getting regular feedings. This starter is going to become sentient and take over my apartment
The bread code told us that if you feed the starter with a higher proportion than 1:1:1, then it will be less acidic, damage the gluten less, etcetc. My point is that even the hydration of starter is the same with 1:1:1 and 1:5:5, they cannot be the same, can they? Even your last tip suggests that you will get a stronger starter with a higher feeding proportion.
Hi - am I just missing the item that you use for your fermentation once you've finished with your folds? I like the measurements on that square container so that I can keep better track of whether my dough is ready. Thx!
@@Foodgeek Thanks for your reply - I feel warm all over now. I was just wanting to follow as closely as possible so that I can see the volume. If I leave it in my bowl, am I just waiting for it to "get larger"? :)
Sorry for the stupid question, but I am a sourdough newby. What does 1:50:50 mean exactly? I have tried to begin a start 1:1:1 and am not begin successful. So how would I doe 1:50:50? Thanks!
I am beyond lazy with my starter, I don't feed regularly, I just wait til it looks hungry, and I never measure anything anymore, even when building up for a bake, I kind of just get the texture right and go by container size
I just tried 1:50:50 feeding and my starter is very active! Mine is kind of strange because it took forever to double with 1:1:1 but was very active with 1:5:5 (peak x2.3 times in 10 hours) If my starter doesn’t double within 4-6 hours with 1:1:1 feeding (after the first 1:50:50 feeding), should I change the ratio or try baking with 1:1:1 feeding? And to my curious, why 1:1:1 ratio doesn’t work with mine?😂 Thank you for the very informative video!😊
I mostly use the ratio for timing the peak of my starter. I feed at around 8 pm at 1:5:5 and then it's ready for 5am when I get up to make dough :) It might work better now after you fed it 1:50:50. Try just one time at 1:1:1 and see if it got faster :) You're welcome :)
@@Foodgeek Omg I’m so happy that you replied my comment! I just tried 1:1:1 after 1:50:50 but the result was the same. It took so long to double. But I won’t give up! Any suggestion to get it to peak faster?😂 my house’s temperature is about 29-31c all day long.
@@RedAlertXA In that case I'd say do more 1:50:50. Like 3 or 4. It'll take some days, but you should get it active. 29-31c is great for a very active starter :)
Sune, have you ever used sugar, like agave syrup, to spike your starter? Recently, I pulled a dormant starter (10 months untouched) from the refrigerator, fed it, then after three days spiked it with a teaspoon of agave nectar. The active result was amazing! The starter acted like it was on steroids!! I baked the single most amazing sourdough loaf ever. What do you think? This is a true story.
I'm experiencing a phenomenon that has presented itself only recently. My starter is taking forever to rise. It's gotten to where it can take 10-12 hours to peak at 3x. This is particularly frustrating when I look back at pix I took of the starter's inception back in January of this year (2022) where it was overflowing the jar beautifully. My current starter is the child of that first one so...? By the way, my loaves are coming out well consistently despite it all. My stats: the mix is 1:1:1; 1/2 bread flour, 1/2 rye or whole wheat, tho I used to use 100% rye but one of your videos recommended the half-and-half approach and I thought I would try that; I'll grow it on the counter (68-72F) or above the fridge (~78F) What do you suppose is going on?
@@Foodgeek NO! You're pulling my leg, right? I heard you say 1:50:50 on this vid and I couldn't get my head around THAT! I'm in the US but, as a Euro wannabe, I do all my kitchen work in metric but I can't imagine what 1:100:100 looks like (I thought it was a typo at first). I just looked at what just 1 gr of starter looks like a quarter teaspoon. I mean, won't I need a bucket to hold it all? So, say I do this, will it remain a very active starter going forward, i.e. can I make successive starters less insane? Well I'm going to try it as an experiment, but I have to bake tomorrow so I'll need a starter later today.It's going back up to around 38º C here in a couple of days and I sure don't want to be running the oven then.
@@alanbrunettin5584: Add the tiniest dot of starter you can get into the jar, then add 100 grams of water and ensure the starter is incorporated, then add 100 grams of flour and mix thoroughly. It's no joke, it's awesome :D
Well, you haven’t steered me wrong yet. I went ahead and made a 1:100:100 if for no other reason than it’s just so bizarre and I’ve been enjoying the chemistry class nature of this whole process. But in order to bake tomorrow I also made 1:2:2 and it’s already nearly tripled in 3 hours. Ah the wacky world of sourdough. (And of course the 100 hasn’t budged in that time) BTW I ended up with a 1:2:2 because the first go at the 100 I spaced and dumped in the flour without having incorporated the little nubbin of starter into the water. Fearing it wouldn’t mix in properly, I did it over the right way and turned the first 100 into a 1:2:2 to try a minor low-starter formulation and one I could work with today. So assuming this 1:100:100 works, will its children be able to be fed normally and still retain their super-human powers?
@@Foodgeek I just did a 1:50:50 with 10g starter but now feel I need to start the 1:100:100 if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity. Please do not post any higher rations as I am getting low on flour. I really am doing the higher one though.
Thanks foodgeek! If I understood correctly, the less starter I use to feed the stronger it will be? 1/50/50 means for instace 1g of starter from the fridge + 50g flour + 50g water??? thanks again!!
Thank you for these tips. Moving forward from the 1:50:50 feed (which I’ve just done), when it has matured, can I take out for example 30g and feed at 1:1:1 and use that for my next bread making? Then, probably it would be better to continue feeding the 1:50:50 remainder rather than the remainder of the 1:1:1 to maintain more thriving yeast cells?
@@judylai2981 that only gives you 101g starter. I’m baking 2,4 or 6 loaves at a time. The trick is to make exactly what you want then with 50g water rinse, rinse the jar to pick up the last smears in the jar. Then add 50g flour. Then when I want to bake ( usually 3 times a week) I feed that 100g exactly the amount I need for that bake, sometimes I need 900g of starter! Perhaps for someone who bakes a lot and frequently this method works but I do t see why it wouldn’t for you too.
I do not feed at 1:1:1 or 1:2:2. I check how much I need, e.g. 100 g starter, so I make 10% more in water and flour (55g -60g each). Then I only add maybe a teaspoon of the last starter. That‘s more than sufficient. I use a yoghurt maker, to proof it at 30 °C and it will not take more than 4-5 hours. The only problem is that I have to schedule my yoghurt days and my baking days.
