In the past a few people have asked about this and as I said in another thread my current starter has some stubborn off-flavors that I can't get rid of. So, I'm making a new starter and thought I'd do a thread on what I'm doing and how it goes.
There are a lot of ways to do a starter. The concept is easy - add flour and water, mix, and watch the bacteria and yeast in the flour grow. Initially, bacteria grows and the starter seems active but these aren't the bacteria we want. However, they produce acid, so the flour/water mixture starts neutral and becomes more acidic. These initial bacteria die off in an acidic environment, but the yeast that we do want like it that and begin to grow. The rest of the process is nurturing the yeast until there's enough of them to use as starter that will cause bread to rise.
Some people try to hurry this initial process by adding some unsweetened fruit juice so the mixture is slightly acidic and thus better for the yeast from the start. However, I'm doing things the traditional way. Specifically, I'm following this process: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-eas...arter-scratch/
EDIT: For those of you with Paprika, I've attached a recipe file to the bottom of this post. Download it, open and it should add itself to your recipes.
The first photos are really exciting... a 100g/125g mixture of organic rye flour and distilled water. This is in my bread proofer at 82F right now and should show activity over 24 hours.
I'll update this thread daily until I have a new starter. Or, well, not.
There are a lot of ways to do a starter. The concept is easy - add flour and water, mix, and watch the bacteria and yeast in the flour grow. Initially, bacteria grows and the starter seems active but these aren't the bacteria we want. However, they produce acid, so the flour/water mixture starts neutral and becomes more acidic. These initial bacteria die off in an acidic environment, but the yeast that we do want like it that and begin to grow. The rest of the process is nurturing the yeast until there's enough of them to use as starter that will cause bread to rise.
Some people try to hurry this initial process by adding some unsweetened fruit juice so the mixture is slightly acidic and thus better for the yeast from the start. However, I'm doing things the traditional way. Specifically, I'm following this process: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-eas...arter-scratch/
EDIT: For those of you with Paprika, I've attached a recipe file to the bottom of this post. Download it, open and it should add itself to your recipes.
The first photos are really exciting... a 100g/125g mixture of organic rye flour and distilled water. This is in my bread proofer at 82F right now and should show activity over 24 hours.
I'll update this thread daily until I have a new starter. Or, well, not.
Comment