Feed at regular intervals. Your friends may have some instructions but once every 12 hours is often a good benchmark. Do you have a scale? Measuring out in grams is best for feeding. 1:1 ratio of water to flour is pretty standard.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @flyingteacosy
If it's bubbly, that's good. It can have a range of smells, my sourdough starter at it's best peak smells fruity and yeasty, almost like wine or beer. When it needs to be fed it may smell much more alcohol-y or like acetone. That is normal though.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip
Thank you!! If I can pick your brains: how would I know if I fed it too much or too little of the water/flour mix?
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Replying to @flyingteacosy
I feed my starter varying amounts all the time, so it's hard to say. Usually you're safe feeding it a lot at a time, because it will just eat through the food. Judging by how bubbly it is in 12 hours you can adjust your feed times. Feeding it too little is more a problem
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @flyingteacosy
because it will get hungry again soon, and you might see a dark liquid form (hooch) which is alcohol that usually people drain off but it means it needs feeding. So it really depends on the starter. I keep about 300 grams of starter at any given time.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @flyingteacosy
I discard some and store the discard in the fridge where you can keep it to use in other things like pancakes or waffles (look up sourdough discard recipes). I don't measure how much I discard. I then add in 25-50 g of water and flour depending on a few things.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @flyingteacosy
So if I had used a bunch for bread, I'll add more flour and water so I can bring it back up to 300 ish grams. But if I'm just maintaining a large amount then I just do 25 g of each. I also use warm water (I boil water and then add cold from the tap to a cup).
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @flyingteacosy
Starters thrive in warm (not hot) environments. When we had the heatwave a little while back it did super well, the day in Dublin that was like 26 or something it was so warm in the flat the starter just grew like mad.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip
I have it on the kitchen counter cause it's the warmest part of the house here! So I'm guessing that means it'll grow better in the daytime than night?
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Replying to @flyingteacosy
Mine grows fine overnight even if it gets a bit cooler in the flat, and right now it's not getting cold enough outside I think to drop the temperatures in houses/flats enough to make a difference. I have noticed a change since the weather got cooler though.
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Oh also: a lot of people will recommend King Arthur Flour's website for sourdough help but I have had way more luck searching on The Fresh Loaf, which is a bread baking site and forum.
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