Interesting ... so feeding at 1:50:50 will strengthen your starter, makes sense. Because the yeast has lots of room to feed and multiply and become dense.
Nice info ℹ️ but I wish you didn’t have distracting music in the background & had captions, I had to listen to part of it several times to understand what you said. 😊❤🙃👍🏼💙
Hi Sune! Thank you so much! Your videos have encouraged me and I’ve started. So the first step is to build my starter. I am on day 2 of my new starter with a 1:5:5 ratio feed and I’m using 90% Bread flour and 10% Dark Rye. After 5 hrs. It has risen about 70%. 😬 So do I just feed it again before the dome collapses? VS waiting 24 hrs? And as far as I understand, it’s better to now feed in a 1:30:30? Or higher, to slow it down a bit in order to get a strong starter? Sigh… I hope you read this soon and are able to guide me. Please stay safe. Thank you.
I am now on day 5 and after ⬆️ I decided to feed it a stronger ratio and went for 1 : 20 : 20 and have been doing so for the past three days. Today, the sixth day, I wake up to find that in a period of 24 hrs it has not risen at all, but is bubbly. So it’s fermenting but not rising. What should I do?
@@BravissimoPP I’ve come a long way now. I keep my stater at a 1:6:6 or 1:7:7 ratio and it’s working wonders on my bread. Sune said at some point in his videos that the higher the ratio the stronger the starter. 🤷🏻♀️ I’ve considered going up to 1:10:10 but since the results so far are amazing… I’m staying here for a bit. Thank you for taking an interest and the time to answer!
I normally just keep a couple of grams (leftover) and when I want to bake I feed the starter, first a few grams, till it appears matured then the remaining typically 1:5:5 ratio. On the first feed it’s such a small amount of starter you cannot measure any volume increase just bubbles formation. I plan on the last feed to only add as much starter as I will use, with the first feed as an extra that would invariably get stuck on the walls. The only waste I ever have is literally what is stuck in the jars.
I normally keep anywhere from 50g to 100g of starter in my fridge. I take it out and feed it when I need to use some for a bake. But there have been times that I don't calculate my feeding quite right, or I decide to make more dough than I calculated for, and end up having to scrape out everything I can from the container to use for the dough. I then put a bit of water in my starter container, put the lid on securely, and shake vigorously to get what i can loose from the walls. Then I add an equal amount of flour and mix it together, and that becomes my starter to keep in the fridge for next time. I let it grow until peak, then throw it back in the fridge until needed.
I have a cabinet with a reptile lamp and humidifier and controllers I use for sausage fermenting and I've used it as a proofer but most of the time I use the oven with the interior light on (too lazy to walk downstairs). But I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, perfect place for sourdough with all the tasty wild things floating in the air.
@@MrIceman1953 To be honest, from Sept to May, the heating is on. Temp inside is around 10°C at night in the coldest days. When baking in Spain, I have to proof & ferment in the fridge, otherwise everything gets out of control!
In my head Sune just had one bada$$ Jam session the night before and overstrained his voice a little bit. Not gonna lie, that slightly rough tone makes his voice sexy as hell. Just sayin'
OMG, listening to you talk about ratios & the science of baking, I realize how badly I suck at math & science. With that said, I love making sourdough bread & even with my subnormal math & science brain, it comes out from the oven looking pretty and tasting delicious. Anyway, thank you for your always great videos. Looking forward to trying your, "What Happens To Your Sourdough When You Add Butter" video. Keep up the great work.
I think it's easy to get fixated on such details but as you say, it's not necessary to produce a great loaf. When I started baking sourdough I was slightly obsessed with getting it all right but turns out that a little intuition is all that's needed and rarely does a loaf ever turn out as anything other than a tasty tasty bread 😊
What is the difference between more frequent feedings with low ratio vs fewer with higher feeding ratios like 1:50:50? I would assume the acid buildup would get worse with such High ratios, resulting in less pOwerfull yeast celles??
If you want a sour starter going with a low ratio (1:1:1) is the best. In 1:50:50 barely any of the sour is transferred because there's only so little starter included :)
@@Foodgeek Thx But would it not make the starter more soir, because it takes Long time to peak? If we want a more sour bread we use less starter, and that means it also takes longer to rise. Would it not be the same with feeding a starter with high ratio?
When I feed it 1 1 1 it takes 10 hours on average to double in size. It's always over 70°f. Seems like this is much longer than you described. It doesn't even start to grow for the first few hours. I always get a good rise with my sourdough though. Is it taking this long bc it's been in the fridge before I feed it?
Please help. My start is 50% Whole Wheat and 50% Water by weight. I fed it this morning, 50 grams starter, 50 grams whole wheat, and 50 grams water. It's been 14 hours and it hasn't peaked yet, it has about doubled. The starter was kept at 85F in a dough proofer. How do I get my starter to be more active?
I'd recommend feeding it 1:50:50 for a few times to get it more active. It can take a long time for it to peak at this very low concentration of starter to flour, but it has an abundance of food, so the yeast will multiply.
Hi Sune, I neglected my starter (I know :( ) and mould grew on the top, I scraped the mould off and took some of the bottom of the starter to try to revive it. Would you recommend this or start completely fresh? Love the videos :)
I don't know if I would recommend this because mold would have contaminated the whole batch. There are planty video on why you should never cut off mold from bread and eat the part with no mold, same concept. Hope this helps
@@mejasiu well, look at this way... It's sick, and can get better. Feeding is the medicine, and eventually all bad bacteria will die. But I've had better results starting from zero. It just takes too much time and effort to go from a "sick" starter to a wealth rich, ready to use starter. Nowadays I just ask for a little bit of starter in the nearest bakery in my city. :)
@@BravissimoPP Mold is not a bacteria but a fungus and it's the the fungus itself that is dangerous but what it leaves behind. Mold can leave behind mycotoxins which can make you very sick if not kill you. Just better off starting fresh and not chancing it
Hi Sune, I tried your advice for a 1:50:50 super strong starter, a bit more than two weeks (I still feed it and have it in the fridge). Unfortunately doesn’t peek! I tried both ways: 1. Feed it and leave it half open jar at room temperature for 4-5 hours and then closed the jar and place it in the fridge. Normally feed it every 2-3 days. 2. Feed it and leave it closed jar at room temperature for 4-5 hours and place it in the fridge. Also, feed it every 2-3 days. What am I doing wrong? Thank you.
