Hey Jo. There isn't any reason to keep that much of the starter. It can be kept in the fridge till you are ready to bake. You only need to keep a 1/2 c or even less. You take a spoonful of that stored starter and build a levain for the recipe you are going to make. Each time you build your levain for your recipe you take any extra, there is usually a few grams more than you need, and stir it back into your stored starter.

If you have a lot of extra starter due to building it up you use that " discard" which is perfectly good to make things like pancakes and biscuits etc. You can find many recipes for SD discard uses.

The Fresh Loaf is a great resource for SD recipes. I will be glad to give you more info it you like.

To make an easy beginning SourDough loaf you can make a 1-2-3 loaf. This is 1 part levain, 2 parts flour and 3 parts water. That translates into as an ex: 50 g levain, 100g flour and 150g water. You add 2% salt to that . The salt is figured based on your flour so 2g salt. This would be a very small loaf of bread. But it gives you an idea of how to go about it.

Here is a link to 1-2-3 bread from the Fresh Loaf. You do need a digital scale just to make it easier in the beginning. Please ask any questions. I have been making bread every week since the 70's and Sourdough for over 10.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9346/123-easy-formula-sourdough-bread

C.

Funny that you should bring this up, since I have just made a sourdough starter, and it's ready for baking today! However, the bread recipe that the site that I got the starter from seems overly complicated. Can anyone point me to a simple rustic sourdough recipe?

The 123 formula looks easy, but what are the baking instructions? I do have a digital scale.

You mix everything till all the flour is wet. It's easiest if you put your levain in the water and the salt and then add it to the flour. You can hold back some of the water just to be sure it doesn't get too wet since all flours are different. Stir it all together and then cover and let it sit for about an hour. Take it out on a lightly floured counter and " fold " it in four directions. You can watch many videos on how to fold the dough. Place it back in an oiled bowl and do this folding again in 30 min and then once more in 30 min. Then leave it covered until it's about 50% bigger. Not doubled ...that is too much. Take the dough and shape it into a nice neat tight ball and place it in a banetton if you have one or in a buttered pan. Cover it and place it in the fridge overnight. You can also use a basket lined with a well floured cloth like a linen napkin. It would be really good to watch a few videos on this as it is so much easier to watch than to describe. You can bake it in a preheated pot or you can bake it in the buttered pan. You don't have to use a preheated cast iron pan. The bread will bake nicely in any kind of pan.

Watch a few videos and then come back and ask more questions if you need more help.

Usually you bake sourdough at 400-450 degrees for about 20 min then finish at a lower temp. Again it depends on the pan and size of loaf

Trail runner, that is so helpful. I made mine using the King Arthur recipe. I wanted a dedicated starter jar because the one I have is very flimsy, think container for macaroni salad. I only have about a half cup of it. Then when I add the flour and water, it doubles. Then I take half out again for the recipe. I’ve made two loaves so far (one dough). Both tasted very good but they had zero holes. I wondered if it was because I put into much flour as I didn’t have a kitchen scale. the one I ordered arrived yesterday and I’m excited to try again. I just fed the starter today. I’m definitely going to do the folds your way and check out the link you posted. Here’s a picture of my first two.

I baked them in a Dutch oven at 500 for 30 min with the top on and then 15 min at 475 for 15 minutes with the top off.

Thank you again, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time to really explain the process. I can’t wait to learn more about it. I’ve been baking bread for decades, but never sourdough. It’s a whole new beast.

omg Jojo that looks so good! I adore sourdough. I used to make it but we have so many good little bakeries near us. What kind of flour are you using?

Those are amazing!!! The holes everyone wants let the fillings leak out lol! So many of us bread bakers have backed away from holy bread. There are many schools of thought as to why you have holes but it is dependent on fermentation time and temp as well as hydration... how wet the dough is. You can push the amount of water added as you get more deft with handling the dough. You can increase fermentation times and temps as well as reduce the amount of levain in order to increase the fermentation time since it’s like using less yeast so it takes longer.

Now you see why there are SO many articles and different ways of doing this. You got a great starter and it’s clearly happy!

you are doing great!!!

I used all purpose, per the recipe from KA. Sadly, neither loaf had any of those signature sourdough holes. Hopefully the next batch will be more airy since I’m using a scale now. I also saw a tip to dust the loaf with flour before you score it. That’s what made it look so bakery-ish. it did made great toast though. I realized that toast and wonderful jam is my ultimate comfort food.

heres the recipe https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe#review-section

and a picture of my dense loaf:

That’s a pic of my pan de mie. Special pan and makes perfect slices. It’s all I do lately as I’m working on my technique

Weird on my phone it dropped Trailrunner

Yes less flour, using bread flour , gentle handling all play a part . But you are definitely a natural! Watch lots of videos!!

