In this post, I have summarized the questions about sourdoughs that have already been asked on the forum, and gave answers to these questions, and not only to these.
I hope the questions and answers will help you in preparing and storing the starter culture.
QUESTION: How long can a sourdough live in a refrigerator without feeding?
ANSWER: I lived in the refrigerator without feeding for about a month, but then I had to nurture and feed her for a long time until she gained strength.
QUESTION: How often can you bake with the same sourdough?
ANSWER: you will not bake with the same sourdough, because it needs to be fed periodically so that the sourdough is active.Part of the fresh sourdough is set aside for rest and propagation, and the bulk of the sourdough is used for making bread dough. Starter cultures from one feeding are obtained in the amount of just 2.5-3 cups for one bread.
QUESTION: What kind of flour should you use for sourdough, only white wheat flour?
ANSWER: No, sourdough can be used on both wheat and rye flour.
QUESTION: In what form should sourdough bread be baked, only in the form, in the oven? Can you bake bread in a bread maker?
ANSWER: You can bake sourdough bread in different ways, in the oven on the hearth (without a mold), in a mold, and of course in a bread maker. The sourdough bread recipe can be found on the website.
QUESTION: They say that in order to make sourdough at home, special precautions are needed, sterile dishes, hands, water, etc. Is this so?
ANSWER: I would not say sterile conditions, but the rules of hygiene in the kitchen, which must be observed by each family member under any conditions of work and eating in the kitchen. Of course, clean dishes, clean hands, clean furniture, etc. And the fact that there are various bacteria in the kitchen is no secret, the air is a carrier of various bacteria. It is especially beneficial when there are many different lactic acid products in the house, the bacteria of which penetrate into the leaven with the air and contribute to the sourdough preparation process. After all, sourdough is prepared almost only from flour and water, then why is souring going on? Therefore, it goes that certain bacteria begin to act on these products from the air.
QUESTION: What other additional components are needed besides flour and water for making the sourdough.
ANSWER: Sourdoughs can be different: wheat flour + water, rye flour + water, wheat flour (rye) + lactic acid products, etc. You can see more details on the website in the topic "Sourdough in questions and answers" message No. 1.
QUESTION: How long can a leaven exist, even if it is used periodically.
ANSWER: leaven can last for years! This is an "eternal" leaven, there are cases in history when the leaven was passed from generation to generation for 75 years. At the same time, of course, it must be properly monitored, fed, stored. You can read about this on the website.
QUESTION: How to store the starter correctly if you don't use it.
ANSWER: you need to store the starter in a sealed container (not metal) under a lid (with a hole for air) in the refrigerator, since the starter quickly deteriorates when indoors. I have read many different recommendations for storing the starter culture - just under a lid, and under gauze, etc. My opinion is to store it as your starter culture likes so that it is healthy and does not spoil.
QUESTION: Tell us about the "yeast" leaven.
ANSWER: I know that such a leaven is used on the forum for baking rye bread. The sourdough recipe is as follows:
1 cup rye flour + 1 spoonful of sugar + 2 tsp. yeast. Water until liquid dough, Exposed for 18 hours in a warm place, and then put into the refrigerator until full use.
Mix rye flour and water in a glass (better) or plastic jar with a lid until the consistency of sour cream. Add yeast and sugar. Stir and leave overnight or more on the table. Then the next day, use as much as necessary according to the prescription, and put the rest in the refrigerator until next time. When the starter culture is reduced to about 1/3 of the original volume, add another half-cup - a cup of flour and a little water, leave overnight, then put in the refrigerator.
Information taken from messages. In more detail, you can see and ask a question directly in the topic.
QUESTION: I put the leaven, but it does not want to rise, just small bubbles, and it has been holding like this for 4 days already. What to do? Maybe she's gone bad?
ANSWER: If there are bubbles, then she is still alive.
Try to beat it strongly with a whisk, thus adding oxygen to it, I do this several times during proofing, you can even see how bubbling starts inside.
Try to put it in a warm place at a temperature of 25-35 * C, but no more.Temperatures above 45 * C are harmful to the yeast, so you should not heat the starter culture above 35 * C.
Remove the dishes from drafts, the dough does not like drafts.
Place the starter in a “warm” plastic or glass dish. Metal dishes are cold, difficult to warm, and will always keep cold.
Try adding a little rye flour to the sourdough, it is more active in the sourdough.
Try adding a little more warm water 30-35 * C, and a little yeast, a little sugar, make a suspension of water and yeast.
Then watch the leaven and periodically let it breathe, whipping with a whisk.
How to feed the starter culture and how it will look at the same time, see here:
Lactic acid starter culture from Admin.
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...mf&Itemid=26&topic=3394.0 QUESTION: what to do, it seems to me that the leaven has died.
ANSWER: The leaven can sit for a long time without moving.
If you are in doubt about her life, then check the following. The spoiled starter culture will smell strongly of acetone, it will be covered with a scab or crust, with a dark crust over the entire surface of the jar, it will begin to mold, the liquid will begin to separate, and the starter culture will divide in layers.