If you want to strengthen your starter, the fridge is the problem. Just mix it up and leave it out until it peaks. Yesterday I took a starter that had been in the fridge and unfed for two weeks and mixed it 1:5:5. About 24 hours later it has doubled. It didn't look very active for quite some time. You just have to give everything time to multiply at a temperature that supports it.
These temperatures are helpful. (From Hammelman)
20 C - 27 C Most Favourable Range For Yeast to Multiply
26 C Optimum multiplication of Yeast
27 C - 30 C Maximum Fermentation Range
So to start a starter or to bring it to peak activity 26 deg C is my favourite temperature.
I follow the French tradition of fermenting my dough at 24 degrees C. Yes, 27, or 28 would make my bread rise faster, but I want to brew in the flavour using the slower 24 degrees C.
And, keeping the starter in the fridge makes daily feeding a thing of the past. Never any discards either. I remove it from the fridge, feed it and then six hours at 24 degrees C brings it to readiness with anything from 1:1:1 to 1:4:4 . Yes, I have done trials on that.
Thanks for your continued great videos. I hope some of this is useful to someone.
I've watched and read A LOT about starters.. (I'm new to the world of sourdough).. this was by far one of the BEST sources of information and has given me a MUCH better understanding of starters and how to manage them. Thank you for taking your time to make this video!
Thank you ❤️
Not only for beginners.
This video is pure gold! Very very well done 😊 Thanks a lot!
I really struggle with all the maths and hydration terms (have not even started on a starter) but this video (allthough I had to repeat some parts) made it really clear what hydration means, and the numbers with feeding 1:1:1 of 1:4:4 and the effect that it has. Also I did not know the dough became less and more sour and that it "peaked"! Very helpful! Thank you! Makes me more confident about throwing the flower and water together and start on this home made bread journey now :)
I'm not a beginner but whenever I assume I'm smarter than one that's the road to pancake land.
LOL, I've travelled to that land many times my friend
Lololol....yassssss🤦♀️😆
Stuck in pancake land... Hoping Sune cam save me!
That was awesome!
@@mstutes2304how are your sourdough loafs now?
I new to this sourdough starter game, I bought my starter on Amazon and this bad boy is growing like crazy, I feed it everyday I kind of stopped measuring. I just leave a tablespoon in the jar put the rest in the fridge, give it even ratios of (flour and water) and its doing great! Found your video very helpful! Thank you!😊🍞
Thank you ❤️
hi from Moldova!👋 i would like to thank you for this video! your advice to feed my starter with higher ratio made it to become very stong! i began to feed it from 1:3:3 to 1:15:15... and .. i was shocked when i fed it once 1:1:1 it reached the peak in 2,5 hours (t 22C) and stayed hungry so long period of time! Unbelievable! it really works! 💪 thank you a lot ❤️.
So I've been putting my starter jar on top of my DirecTV receiver which is pretty warm (90ºF). But then I had an idea that my sous vide cooker might be even better. It can precisely hold the temp of a water bath for up to 3 days. One problem was that the mason jar containing 100 gms of starter wanted to float around. I put the starter jar in a corner of the water tank and placed 2 water filled jars alongside. That was enough to keep it in place. Constant 86ºF. Perfect!!
Creative 😁
I really appreciated this video-I’ve been afraid of “overfeeding” my starter, so it was helpful to hear the lowdown. Thank you!
The only possible risk from high ratio feeding is when the temperature is a not ideal for yeast and conditions are not sufficiently sanitary, as this could allow another microbe to grow faster than the yeast. With lower ratios the quick formation of alcohol and acids from the yeast will hinder competitors.
This is more of a concern in making beer because that fermentation can take a week and liquid is a bit different environment.
Sune!
First thank you for all you do. You are always in the avangard of making a homemade bread a simple and enjoyable experience.
Separate gratitude for your EXPERIMENTS - you managed to fulfill most of my dough fantasies :)
Question: while I bake better than a saucer breads, the flavor variety varies greatly. I know, temperatures, flour and acidity of the starter... My infrequent success of getting a deep flavor where the rye smell penetrates everything within 12 feet, is not consistent.
I noticed that stopping at 30%-50% bulk growth, results in excellent rise, but lacks flavor; while, fermenting more, better taste but much less rise.
I suspect that freshness of the flour is one factor. Since I don't use controlled environment like you, too many variables to consider.
Thank-you
Hi Sune,
Where have you been all my sourdough-starter-life?! That’s about 2 years now.
I’ve come to a place where I know enough to bake a decent sourdough loaf & also enough to know there’s a lot of misinformation out there being presented by *experts.* So many TH-cam sourdough *teachers* make concrete statements that contradict other *teachers’* tips & rules.
I love that you explain the various methods without saying there’s only one right way.
Today I learned from you that:
- My customary 1-1-1 starter ratio is just fine. Mine is very active. Maybe the local organic rye flour I feed with helps.
- I can extend the starter growth time by using less starter. Say 1-2-2 or even 1-50-50.
- It’s okay to use a warm place to grow my starter. I used to put it in the microwave with the light on (approx 80F). Then I read on another site that’s not good for the starter.
I appreciate that you demonstrated Patrick Ryan’s sourdough loaf which tells me that you’re here to help - & not to be the one who’s always right 😉
Since Patrick’s loaf was my 2st successful loaf, he gave me confidence to keep at it. Now I’m excited to try more adventurous bakes from your videos.
🙏 🎸
I wondered about having it in microwave… hnnn😮
I usually have only scrapings in my starter jar in the fridge- Bake with Jack no discard method 👍
Same thing. If you have very little left it may take a while to peak though 😊
@@Foodgeek and You almost always have high feeding ratio this way so your starter is healthy and strong
I've been doing the same thing. It's great. I also keep my starter in the fridge so I can forget about it. Perfect system for lazy people who don't bake much.