I’m a huge fan of this recipe to make use of the sourdough discard. My daughter has started making them every few days and freezing them then toasting straight from the freezer for snacks.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-sourdough-waffles-or-pancakes-recipe

https://breadtopia.com/product-category/bread-baking-supplies/starter-and-storage-jars/

I make the KA waffles as well and freeze them. They are wonderful! I also have a great banana bread recipe I make with discard. Since I keep a very small amount of starter at all times I just build enough to make the “ discard” recipe lol! They come out really light that way since it’s bubbly and new.

I'm still having trouble getting my dough to rise, but the flattish dense loaf I made yesterday was wonderfully sour.

I saw this on Facebook today, and think that it might be true. 😂

That's too funny, Terriks.

This has become our family activity: a Sourdough Starter Race. Each one of us got a 1 qt mason jar, and I had everyone watch a video (I thought this guy would be more appealing than say, Pioneer Woman : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Ssdzk6uhI ).

Then they had a choice of flours, liquids, yogurt, raisins, honey, berries juices etc. It was up to them what they did but I advised equal weight liquid and flour. We are feeding them every day after our Linner (now dubbed Dejeuner Tardif).

In 10 days, we will discard all but 2T of each contestant's starter. Then we will feed them, and wait 24 hours. Whoever's grows the fastest wins and that what we'll use to bake bread. Knowing my oddly competitive bunch, I realized I had to hide the yeast packets, baking soda and baking powder lest they cheat! Still don't know what to do if they try sabotage...

Elunia that is a work of art!

PS I could not find organic whole wheat flour anywhere, though I did get some other flours that look great. I ended up buying whole wheat flour from a farm in PA on Etsy. Like my garden tomatoes, this process (cue the banettons and bench scraper) will yield the most expensive food we've ever had, rivalling Blue Hill

Wow, MTN, what a great family activity! Can’t wait to see your results.

I’ve been using the King Arthur extra Tangy recipe and I couldn’t figure out why my bread wasn’t full of holes. Tasted great, just didn’t look the way I wanted it to. Yesterday when I made it, instead of dividing the bread into two loaves as directed, I just let it remain as one loaf . Voilà! Tons of holes. I think dividing the dough and reshaping it compressed the dough too much to let it regain its former loft, even with enough proofing time Afterwards. Anyway, thought I’d pass it along although YMMV.

omg jojoco that looks amazing. Good to know. I will make a boule so that i can use a dutch oven, but I really prefer the crust ratio of a baguette, so I was thinking id make smaller boules ... but maybe not?

If I were making smaller boules, I would formed them as soon as I finished adding the flour on the second day. Let them rise individually from the start .My mistake was deflating the dough with a knife to cut it in half for the final rise. I also preheat my oven with the Dutch oven in it (but not the lid) at 500° for about a half hour. Bake for 45 minutes with the lid on, then 15 minutes with the lid off and the temperature at 475.

ok good to know. Does anyone know of a reason it would be bad to make smaller boules?

Trailrunner D - I'm following your directions, and have just placed the risen dough in a pan and put it in the refrigerator. (this is the first time that I've been able to get a decent rise out of my dough!) When I go to bake in the morning do I bake it right after I take it out of the refrigerator, or do I need to let it sit out for a while? I have it in a Dutch oven. Should I bake it for a while with the lid on, or leave the lid off the entire baking time. You said between 400 and 450 degrees - I'm not sure what temperature will be best. Thanks for your help!

Hey I’m in Atlanta now. Bake straight from fridge don’t let it set out at room temp. Yes to baking with lid on for 20-30 min. Then remove lid and let it finish... final dough internal temp should be 200-210F. I’m sorry it’s late and I’m exhausted from driving from VA and then spending time with DD and SIL and two babies. Forgive me. I’ll do better. Your bread looks great!

The phrase is iron hand in a gentle glove for dividing dough... to lessen deflation.

The phrase is iron hand in a gentle glove for dividing dough... to lessen deflation.

Thanks. This is my third attempt, and I only made enough for one loaf so that I wouldn't have to divide it. I very gently removed it from the bowl where it was rising to shape it and put it into the Dutch oven and the refrigerator. What temp do you recommend to start the baking? Should I reduce after X minutes? I'm on the west coast, so don't worry about getting back to me early.

how big is the loaf? number of grams? I preheat at 450 or 475 . Put 800 gram loaf in and leave covered for 20 min. Remove lid and finish for 20 min. Depending on your oven you can just leave at original temp or turn back to 425 . If the loaf is smaller keep that initial time and just shorten the uncovered time. A thermometer and scale are your friend