Sourdough starter No.2, day 2

Yesterday: 25g rye, 50g water.

Today: add 25g rye, 50g water.

Now it’s starting to look like it’s alive! A few more days and I can start cooking with it.

 

 

Sourdough starter, deceased

Yikes – the starter hasn’t taken at all, and smells funny. When I say funny I really mean yucky. On all the other starters I’ve made the bubbles were bubbling after day one and by day two that fantastic and distinctive sourdough smell was coming through. So this one goes in the bin and tomorrow I start again, this time with Doves Farm stoneground organic rye which I’ve used before.

Found another post that sounds similar to this, so maybe I’ll consider the container as well as the flour.

Yesterday’s 50/50 spelt made some excellent toast this morning so it’s not all too bad!

Sourdough starter, day 2

Added another 25g rye and 5 0g water.

Retarded 50/50 spelt/white

While I’m waiting for my sourdough starter to do its thing I’ve tried a spelt loaf again, having never had much success in the past. But I’m really pleased with this one, a 50/50 split between white and spelt, both from Shipton Mill. I’ve seen Shipton Mill flours used in quite a few artisan bakeries around England and I’ve always made my best bread with it.

So for this spelt I made up the dough yesterday afternoon and, after about 1 hour of room temperature fermentation, put it in the fridge. This morning I let it get back up to room temperature over a couple of hours, then stretched and shaped and left for another couple of hours before cooking in my cloche for about 40 minutes.

1000g flour
720g water
20g salt
10g active dried yeast
10g brown sugar

Sourdough starter begins

I’ve finally got around to making a new rye starter. The last one died after months of me working away and not looking after it.

So, day 1: 25g rye, 50g water.

The rye is stoneground and organic, fairly standard for a starter. I always use a 200% hydration starter, based in part on Andrew Whitley’s book Bread Matters.

The starter is going to be left out in the kitchen at room temperature, covered, and fed again tomorrow.