I usually keep 100g of wholemeal rye starter in my Weck jar in the fridge for the next bake. I bake every week. I don’t measure the flour or water to add to my starter, I just go by eye and feel but I’d say it’s a fairly equal flour/water ratio. I weigh it for the recipe though! Using the proofer has been awesome - no longer do I *have* to bake at night just because my starter is finally lively 😂 The proofer is great for the bulk ferment too.
@@anniwilson2534 yes, but they are expensive, especially the Brot and Tailor
Thanks Mr. Foodgeek, 7 minutes of super useful tips and reminders.
I did the 1/50/50 tip and now my starter's stronger than ever.
Keep up the great work, much appreciated.
wow 1:50:50
1:50:50? what does it mean? like 10 grams starter with 500gr flour and 500gr water?
Yes, or just 1g of starter with 50g flour and 50g water 😊
@@Foodgeekwouldn’t that high ratio take the “sour” out of sourdough?
Thanks so much! MANY questions solved here. I just guess at it and now I see what works why and how with this video. Best explanation for both beginners and intuitive veterans among us all…
Thank you ❤️
I had a Commodore 64, remember how special it was upgrading from tape to floppy and to the GEOS operating system (I know it's redundant). I like to use a small quantity of starter when I feed it so I do collect some discard but I use it up making, blueberry pancakes waffles, crumpets and crackers...it's all good.
You should also say his, if you do not want a sharply sour sourdough, you can put the tiniest amount of honey in with every feeding and it will feed the yeast more than the bacteria, and it will stay fruity but not really sour. That way you can make sourdough sweet bakery like cinnamon rolls and just sweet and puffy anything really.
I have to smile every time I watch your video's! Just when I think I have learned or know enough about a subject to move on, I find out differently. Thanks so much. As a side note, not only are your video's super informative, but the comments are just more chapters so it is a true learning experience! I also just started a 1:50:50! This was done with an already very active starter.
I still have my Commodore VIC-20! Just bought some rye flour and will use that soon. I like that you mention how to basically restart a starter with 1:5:5, if I understood that correctly. Tkx much for sharing this vid.
Here to soak up as much as possible. Love the Commodore 64 shirt. Haven't been reminded of them in decades. Thanks.
It was the computer I got on my 14th birthday that got me started on my developer career 😁
I tend to keep around 100g in the fridge, generally I make around 1.5 - 2kg of dough. I use most of that 100g as late as possible in the day to make a levain/starter of around 400/500g, feed the scraps in the starter jar at the same time then I put the starter in the fridge in the morning and use the now active levain to make the bread.
I equipped myself with a styrofoam insulation box with a conventional 30w light bulb and a thermostat. At 28 ° C. The fermentation is perfect and easy to control...
I maintain my starter with 50% rye and 50% wheat wholegrain flour. It works very good for all kinds of breads and rolls
Do you that the thermostat wired in series to the light bulb in your setup? Or did you really mean a thermometer?
@@BushyIV I use something like Inkbird ITC-308 thermostat. Its sensor is in the box and switches the bulb around the temperature you dialed in. Use an old school conventional 30 watt bulb not LED. LEDs do not heat enough. Put the bulb with its socket in a Glass with marbels or hexnuts or screws that keep the bulb in distance to the box and provide it to melt the styrofoam of the box. it also buffers the temperature
This was great! However, I’m really curious if you can do a video on how water quality affects starter. I recently moved from super hard city water (but filtered/softened), to well water (also filtered/softened and also UV sterilized). With the exact same recipes, ingredients and starter, there is a massive difference on how my starter behaves. Same thing with my other non-sourdough bread recipes using regular dry/instant yeast. I know there’s got to be some hints or science out there for this, I just haven’t been able to find it…
Your videos are so helpful, thank you so much! I’ve been following your tips and my starter is thriving
I usually feed 1:10:10 for overnight peak. I use 13g of starter and 130g water and bread flour. That gives me around 240g for my 3 loaves of bread (which I bake around once a week) and a little more than I need to the next feeding, just in case. It's almost no waste. I store in the fridge and in the morning prior to the feeding Intake it out to warm slowly.
Hi! I'm a beginner and I'd love to feed my starter and use it in the morning cause it would fit my schedule, but I'm struggling to find infos about this practice. Which temperature do you keep overnight? The fed starter stays in the fridge overnight or not? And in the morning do you use it straight away or does it need to be fed again? Sorry for these questions, I know they're a lot I hope I'm not bothering you🙈🙈
@@AB-qo3xh just on the counter, in the winter perhaps inside my oven if too cold.
@@eduardojahnke8970 thank you🥰
Fermentation is exponential, not lineal, so saying 1/2/2 feed will last double time than 1/1/1 feed is an error. If 1/1/1 feed peaks around 3,5h, 1/2/2 feed will peak a little later, maybe 4,5h or 5, depending on temperature.
Yeaaah Commodore 64 was my first computer in the 80s as a toddler lol
I’d still be buying store bread if it wasn’t for your channel 🙏🏼 current “problem” I’m working on is scorched bottoms. Using a cast iron Dutch oven @500° for 20 min sprayed and covered then ~20 min off...
I got mine for my 14th birthday. I owe my career to that thing 🤣
Do you use a baking steel?
@@Foodgeek thank you for the reply!! Yes I use a cast iron fry pot turned upside down and place it at the bottom of the oven - in attempt to have the bottom marginally cooler than the top side. Also have a baking stone but no peel to slide the dough onto (yet). Perhaps the oven heats unevenly? I let it stay warm 30-60 min to saturate the iron with heat. Perhaps less than 20 min covered would suffice? 🤔
Bayou Classic 7477 Oval Fryer... www.amazon.com/dp/B004EWLCUW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I place the dutch oven on the baking steel. It helps even out the temperature thus avoiding scorched bottoms 😊
@@Foodgeek understood! Thank you, Sune. Have a great weekend 🤗
So nice to see you back, Sune! I hope you're better now.
Bro.... the shirt!!!!! ❤️
Great video as always!