If your leaven has not yet died, but is "near death", then it can still be reanimated, for which (I quote from the Manual for 1913):
“If the sourdough has deteriorated due to an oversight or storage time, then it can be gradually corrected by constantly adding flour with sugar to it or by drying, which is done as follows: small lumps are made from the spoiled sourdough, which are placed in a dry place (Kudryavtsev's method). If there is no leaven left, but sour fermentation is required for black bread, then proceed as follows:
Take 30 lbs. rye flour and pour in one bucket of warm water (at 31 R.). which is pre-diluted with ¼ pound of compressed yeast. Having mixed this dough well, let it stand quietly in a warm place (covering the bowl) for a day, and at first alcoholic fermentation is formed, which then turns into sour (like a leaven). "
Well, if no measures at all lead to resuscitation, start putting a completely new starter culture.
QUESTION: How to put and feed the starter correctly?
ANSWER: Look clearly here, just look very carefully and read the text, and note for yourself some incomprehensible moments.
Lactic acid starter culture from Admin.
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...mf&Itemid=26&topic=3394.0 QUESTION: here you are all the time making a reference to your kefir (lactic acid sourdough), and I want to put the sourdough on wheat flour or on rye and water, what should I do in this case.
ANSWER: Luka made wheat sourdough on water, and it is written about it (with a photo) here:
Preparation of uterine starter culture
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...mf&Itemid=26&topic=1331.0 But the principle of growing starter cultures is the same, so you can see my works and photos as an example. Instead of kefir, you can take water, the result will be almost the same.
QUESTION: Tell us about the "monastery" leavens.
ANSWER: I do not work with monastery leavens, so I cannot say anything about them. Lola can tell you in detail about these starters, and information on them is located at this address:
Monastic leavens
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...smf&Itemid=26&topic=176.0 QUESTION: - is it necessary to keep the leaven warm for a day or you can already feed and mix. Or maybe remove it from the battery so that the process does not go so quickly?
6 hours have passed after the first feeding - again full of small bubbles, increased by a factor of 2. What to do - feed or just interfere, and feed tomorrow (ie, 24 hours after the previous feeding)?
I was happy early. After being fed for the first time, she began to grow again. I moved it from the battery to the table. It's 27 degrees, a little cooler. Stirred. The leaven has calmed down and is silent. Since then, I have fed her 2 more times once a day, mixed in between feedings 1 time. My leaven is silent. Rare large bubbles of 3-4 mm appear. But it doesn't grow.The color is creamy grayish, as in the beginning. Doesn't stink.
ANSWER: The starter culture does not need to be fed more often than once a day, and preferably at the same time. The leaven should be hungry. In between, it is better to beat it well several times with a whisk to saturate it with oxygen, after which it should begin to rise. Sourdough can manifest its growth in different ways. Sometimes violently, sometimes completely without visible movement, but when you start stirring it, you will see how it all resists your intervention and even resists inside. Sometimes the movement can appear after a few days.
For more details see the answers in the topic
Lactic acid starter culture from Admin.
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...mf&Itemid=26&topic=3394.0 and in this topic.
QUESTION: I made the leaven according to the recipe for the eternal leaven from Luca. Only at first she did not want to mature in any way. On the third day, she was still slowly puffing, but not growing. But I continued to feed her and disturb her once a day. And somewhere after the 7th feeding, the process went more actively. Although not as violent as others. To clarify, the volume of the sourdough increased by about half (after the next feeding it was 8 cm in a three-liter jar, then it grew to 12 cm), then the sourdough dropped a little by 2 cm, that is, it began to take 10 cm from the bottom in the jar. Once she rose, and then she fell off without any interference, then I thought that the leaven was ready.
ANSWER: Thought correctly. The leaven, which is acidic and ready, has a cap on top in the form of an uneven bumpy surface, and which begins to fall off. Now you need to use it in bread in the near future (before 12 noon), or put it in the refrigerator for storage.
QUESTION: At the initial stage, what should be the approximate consistency? In general, the mass should be fluid or so thick that it doesn't even crawl when tilted?
ANSWER: The consistency can be different, which you yourself will ask it when mixing and feeding. I make dough like pancakes. The leaven can be thick or liquid, it all depends on the kneading method. See here for more details:
Lactic acid starter culture from Admin.
https://Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/in...mf&Itemid=26&topic=3394.0 By the way, when the sourdough is ripe, it becomes liquid (thick pancakes).
QUESTION: The third day I grow leaven. Everything, in general, is as described, only the smell from her is disgusting. Is that how it should be? And it's just scary to put such a charm in bread.
ANSWER: From the 1913 manual.
Characteristics of a good starter culture.
A good starter culture is characterized by the following qualities: it has an alcoholic smell and sour taste; it should not sink in water; when pressing its surface (with a finger), the formed depression should soon disappear.
My sourdough smells sour and yeast, tastes like applesauce.
