In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine:
1/2 cup warm (105°F to 115°F) whole milk
1 package (2 1/4...
Flour and water. That's all you'll need. Really.
I know, it's hard to have faith in just flour and water--those of us who bake bread have come to love the deus ex machina of instant yeast: its frothy upsurge and predictability. But wild yeasts are no slouches, and they are easily harnessed for bread making, as thousands of years of our ancestry would tell you.
Before we begin, however, I must issue a caveat. Do not be deterred when your starter does not become active immediately. In all likelihood, it will take at least a week for you to see consistent bubbling. This initial stage is the one that prevents most wild yeast hunters from ever making levain-raised bread. Your starter needs plenty of time to develop before you can use it. Have faith.
Also, it is fairly important in these early stages to feed your starter regularly. Later on, when you have a healthy, effervescent starter, you can play with the feeding times and even refrigerate or freeze your starter to retard its fermentation. Right now, though, you need to be present and watchful. Make notes if you have to. Set an alarm on your smart phone to help you remember.
At first, feeding the starter once a day is enough. Once active, depending on the season, you may need to feed your starter once or twice daily. During winter, when fermentation is slower, once a day should suffice. If your kitchen is very cold, you can probably get away with feeding it once every two days. During the summer, however, you may need to feed your starter twice daily. Don't let this variability scare or confuse you. Your starter will tell you what it needs if you pay attention to it.
For now, just focus on the daily feedings. Every day you will discard some of the starter before feeding. You can use this discarded starter in any breads (quick or otherwise) you may be making, or you can turn it into thin pancakes. Before the starter is active, these cast offs will not help to leaven the baked goods, but they will add a bit of flavor. Besides, if you're anything like me, throwing away ingredients seems wasteful, and I like to use every bit of starter that I can.
To add starter to regular bread recipes, just keep in mind that your starter is composed of equal parts water and flour. Thus, you need to subtract equal amounts of flour and liquid from the recipe. For instance, if you want to add 1/2 cup starter to a bread recipe, subtract 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup liquid from the recipe and proceed.
Combine in a large bowl, whisking to blend thoroughly:
900 grams (about 7 1/4 cups) all-purpose or white bread flour (do not use a low-protein all-purpose flour such as White Lily)
900 grams (about 7 1/2 cups) whole wheat or rye flour
This flour blend will be enough to get you through the first nine days of replenishing your starter. After that, simply make more of the flour blend.
On the first day, combine in a quart-sized container:
200 grams (about 1 2/3 cups) flour blend
200 grams (about 3/4 cup) room temperature water
Cover with a small square of cloth secured with a rubber band and allow it to sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
On day two, at roughly the same time that you combined the flour and water, discard half the starter and feed with:
200 grams flour blend (about 1 2/3 cups)
200 grams room temperature water (about 3/4 cup)
Every day, at about the same time, repeat this process, using 200 grams each flour blend and water. Your starter may begin to bubble after a few days or it may take two weeks. Do not be deterred. Continue discarding and feeding, discarding and feeding, until you start to see bubbles and the starter increases substantially in volume every day.
If, during this initial process, the size of your starter gets out of hand, feel free to discard more than half of it. Especially once you see signs of active fermentation, you can toss most of the starter, as only a small amount is needed to introduce the yeasts into the added flour and water.
When your starter becomes a full-fledged levain, it will rise and fall predictably each day. In the twelve to sixteen hours or so after feeding, it will rise, and then it will begin to fall. It will have a range of smells, from slightly sour or fruity to vinegary or cheesy. These are all normal smells--some find them pleasant and others do not, but they are normal. Sometimes, especially if your levain has gone a bit too long between feedings, it will throw off a brownish liquid called hooch--this is nothing to be alarmed about. Simply discard the hooch and half the starter and feed like normal.
Comments
Hi Ricky! Sorry it took so
Thank you for getting back to
That's great! Once you get it
Hi! I live in the tropics
Sounds ready to me Lyn! I
Initiating starter from
Cool! We'll try that the next
Thank You! When my kids were
Yikes! Well, you got to cut
A diagnosis please ! My
Hmm...have you noticed the
my levain was going
Well, it's hard to diagnose a
OMG! I just realized that I
Yes, that's totally fine.
Hi. Thank you for this post!
Hi David! 1.) Whole wheat is
Things went well for me for 3
Probably. Often, when the
Hi! Thanks for making this so
You can absolutely use your
My levain is behaving as you
Usually, when I'm going to
I tried to make a sourdough
That could definitely be part
I am trying to grow my very
You said that after 24 hours
Hi
In my experience, it takes
Whoa! I figured up here in
Hi there! Thanks for creating
If the levain floats when you
After the first day, the
Hmmm... it's hard to say what
It took ten days to make the
Hi Guys! I've successfully
Just be patient. Your starter
Can u explain the diference
We're not experts on this
Wondering what the
You could always test the
a silly question, perhaps,
Hi Kenneth! In theory, you
I've been making a ver good
Spelt will work fine. The
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