Having a hard time following tip#2. Replayed it multiple times and finally giving up, I hope you can respond. You say you always keep a 100 grams in the fridge, then you go on to say how you build your levain from starter saved from your last bake. Is the Starter from your last bake the 100g in your fridge? If so do you feed it with enough flour/water to bring it back to 100g?
i usually keep 50g of my starter in the fridge over the week. I feed it friday night with 50g water and 50g flour. Its usually done growing midday the next day. I use 100g for a bread the next day, which leaves me with 50g of starter, so no discard. i use rye flour, so it smells pretty wild after a week in the fridge, but the smell is usually gone the next day :P
Hello Halsti, after feeding you starter you put it again on the fridge? or you leave it out of the fridge until midday the next day?
@@jmmolinari i leave it out to let it get to room temp :)
Great advice, I have been feeding my sourdough as you advised at the end of the video. It seems to be working wonders on the strength! Thanks Sune for sharing.
I've ordered the proofer (which I will refer to as the "Sune Special") and I'm going to try that 1:50:50 trick. I would never have thought to try such a high ratio. Looking forward to the results!
Let me know how it goes 😁
Knew all of it, but only because you've already tought me over the past year ♥
Your tips are so GEEK!! Thanks for the insights!
Love your T-shirt. I had a Commodore 32 and 64 what great game machines...Video also. Thanks for the info.
The Commodore 64 is what got me started into what would be my development career :)
Hi ,, Sune ,, I have experimented with retarding the starter when it reaches its peak or slightly before - I wait for the starter to arrive at peak ( for me its triple in volume ) then I place in the fridge , I have found that it pretty much stays at that volume level for a few days , i can then use it whenever i need to , I just dissolve it in lukewarm water to bring it up to temperature and bake with it - - and feed whatever is kept as a starter for the next bake - when its at peak I put that one in the fridge and so on!
so you're saying it doesnt deflate when put in the fridge at peak?
Great tips, thank you! Question on your build. You say you make 150 if you need 125 g, with 75 g each flour and water. Then the 25 g starter you add, does that come from the stash of 100 g you keep in the fridge? Do you ever feed the one kept in the fridge?
I do a LOT of experimenting to minimize the amount of starter in the refrigerator. I tend to use Bake with Jack's scraps method in combination with Ben Starr's Simple Sourdough for Lazy People. I have left my scraps in the refrigerator for a couple months without use. When I want to use it I feed it with enough flour and water to make my loaves of bread and leave it out on the counter until it bubbles. If in a hurry I can leave it in the oven with the oven light on and the oven temperature rises to the 88F (give or take). When done I'm left with scraps to go back into the refrigerator.
Like you, when making biscuits, pancakes, muffins, etc. that usually use sourdough scraps I again make what starter I need, use it and put the scraps back in the refrigerator. Works for me.
Rather than worry about whether my starter is trying to jump out of my starter jar from being super active I just feed it, let it rise until it is ready. The only penalty (if you can call it that) is having a dough that will take much longer to rise ... and THAT provides more flavor for me.
Great tips! Love the shirt too! Brings back memories. Have a TRS-80 one as well?
Your English is absolutely brilliant! Native speaker like! Nice guitars too!
Wow since i live in a hot place, i don’t need a proofer. Normally i make my levain built before bed and put it at my bedside where i got aircon to keep my room temp at a constant 25C. I always start w/ only 20g of starter then feed it 3-4x the amount of “food”. Works wonder to grow in 10-12hrs.
How can I thank you enough! Demystifying sourdough, one video at a time! Much love, like all that invisible yeast floating around~!
Thank you for this video.
I have a few books on bread making and you answered the questions I could not find in any of them.
IS it true that feeding the starter at its peak rather then when it falls or collapses makes it stronger as well?
That Bonus tip is awesome. I've only seen one other person talking about doing 1: 50: 50 type proportions. What do you mean by "strong" starter? Taste? Spring?
I make a 100:100:50 (or 2:2:1) starter for panettone (starter:strong flour:water), and it is like a dough rather than liquid and needs kneading before returning to a jar. That’s considered a strong or stiff starter (but may not be the only definition), It’s also called pasta madre or lievito madre.
Edit: I use that for my bread, too, rather than keep two types of starter going. Also, I wrote this before getting all the way through the video. Sune is speaking about something different.
Raising power aka spring. It'll be mild in taste after some 1:50:50 feedings, but then you can throw in some 1:1:1 and let it mature 😊
@@Foodgeek That is a cool trick, Sune, but what is the science behind this, why does it work?
@@lyn1896 I think this way you train your starter to digest big amounts of flour and also your starter never starving
Does this change the lacto bacteria versus yeast ratio.
Hello, Sune. Is there a way to control which yeast culture dominates when growing yeast? I am looking for a method to suppress growth of brewers yeast when growing wild yeast starter. Hoping to reduce purines in my daily diet.
Wow!!!! What a big help this is!!!!! My goodness, thank you so much!!!!!!🎉
You're welcome 😁
What gloves brand do you like to use when baking? Thanks
I don't use a brand. I just like these knitted ones with non-slip pads: fdgk.net/buy-heat-resistant-gloves
They say they are super heat insulating, but that's not true. You gotta work fast, but you get to keep yoiur dexterity with these :)
Wow, 1 to 50 to 50? That's a lot! For sure will try it when my starter has matured.
How does it affect the starter if I feed it 1 part starter and half/half of different flours + water (like bread flour + whole grain rye flour for feeding)?
Being on a tight budget, I'm wanting to make starter and bread without digital scales. I know your grandma didn't have one! Any info?
My Grandma had scales. We all have scales in Denmark :)
Here is my recipe for volumetric sourdough bread: th-cam.com/video/U0k_NIkNvuI/w-d-xo.html :)
Dear mr Sune, I appreciate all the efforts u’ve been putting in this channel, and I have a question if I may ask, I tried this method to strengthen my starter and it did not rise at all! My starter is about 2 years old and every time I feed it with 1:2:2 ratio it rose but the bread never turns good! On the other hand when I feed it with 1:1:1 ratio and bread turns really good! May I know why?? There has to be a reason! Connected to the reason why it didn’t rise using ur method!
Did you figure anything out with respect to your question about the bake experience with different starter feeding ratios? I wonder if you do everything exactly the same with both starters, meaning, if you use 1:1:1 when it peaks are you doing that as well with the 1:2:2 since they would certainly peak at much different times and thereby affect your baking schedule.