Other impressions of the sourdough from our site:
- “it began to smell very tasty with fruit kefir, and the bread became delicious, just like with the first sourdough. The first sourdough smelled delicious, some kind of overripe fruit, it seemed to me like cherry. Then I did not bake bread for two weeks and did not add flour and water to it, a clear smell of yeast appeared "
- "At first my leaven smelled like a sour dough. But I got it to feed three days ago and was stunned - the smell of fresh apples"
- "I went and smelled it - it smells like kvass, mmmm delicious"
Starter cultures of different ages can also smell differently, especially a young, freshly brewed starter culture that can smell like raw peas or dampness.
An adult starter culture begins to smell like kefir, yeast, partly with an acetone smell, the smell of varnish. Rye sourdough has a more pronounced pungent and sour smell than wheat.
The smell of the starter culture may even depend on whether it is stored in the refrigerator, hungry, or already fed.
This is not scary, the main thing is that she is healthy, does not become moldy, does not change color from beige-brown to gray-brown-green-raspberry colors and does not stink.
Observe for yourself the state of your leaven and its color and remember all the subtleties.
QUESTION: what color should a good, healthy leaven be.
ANSWER: The sourdough can look different, be of different colors, and depends on what flour you use for the sourdough and what you feed it. Colors from light beige to dark brown tones. Young sourdough can be lighter, and reusable mature sourdough can be darker. The color of the sourdough depends on the flour - wheat gives a light sourdough, and rye gives a dark color.
From the 1913 Manual:
Darkening the color of the bread The resulting acids, together with alcohol, act as a dissolving agent on gluten and pigment, which causes the dough to darken (in rye bread it reaches black).
QUESTION: I want to start baking bread, when and how to start feeding sourdough
ANSWER: Kefir starter culture is stored in the refrigerator and all processes in it are inhibited, it will not run away anywhere.
Two days before the bread is supposed to be baked and used, it must be prepared. To do this, put the jar on the table in a warm place, let it warm for about 1 hour, then add kefir (curdled milk, yogurt) and wheat or rye flour to it in equal quantities, depending on the sourdough. Stir so that there are no lumps and leave on the table for 2-3 hours to swell, when the swelling processes begin, put it back in the refrigerator for a day. Repeat the procedure in a day. After two days, put the starter culture on the table in a warm place for swelling and the beginning of the formation of bubbles and raising the starter culture for 3-4 hours, this will be seen by the activity of the starter culture, how quickly the starter culture begins to rise. Take the required amount of sourdough from the jar, put the rest of the sourdough in the jar in the refrigerator and leave it alone until next time.
The consistency should resemble a pancake dough with yeast, also bubble.
By smell - sour yeast dough.
In essence and consistency, kefir sourdough is a dough for sour dough, with a large number of lactic acid bacteria.
The more often you feed the kefir sourdough and use it, the stronger and stronger it becomes, I was convinced myself.
QUESTION: where, besides bread, you can use sourdough.
ANSWER: If there is a lot of sourdough, or is not used for bread, it can be used as a dough for baking pancakes, pancakes, added to another dough and so on.
QUESTION: what is dough fermentation?
ANSWER: From the 1913 Manual
During fermentation, carbonic acid is released, which is required by the baker to loosen the dough. The fermentation process is caused by yeasts, which are described in detail in the first part. Yeast fungus is a lower organism consisting of only one cell, about 0.01 millimeters in size. Pasteur considered the yeast fungus as an animal organism that has the ability to breathe, feed and multiply infinitely with such a rapidity that one yeast cell, under favorable conditions, can produce a million cells after 24 hours.
Then, from the action of other enzymes contained in the yeast fungus (diastasis, cimaz, etc.), the decomposition of sugary substances into carbonic acid and alcohol begins (alcoholic fermentation). But since, in addition to (alcohol) yeast fungus, other fungi (from the air or sourdough) get into the dough, the chemical process is not limited to this, but oxidative reactions begin, in which alcohol, being oxidized, turns into acetic acid, sugar into lactic acid, starch in oil and the like.
QUESTION: I keep the leaven with only one top dressing, and then I start baking bread on it, it suits me.
ANSWER: From the 1913 Manual
The amount of yeast for sourdoughEach yeast cell formed a colony of asco-spores. Thus, instead of individual cells, obtaining whole colonies of yeast fungi, he was able, by means of calculations, to determine the approximate amount of yeast fungi contained in the originally taken substance. Thus, he calculated that one gram of pressed yeast consumed by Parisian bakers contains from 5 to 6,000,000,000 live yeast cells.Further research showed that the dough after the end of fermentation contains only 5 to 600,000 of them.
This amount of yeast grows rapidly in the old dough, which is why it is used in the form of a leaven that replaces the pressed yeast.Therefore, I personally prefer to ferment the sourdough dough for a full cycle of 3 feeding.
So, for example, studies have shown that in one gram of old dough after 4, 6 and 8 days, the number of cells reaches 200,000, 2,000,000 and 17 million. moreover, the yeast fungi increase due to starch. Indeed, after 24 hours in the old dough already from 0.7% to 1.9%, starch turns into sugar. But it must be borne in mind that for the benefit of the yeast fungi should not be allowed to ferment too vigorously, since in this case the yeast fungi quickly get tired and begin to multiply slowly. In addition, other bacteria harmful to them can easily develop.
