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How To Use Your Sourdough Starter In Recipes

3/9/2019

If you're like me my sourdough starter (Desem) is in the fridge and it needs to be fed. The problem is I don't need another loaf of bread right now so what do I do with the extra starter. I don't like to throw out good starter, so I will make something with it.

My left over hunk of starter weights 463g after I have fed the starter and returned it to the container in the fridge. The question is how much flour and water is in the 463g of starter. I need to know this information before I can use it in any recipe. My starter has a hydration of 75% which means of the 463g there is 75% water compared to 100% flour.

The hydration of my starter my be different then your starter so you need to know what the hydration of your starter is. Many folks have a starter with equal amounts of water and flour which makes your starter hydration 100%. If that is the case you will take your amount of starter in grams and divide it by 2 instead of 1.75 like I do because my starter is at 75% hydration.

Formula
463g starter divided by 1.75 = 265g (flour in the starter)
463g starter minus 265g flour = 198g (water in the starter)

So now I know my piece of 463g of Desem Sourdough Starter has 265g of flour and 198g of water. What ever recipe I make I need to remember I have already 265g of flour and 198g of water. Just deduct those amounts from the flour and the liquid in the recipe and you are good.

Let's Go Make Something!

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Desem Starter

1/16/2015

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Desem (Dutch for "leaven") is a type of sourdough starter made from whole grain wheat, spelt or other whole grain flours and water, inoculated by wild yeasts and bacteria, traditionally used in Belgium to make light, healthy, nutty flavored whole grain bread. Desem starters will only work with uncontaminated freshly milled whole grain flour.

The starter is grown in a bed of flour at cool temperatures which is very different than the Fransisco Sour Dough starter. Desem starter takes 7 days to develop. Basically you take 2 cups of freshly milled high gluten flour and mix it with 1/2 cup pure water and form the mixture into a ball and bury it in 10 pounds of freshly milled whole grain flour. It is left in the flour for a few days. After a few days you remove the dough and cut away the crust on the outside of the ball add water and fresh flour to it and again bury it in the flour. You continue the process for 7 days then the second week you can start using it but its full potential has not fully developed, it will take at least another couple of weeks of baking with it to reach maturity.

For complete instructions check out "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book", by Laurel Robertson. There is a complete chapter on this with detailed instructions. This is what I used to make my desem. This book is not expensive and well worth the money for all the 100% whole grain recipes and tips.

The term "desem" also describes the loaf made with this starter. Desem bread is characterized by a strong rise, a light texture, and nutty slightly sour taste. I find this is wonderful to work with but, if you don't bake often you will have to feed your desem every week. When I first made my starter two years ago I was not baking bread every week so I froze the starter not knowing if it would live. It remained in the freezer for 18 months until I decided to try again and the desem came back to life after a couple of feedings.

The advantage I find with this type of sour dough starter is when you feed it you don't have to throw out half the starter like the traditional sour dough starter. The reason is the bacteria culture is different. Most starters are highly acidic and in order for the culture to survive you must reduce the acid levels by removing half the starter when feeding it.

Gluten Sensitive Individuals And Celiacs
Sourdough bread is a fermented bread making it easier to digest, and for some folks that are gluten sensitive this may be the answer to your prayers. The good news is that researchers have discovered that "fully fermented" sourdough baked goods, did not have toxic effects on a small group of Celiacs participating in a recently published study.

Safety for Patients with Celiac Disease of Baked Goods Made of Wheat Flour Hydrolyzed During Food Processing - Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Volume 9, Issue 1 , Pages 24-29, January 2011

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How to Make A Wild Yeast Starter

1/16/2015

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A wild yeast started also known as a sourdough starter has been used for generations to raise bread. Making a wild yeast starter involves two steps, the first is making a seed culture and then turning that into a mother starter. The seed starter cultivates the microorganisms to get the mother starter going. Once you have the mother starter you will be keeping it in the refrigerator and will feed it to keep it alive. The mother starter will be at 75% hydration, that means it will be 75% water to 100% flour. This is firmer than the wet sponge starter that is more common in most recipes.   This method was developed by Debra Wink at King Arthur Baking institute.

SEED CULTURE
Phase 1   (Day 1)

Volume    Grams    Ingredient
3 1/2 T.    28         Hard Red/White or Rye flour
1/4 c.       57         unsweetened pineapple juice or
                 filtered water (room temperature

In a small bowl, stir together the flour and juice or water. It will be thin like pancake batter. Cover loosely with plastic and leave at room temperature for 48 hours. Stir 2-3 times a day for a minute with a wet spoon. Nothing will happen for the first 24 hours, then small bubbles will begin to appear. Even if not much is happening proceed to the next step.