Great videos. The manner you have is wonderful!
Thank you the tips. Very helpful indeed. Just what I was looking for.
Thank you so much for this refresher Stater course!! Now for my question. If my fed Starter (85g + 100g water+100g of AP Flour) has already peaked and has sunk down, is it still usable? Also, how important is it that the Starter float when added to water? Thanks again for all you do for us Sourdough Newbies!!!
He had said in another video that the float test only works with bread flour, not whole wheat etc
The thing about the proportions really blew me away. Back when i started i learned to do 1: 0.5 : 0.25. And i did it like this for a while. Nowadays i just bumped the water content a little more just to be able to mix the starter more comfortably.
I'll give it a try on the 1:2:2 for a while, and maybe the 1:50:50 as well
Bonus tip, 1:50:50...? I have always heard of the opposite. Feed 1:1:1 three times a day for some days to get high acitvity - strong startet. Can you explain why 1:50:50 is better?
Perhaps the stronger year strains in the starter has more of an exponential time to take over and eat the goodies compared to the weaker strains of yeast so once you do that a couple of times the yeast will be less “mixed” so actually closer to industrial yeast. Less flavour? @sune? Any thought on that?
An abundance of food for the yeast helps them multiply. That's my totally unscientific explanation 😊
Great video and tips. Approximately how long does a 1:50:50 starter take to peak?
I depends on temperature a lot. When I keep it at 30C it takes from 18 to 24 hours 😊
I wonder if I can use my Instant Pot on yogurt setting for incubation, since I make my yogurt that way??
I’ve been experimenting with my own starter me it’s been going quite good. Playing with a few parameters it just takes some time and patience to get a very active starter.
That being said, I get a nice crumb despite the fact my breads look a bit more like a frisbee. I’ve figured out what makes the bottom of my bread get nice and well done, getting a nice crumb throughout.
But I am still trying to get my bread to rise upwards, not outwards (in all directions). We’ll see what happens in the future. I’m still playing with temp and steam a bit, so I might find what works best for me soon.
are you scoring your bread before baking? that will help it rise up during the bake, instead of outwards.
I know this is an old post but I heard using a smaller cooking vessel 4qt instead of the usual larger cast iron pot or cast iron bakers helps to give support to weaker doughs and you get a nice rise
I don’t think there was quite enough instructions on how to strengthen your starter and make it stronger by feeding it one to 50 to 50… I would love to to hear and measurements how you do that? And you said that you do it four times? Could you possibly explain that in detail?
Hi,
I’m trying to find a short clip where you add on an ingredient to bread I’ve never heard of.
Would you remember what I am referring to?
Thank you.
Not a beginner these days thanks to you and others, but I'm wondering: is there such a thing as a starter that is too strong? I'm using a 100% rye starter and I'm finding it's really active, doubling the dough in 4 hours at 80F. Then the cold retard makes it rise too much. I've been using 140g starter in 1000g flour recipe. Should I use less?
Also I only feed it once a week these days and keep it in the fridge otherwise so it's not even getting regular feedings. This starter is going to become sentient and take over my apartment
I had heard that if 70 degrees or over use 10% starter to flour . For cooler temperatures up to 20% starter
Another great one, Sune. Hope you are well. BTW, I started playing in a Bluegrass Jam group. A whole new world! Love my new Taylor.
Thank you! It’s very informative and useful.
What if I feed my starters with different kinds of water? For instance, I started with water from bottled waters and now I’m using distilled water.
The bread code told us that if you feed the starter with a higher proportion than 1:1:1, then it will be less acidic, damage the gluten less, etcetc. My point is that even the hydration of starter is the same with 1:1:1 and 1:5:5, they cannot be the same, can they? Even your last tip suggests that you will get a stronger starter with a higher feeding proportion.
Hi - am I just missing the item that you use for your fermentation once you've finished with your folds? I like the measurements on that square container so that I can keep better track of whether my dough is ready. Thx!
The size of the container is not so important as long as it can hold the dough when it's proofed 😊
@@Foodgeek Thanks for your reply - I feel warm all over now. I was just wanting to follow as closely as possible so that I can see the volume. If I leave it in my bowl, am I just waiting for it to "get larger"? :)
I am subscribing! Great stuff, sir!!
I adore my 64; my Commodore 64.” You have a new subscriber.
It was my first computer and it kickstarted my career as a developer
I always learn something new in your videos!
Sorry for the stupid question, but I am a sourdough newby. What does 1:50:50 mean exactly? I have tried to begin a start 1:1:1 and am not begin successful. So how would I doe 1:50:50? Thanks!
I am beyond lazy with my starter, I don't feed regularly, I just wait til it looks hungry, and I never measure anything anymore, even when building up for a bake, I kind of just get the texture right and go by container size
Saw this notice on my fb feed...you never disappoint.
I just tried 1:50:50 feeding and my starter is very active! Mine is kind of strange because it took forever to double with 1:1:1 but was very active with 1:5:5 (peak x2.3 times in 10 hours)
If my starter doesn’t double within 4-6 hours with 1:1:1 feeding (after the first 1:50:50 feeding), should I change the ratio or try baking with 1:1:1 feeding?
And to my curious, why 1:1:1 ratio doesn’t work with mine?😂
Thank you for the very informative video!😊
I mostly use the ratio for timing the peak of my starter. I feed at around 8 pm at 1:5:5 and then it's ready for 5am when I get up to make dough :)
It might work better now after you fed it 1:50:50. Try just one time at 1:1:1 and see if it got faster :) You're welcome :)
@@Foodgeek Omg I’m so happy that you replied my comment! I just tried 1:1:1 after 1:50:50 but the result was the same. It took so long to double. But I won’t give up! Any suggestion to get it to peak faster?😂 my house’s temperature is about 29-31c all day long.
@@RedAlertXA In that case I'd say do more 1:50:50. Like 3 or 4. It'll take some days, but you should get it active. 29-31c is great for a very active starter :)
Sune, have you ever used sugar, like agave syrup, to spike your starter? Recently, I pulled a dormant starter (10 months untouched) from the refrigerator, fed it, then after three days spiked it with a teaspoon of agave nectar. The active result was amazing! The starter acted like it was on steroids!! I baked the single most amazing sourdough loaf ever. What do you think? This is a true story.
