Bread by Daniel Stevens

Author:Daniel Stevens
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408896310
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

The first feeding

At some point, your starter will begin to ferment. This depends on many factors, such as the flour used, how much you whisked it, which yeasts and bacteria happen to be around, and how warm it is. To give you some idea, a white wheat starter I made at home took two full days to puff a couple of little air bubbles to the surface; a wholemeal spelt starter I made at work was frothing rapidly after only a few hours. So, check every 12 hours or so, and when you see the first signs of fermentation (pic 1), give your starter its first ‘feeding’ by whisking in another 150g or so of flour and another 250ml warm water. Replace the lid and leave it again.

Check your starter again after another day (though in reality you will be so fascinated by now that you won’t be able to keep away from it). Don’t worry if all this takes longer than you expected – it will get there in the end. And when it does, I should warn you about the smell. You will either love it, or hate it. It might be sickly sweet or sickly sour, smelling of vinegar, or rotten apples, or brandy, or gone-off milk, perhaps. Breathe in deeply; I want you to remember this smell.

Subsequent feedings

Now tip out half of the starter (into a plastic bag or an old milk carton) and discard it. Replace this with another 150g flour, and 250ml cold water this time, and leave it another day, at a fairly cool room temperature now. In fact, find it a permanent home – it may be with you for life, after all. Hereafter, you are into a feeding programme, and you need to find one that suits you.

I suggest for the first week at least, while your sourdough starter is getting established, you feed it daily, discarding half and replacing it. Keep smelling it and you’ll become aware of the aroma changing, becoming less harsh and more complex as it matures. You will also notice different smells at different stages of fermentation. Without sounding too cosy, you should develop a living relationship with your starter. It is very much like keeping a pet. You will get to know when it needs feeding, when it is most active, when it is tired and sluggish, and (sorry about this) when it could do with a good beating (I whip mine up in the food mixer every couple of weeks – the oxygen does the yeast a lot of good). About a week into your routine of daily feeding, when fermentation is vigorous (pic 2) and regular, and the smells have become recognisable and established, you are ready to use your starter.

If you are likely to bake regularly, as we do at River Cottage, keep your starter as it is – as a thick batter, at room temperature, feeding it daily. But if you will only be using it every couple of weeks or less, you may as well slow the fermentation; then you’ll need to feed it less.

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