Phase 2 (Day 3)
Volume       Grams       Ingredient
2 scant T.      14            Hard Red/White or Rye flour
2 T.            28             unsweetened pineapple juice or
                 filtered water (room temperature)
Use all          86             Phase 1 seed culture

Add the new ingredients to the phase 1 sponge and mix until the new flour is fully hydrated. Cover loosely with plastic and leave at room temperature of 24 to 48 hours. Stir 2-3 times each day with a wet spoon as before. There should be signs for bubbling and growth at this time. When the dough becomes very bubbly at the end of 48 hours or which ever comes first move on to Phase 3.

Phase 3 (Day 4 or 5)
Volume        Grams    Ingredient
5 1/4 T.        43         Hard Red / White or Rye Flour
3 T.          43       Filtered water at room temperature
Use all         128        Phase 2 sponge

Add the new ingredients to the phase 2 sponge and stir well. The mixture will be thicker, but it will still be very wet and sticky. Cover loosely with plastic and leave on the counter for 24 to 48 hours. Stir with a wet spoon 3 times a day as before.

Phase 4 (Day 5 or longer)
Volume        Grams    Ingredient
7 T           57      Hard Red / White or Rye Flour
3 T.              43    Filtered water at room temperature
Use half    106      Phase 3 sponge

Give away half of the phase 3 sponge. Add the new ingredients to the other half and mix just like before. Cover and leave at room temperature it begins to bubble and foam. At this point it should nearly double in size, but it will fall when jostled. This can take around 4- 24 hours. If you see no life after 24 hours continue mixing every couple of hours. Patience, it will become active it may take a few more days. Once it's active you can now start building your mother starter. The seed starter will be fine if covered and refrigerated for 2 days before making the mother starter.

MOTHER STARTER
This is the starter you will keep in the refrigerator as a permanent starter from which you will use for various breads. The seed starter is alive and full of microorganisms and we are going to take it and add a larger amount of flour to it to form the mother starter. At first the mother starter will be wet but after 3 feedings it will become more dough like in texture. This starter is known as a stiff starter since the hydration is 75%.

Volume        Grams    Ingredient
2 1/3 c.        11      Hard Red / White or Rye Flour
1 c.             227   Filtered water room temperature
           (add 2 T. more water for rye flour)
2/3 c.          99           about half the seed culture

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl mix by hand or with your mixer. When combined let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Than knead for another 2 minutes until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed and the dough is smooth. Cover and put in a large bowl and leave on the counter for 4-8 hours until it doubles in size. It may take longer so give it time. Once it's doubled in size do the flower peddle technique and round the dough. Form it back into a ball and cover tightly and put into the refrigerator. After a few hours open it back up and let some of the carbon dioxide out and recover it tightly again and place back into the refrigerator. The mother starter is ready to use now or for up to 3 days from now.

Feeding The Mother Starter
The starter needs to be fed on a regular basis or it will start to loose it's strength if it's over a week old and has not been fed. You will need to rebuild it by discarding all but 99 grams or (3.5 oz) and keep the rest as your new seed culture. And add the amounts of flour and water as listed below. Cover and put in a large bowl and leave on the counter for 4-8 hours until it doubles in size. It may take longer so give it time until it doubles then put it back into the refrigerator.

Volume        Grams    Ingredient
2 1/3 c.        11      Hard Red / White or Rye Flour
1 c.             227   filtered water room temperature
           (add 2 T. more water for rye flour)
2/3 c.          99          (new seed culture) or 1 week old mother starter

Bring your starter back to life if left for over 2 weeks:
Any mother starter that's older than 2 weeks has lost it's gluten strength and will have to be built back up in small increments. To do this, add 1 oz or (28 g) of the old mother starter to 3 oz (86 g)   of hard red or white flour. If you would like to use rye you can use the same amount of flour. To this add 1/4 c. water. This will produce a little more than 3/4 c. or 6 oz. You will follow the same instructions as building the mother starter. You can continue building the mother starter by using the same rations: 100% flour, 75% water, and 33.3% starter. In a short time you will have new revitalized mother starter

Converting Your Wheat Mother Starter Into A Rye Starter:
Unless you make rye often you don't need to keep a separate starter. As you feed your starter use rye flour instead of the hard red or hard white. Note the feedings require an extra 2 T. of water if you are using rye flour. The reason for this is because rye has more bran and requires more water to hydrate it. After a couple of feedings you will have a basically rye starter with the same 75% hydration as your wheat mother starter.

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