I'm experiencing a phenomenon that has presented itself only recently. My starter is taking forever to rise. It's gotten to where it can take 10-12 hours to peak at 3x. This is particularly frustrating when I look back at pix I took of the starter's inception back in January of this year (2022) where it was overflowing the jar beautifully. My current starter is the child of that first one so...? By the way, my loaves are coming out well consistently despite it all.
My stats: the mix is 1:1:1; 1/2 bread flour, 1/2 rye or whole wheat, tho I used to use 100% rye but one of your videos recommended the half-and-half approach and I thought I would try that; I'll grow it on the counter (68-72F) or above the fridge (~78F)
What do you suppose is going on?
Try feeding it 1:100:100 a few times. It will take very long to peak, but it makes the starter super active 😊
@@Foodgeek NO! You're pulling my leg, right? I heard you say 1:50:50 on this vid and I couldn't get my head around THAT! I'm in the US but, as a Euro wannabe, I do all my kitchen work in metric but I can't imagine what 1:100:100 looks like (I thought it was a typo at first). I just looked at what just 1 gr of starter looks like a quarter teaspoon. I mean, won't I need a bucket to hold it all? So, say I do this, will it remain a very active starter going forward, i.e. can I make successive starters less insane?
Well I'm going to try it as an experiment, but I have to bake tomorrow so I'll need a starter later today.It's going back up to around 38º C here in a couple of days and I sure don't want to be running the oven then.
@@alanbrunettin5584: Add the tiniest dot of starter you can get into the jar, then add 100 grams of water and ensure the starter is incorporated, then add 100 grams of flour and mix thoroughly. It's no joke, it's awesome :D
Well, you haven’t steered me wrong yet. I went ahead and made a 1:100:100 if for no other reason than it’s just so bizarre and I’ve been enjoying the chemistry class nature of this whole process. But in order to bake tomorrow I also made 1:2:2 and it’s already nearly tripled in 3 hours. Ah the wacky world of sourdough. (And of course the 100 hasn’t budged in that time)
BTW I ended up with a 1:2:2 because the first go at the 100 I spaced and dumped in the flour without having incorporated the little nubbin of starter into the water. Fearing it wouldn’t mix in properly, I did it over the right way and turned the first 100 into a 1:2:2 to try a minor low-starter formulation and one I could work with today.
So assuming this 1:100:100 works, will its children be able to be fed normally and still retain their super-human powers?
@@Foodgeek I just did a 1:50:50 with 10g starter but now feel I need to start the 1:100:100 if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity. Please do not post any higher rations as I am getting low on flour. I really am doing the higher one though.
Thanks foodgeek! If I understood correctly, the less starter I use to feed the stronger it will be? 1/50/50 means for instace 1g of starter from the fridge + 50g flour + 50g water??? thanks again!!
Yeah I was wondering about this as well.
Thank you for these tips.
Moving forward from the 1:50:50 feed (which I’ve just done), when it has matured, can I take out for example 30g and feed at 1:1:1 and use that for my next bread making?
Then, probably it would be better to continue feeding the 1:50:50 remainder rather than the remainder of the 1:1:1 to maintain more thriving yeast cells?
Yes and yes 😊
Thanks
With 1:50:50 feeding, don‘t we end up having too much starter since we normally won’t be using that much of the starter in a sourdough recipe?
@@judylai2981 I feed 1 gram of starter with 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water :)
@@judylai2981 that only gives you 101g starter. I’m baking 2,4 or 6 loaves at a time. The trick is to make exactly what you want then with 50g water rinse, rinse the jar to pick up the last smears in the jar. Then add 50g flour. Then when I want to bake ( usually 3 times a week) I feed that 100g exactly the amount I need for that bake, sometimes I need 900g of starter! Perhaps for someone who bakes a lot and frequently this method works but I do t see why it wouldn’t for you too.
I do not feed at 1:1:1 or 1:2:2. I check how much I need, e.g. 100 g starter, so I make 10% more in water and flour (55g -60g each). Then I only add maybe a teaspoon of the last starter. That‘s more than sufficient. I use a yoghurt maker, to proof it at 30 °C and it will not take more than 4-5 hours. The only problem is that I have to schedule my yoghurt days and my baking days.
Interesting ... so feeding at 1:50:50 will strengthen your starter, makes sense. Because the yeast has lots of room to feed and multiply and become dense.
Exactly 😁
Nice info ℹ️ but I wish you didn’t have distracting music in the background & had captions, I had to listen to part of it several times to understand what you said. 😊❤🙃👍🏼💙
Is it really necessary to weigh discard? I just scoop and dump--am I doing it wrong?
Hi Sune! Thank you so much! Your videos have encouraged me and I’ve started. So the first step is to build my starter. I am on day 2 of my new starter with a 1:5:5 ratio feed and I’m using 90% Bread flour and 10% Dark Rye. After 5 hrs. It has risen about 70%. 😬 So do I just feed it again before the dome collapses? VS waiting 24 hrs? And as far as I understand, it’s better to now feed in a 1:30:30? Or higher, to slow it down a bit in order to get a strong starter? Sigh… I hope you read this soon and are able to guide me. Please stay safe. Thank you.
I am now on day 5 and after ⬆️ I decided to feed it a stronger ratio and went for
1 : 20 : 20 and have been doing so for the past three days. Today, the sixth day, I wake up to find that in a period of 24 hrs it has not risen at all, but is bubbly. So it’s fermenting but not rising. What should I do?
@@moonbee03 I think at those ratios you are just diluting it way too much. I just don't see the point.
@@BravissimoPP I’ve come a long way now. I keep my stater at a 1:6:6 or 1:7:7 ratio and it’s working wonders on my bread. Sune said at some point in his videos that the higher the ratio the stronger the starter. 🤷🏻♀️ I’ve considered going up to 1:10:10 but since the results so far are amazing… I’m staying here for a bit. Thank you for taking an interest and the time to answer!
I'm just starting my journey but I more of a flat bread and scones kind of person do you have any ideas how to make either or both
I normally just keep a couple of grams (leftover) and when I want to bake I feed the starter, first a few grams, till it appears matured then the remaining typically 1:5:5 ratio. On the first feed it’s such a small amount of starter you cannot measure any volume increase just bubbles formation.
