After a bit of bad luck with my first sourdough starter “Breadric”, today I decided to begin growing a new sourdough starter from scratch.
The main concerns I had with Breadric were that the unfiltered tap water I was feeding him with was having a negative effect on his growth – and also that I was using up a fair bit of flour every day to feed him.
With this new starter (named “Breadric II” for now) I have been boiling tap water on the stove to kill off any bacteria before letting it cool, bottling it, and then keeping it in our fridge. I am also going to be using a combination of different recipes to try and keep the amount of used flour to a minimum.
Day 1
Unfortuantely I did not take any pictures on Day 1 as Breadric II was a bit of a trial at the time!
In the morning I just mixed 150g filtered water (85°F) with 100g Marriage’s Organic Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour.
In the evening he was showing some hooch on the surface which was not there in the afternoon – he was obviously hungry so I decided to feed him for the first time – 20g starter, 20g Wholemeal flour, 100g White flour and 100g water. The water was 85°F and the white flour was Marriage’s Organic Strong White Bread Flour. This is essentially the same ratio as the feedings for Breadric I but in a much smaller amount.
I am also using a different container which is basically a small clip lock tupperware box. It should be a bit easier to mix in and it has enough room for growth. Once Breadric II has fully developed I will likely make him bigger and then transfer him back to his old container.
Day 2
The above picture was taken toward the end of Day 2 after being fed for the third time. He had grown a tiny bit during the previous night and continued to grow to double his original size in the afternoon (sorry, no pictures) before settling back down in the late afternoon. I was very pleased to see this after Breadric I gave up the ghost!
Even though Breadric II had only existed for 36 hours, whilst feeding him I noticed an immediate difference from Breadric I… there was a lot of gas present and he had an almost web-like structure that clung to my spatula and did not want to let go – definite signs of life! He smelt completely different too – kind of like sour porridge!
Day 3
Not much to report on day 3… There was a bit of growth but only about 5mm and this lasted until the evening. There were also a few small bubbles on the surface. I decided against feeding as he hadn’t settled down fully and there were no signs of hooch forming.
Day 4
I fed Breadric II this morning with a slightly different ratio: 50g starter, 20g Wholemeal flour, 80g White flour and 80g water. I decided to do this after watching a video on YouTube which recommended keeping more of the starter when feeding.
I have also found a way to keep him in a nice warm environment during winter – inside my desk’s cupboard near my computer! With the door closed it reaches around 82-86°F in there which should be ideal.
I took the above pictures late in the evening. Breadric II had almost doubled in volume during the afternoon (the small black line on the container indicates where he was after feeding in the morning) – he is also looking nice and bubbly!
As I write this it looks like he is now slowly decreasing in volume so I will feed him again tomorrow morning and hope to see similar activity in day 5.
Day 5
I fed Breadric II this morning the same way as yesterday. He had a growth spurt and had tripled in volume by mid-day! Then he looked all lovely and bubbly all afternoon as he settled down. In the early evening I took his hat (lid) off and got a quick rush of alcohol up my nose! After this passed I would say he is currently smelling quite sour with a little bit of sweetness.
The picture above was taken later in the evening – you can see the mark he left when he had tripled earlier. My second attempt at this seems to be going much better! I’m mostly putting it down to the filtered water I have been using and his new warmer home.
Once his growth becomes more predictable I might try taking him out of his home just to slow him down a bit – at the moment it seems like he is at his peak between around 11:00 to 12:00 and I’d like this to be a bit later when baking. I also think he’s getting a bit hungry by the end of the day!
Day 6
It seems Breadric II is pretty active now. After feeding him the same again this morning I left him out on my desk where it is usually around 77°F and he was quite happy growing to over triple his volume in around 4.5 hours.
I pointed one of my WiFi cameras at him later in the morning to try and capture his growth – I set it up to take a picture every minute and I couldn’t believe how quickly he grew between each of the captured images. I will probably do this again sometime and try and create a video of him in action!
The above picture was taken by the WiFi camera at 12:13 when he was at his highest level. Unfortunately my black mark had washed off slightly but you can just about see it. Really looking forward to using him in some bread now!
I also kept the discard from his feeding this morning. Apparently it can be used for other recipes – so I will try and find something simple to use it in!
Day 7
The above video is a time-lapse of Breadric taken over a 4 hour period from aroud 11:00 to 15:00. He was fed around 09:00 but showed no real sign of growth until maybe a couple of hours later.
He also smelt great this morning – mostly sweet and alcoholic. Michelle said he smelt like Sherry!
For today’s feed I only kept 25g and added to this 25g Wholemeal flour, 100g White flour and 100g water – essentially a very small version of Ken Forkish’s recipe. I figured this would be enough to have at least 25g left for the next feeding, with little remainder – but was slightly concerned that I had discarded too much when he wasn’t growing for the first couple of hours!
I decided to use him in some bread this afternoon – a Pain de Campagne which is currently bulk fermenting in our living room now – I will be shaping the loaf around 20:15 tonight which will then be staying in the fridge overnight, ready for baking tomorrow morning!
After adding breadric to the mix there was around 118g left – and I am amazed to see that this is still growing in the container. In the pictures above you an see he is well on his way to being back where he was after feeding this morning!
I also made some sourdough pancakes with the discard from yeserday and this morning – more on this in another article!