I plan on the last feed to only add as much starter as I will use, with the first feed as an extra that would invariably get stuck on the walls. The only waste I ever have is literally what is stuck in the jars.
I normally keep anywhere from 50g to 100g of starter in my fridge. I take it out and feed it when I need to use some for a bake. But there have been times that I don't calculate my feeding quite right, or I decide to make more dough than I calculated for, and end up having to scrape out everything I can from the container to use for the dough. I then put a bit of water in my starter container, put the lid on securely, and shake vigorously to get what i can loose from the walls. Then I add an equal amount of flour and mix it together, and that becomes my starter to keep in the fridge for next time. I let it grow until peak, then throw it back in the fridge until needed.
In your opinion, is the proofer worth the space and money? I bake every 2 days and wondering if you've noticed much difference
I live in a cold place. I couldn't bake in the winter without. To me, it's indispensable. 😊
@@Foodgeek I live in Scotland 😃
@@luiceur In that case, it'll make a difference 🤣 Love Scotland 🏴
I have a cabinet with a reptile lamp and humidifier and controllers I use for sausage fermenting and I've used it as a proofer but most of the time I use the oven with the interior light on (too lazy to walk downstairs). But I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, perfect place for sourdough with all the tasty wild things floating in the air.
@@MrIceman1953 To be honest, from Sept to May, the heating is on. Temp inside is around 10°C at night in the coldest days. When baking in Spain, I have to proof & ferment in the fridge, otherwise everything gets out of control!
Thanks, that was a great video!
Thanks for the great tips. Awesome video
Great advice thank you.
I hope you're feeling better, Sune.
Certainly getting there 😁
@@Foodgeek You looked great to me!!
@@Foodgeek could hear it in your voice... bless you 🙏
In my head Sune just had one bada$$ Jam session the night before and overstrained his voice a little bit. Not gonna lie, that slightly rough tone makes his voice sexy as hell. Just sayin'
OMG, listening to you talk about ratios & the science of baking, I realize how badly I suck at math & science. With that said,
I love making sourdough bread & even with my subnormal math & science brain, it comes out from the oven looking pretty and tasting delicious.
Anyway, thank you for your always great videos. Looking forward to trying your, "What Happens To Your Sourdough When You Add Butter" video.
Keep up the great work.
I think it's easy to get fixated on such details but as you say, it's not necessary to produce a great loaf. When I started baking sourdough I was slightly obsessed with getting it all right but turns out that a little intuition is all that's needed and rarely does a loaf ever turn out as anything other than a tasty tasty bread 😊
What is the difference between more frequent feedings with low ratio vs fewer with higher feeding ratios like 1:50:50?
I would assume the acid buildup would get worse with such High ratios, resulting in less pOwerfull yeast celles??
If you want a sour starter going with a low ratio (1:1:1) is the best. In 1:50:50 barely any of the sour is transferred because there's only so little starter included :)
@@Foodgeek Thx
But would it not make the starter more soir, because it takes Long time to peak?
If we want a more sour bread we use less starter, and that means it also takes longer to rise. Would it not be the same with feeding a starter with high ratio?
When I feed it 1 1 1 it takes 10 hours on average to double in size. It's always over 70°f. Seems like this is much longer than you described. It doesn't even start to grow for the first few hours. I always get a good rise with my sourdough though. Is it taking this long bc it's been in the fridge before I feed it?
Good starter grow much faster
Is a 1:1:1
eg. 100g sourdough starter : 100g flour : 100g water or should the latter two be 50g each?
His tip 2 calculations totally confused me.
100 of each. Otherwise it'd be 2:1:1 😊
Please help. My start is 50% Whole Wheat and 50% Water by weight. I fed it this morning, 50 grams starter, 50 grams whole wheat, and 50 grams water. It's been 14 hours and it hasn't peaked yet, it has about doubled. The starter was kept at 85F in a dough proofer. How do I get my starter to be more active?
I'd recommend feeding it 1:50:50 for a few times to get it more active. It can take a long time for it to peak at this very low concentration of starter to flour, but it has an abundance of food, so the yeast will multiply.
@@Foodgeek Thank you
My favorite things in whole world 🌎 music 🎶 and baking/🍳
Me too ❤️
Hi Sune, I neglected my starter (I know :( ) and mould grew on the top, I scraped the mould off and took some of the bottom of the starter to try to revive it. Would you recommend this or start completely fresh?
Love the videos :)
I don't know if I would recommend this because mold would have contaminated the whole batch. There are planty video on why you should never cut off mold from bread and eat the part with no mold, same concept. Hope this helps
@@mejasiu well, look at this way... It's sick, and can get better. Feeding is the medicine, and eventually all bad bacteria will die. But I've had better results starting from zero. It just takes too much time and effort to go from a "sick" starter to a wealth rich, ready to use starter.
Nowadays I just ask for a little bit of starter in the nearest bakery in my city. :)
@@BravissimoPP Mold is not a bacteria but a fungus and it's the the fungus itself that is dangerous but what it leaves behind. Mold can leave behind mycotoxins which can make you very sick if not kill you. Just better off starting fresh and not chancing it
I’m from Norway. I’m guessing you are from Denmark?
You got a sub from me, nice video 😄
When I want to really boost my starter, I use pineapple juice or mix evenly with water. It will take off in no time.
Hi Sune,
I tried your advice for a 1:50:50 super strong starter, a bit more than two weeks (I still feed it and have it in the fridge). Unfortunately doesn’t peek! I tried both ways:
1. Feed it and leave it half open jar at room temperature for 4-5 hours and then closed the jar and place it in the fridge. Normally feed it every 2-3 days.
2. Feed it and leave it closed jar at room temperature for 4-5 hours and place it in the fridge. Also, feed it every 2-3 days.
What am I doing wrong?
Thank you.
If you want to strengthen your starter, the fridge is the problem. Just mix it up and leave it out until it peaks. Yesterday I took a starter that had been in the fridge and unfed for two weeks and mixed it 1:5:5. About 24 hours later it has doubled. It didn't look very active for quite some time. You just have to give everything time to multiply at a temperature that supports it.
@@robs3921 Thank You Very much for the explanation. CHEERS!