Looking for a Good Sourdough Starter

[KingBrianI]

Do any of you guys have a sourdough starter you wouldn't mind sending my way? I'll pay for shipping/materials/etc. I'd really like the Ischia culture but other European cultures could work. I'm mainly interested in using it for pizza dough but would also make bread regularly. I've seen where it's available for sale online but the prices are kind of ridiculous.

 

[Stout-n-Braggot]

You can just get a wild starter going with equal parts flour and water. Raw, diluted honey can be a good source for soutdough starter too, let some ferment for a while then step it up with flour additions.

 

[KingBrianI]

You can just get a wild starter going with equal parts flour and water. Raw, diluted honey can be a good source for soutdough starter too, let some ferment for a while then step it up with flour additions.

I actually tried creating my own starter a few weeks ago but didn't have much success. I had a culture going for a week or so but after that it really slowed down and didn't respond much to the feedings. I tried making a bread with it and didn't get much rise at all. I figured I'd try a proven culture but if I can't get one I'll try starting my own again.

 

[seabass07]

What method did you use to get it going? I've had great success with mine. When starting a new one, I always wait 2 to 3 days before I start with the feedings and they take off immediately.

 

[KingBrianI]

What method did you use to get it going? I've had great success with mine. When starting a new one, I always wait 2 to 3 days before I start with the feedings and they take off immediately.

Basically what you do. I mixed flour and water 1:1 in a mason jar, secured a paper towel over the top with a rubber band and waited for activity to start (2-3 days). When it started to slow down I removed half of the starter and replaced it with more flour and water. At about a week it was fairly active and would proof up really well within a couple hours of feeding. After another week or so though, it wouldn't respond much if any after feedings. I tried making some bread with it and the bread barely rose so I kind of neglected the starter for a couple more weeks before throwing it out.

 

[Stout-n-Braggot]

How long did you let the dough proof? With sourdough you generally can't follow the stadard times for modern recipes. If you want a quicker rise you can cheat by adding a small amount of bread yeast to your dough, but usually to get a really good proof without adding yeast I let sourdough bread rise for several hours or overnight.
Maybe try again with some raw honey, and water to flour at about 1.5:1, then start feeding, also, for getting it started use a smaller volume so you don't need to throw out any active starter for the first 2 or 3 feedings so that you have a really rich, populated culture.

 

[KingBrianI]

I let the bread rise overnight at room temp. There was a little bit of expansion but not much. The loaf was pretty dense.

If I can't find a good starter from someone, I'll try starting one from scratch again. I've got the book "Tartine Bread" on hold at the library and I've heard it outlines a method to start a starter so I'll give that a try.

 

[Stout-n-Braggot]

Yeah, overnight should've been long enough, your culture might not have had a healthy enough yeast population. Defintiely try a from scratch culture again, but maybe wait longer before using it on bread, let the yeast population really grow, and feed it about 2 days before using it for bread so that you have good activity going when you use it.
Also, maybe try proofing it in the oven (covered) with the light on to get it a bit above room temp, it'll sometimes kick the yeast into overdrive.
Good luck!

 

[PseudoChef]

It seriously just may need more time and feedings. The wild bugs in a starter can start to get acclimated to their new-found environment and get content, not wanting to do much. It's sorta like the "sick" phase in some sours beers you hear of. Sometimes the lacto will start to override the culture, and you need to build the yeast portion back up in order to get the leavening back.

 

[seabass07]

Maybe using less of the existing starter when feeding would help with that. I think the yeast reproduce a lot faster than the other bugs.

 

[PseudoChef]

Maybe using less of the existing starter when feeding would help with that. I think the yeast reproduce a lot faster than the other bugs.

Unfortunately, yeast reproduce slower (doubling of 2-3 hours) than bacteria (~ 30 minutes).

But, I think the lacto eventually plateau due to pH issues in the starter, allowing the yeast to catch back up in terms of growth. I could be completely wrong, though.

 

[BurtConnor]

I hear adding a bit of rhubarb to your sour dough starter for the first week can help. I've not tried it yet. Personally, I'd rather not add anything to mine. I'd rather not taint my bread with rhubarb

As for pizza bases, I probably wouldn't use a sour dough recipe. Sour doughs benefit from the over night sponge method of baking. That means you'd have to start making your pizzas the day before you wanted them. I just use dried, fast acting yeast in mine.

FWIW, nearly everything I know about bread came from http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/074759533X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It has a decent explanation of the whole process, but I think there is a type on the section on sour dough. can't remember what it is though.

 

[KingBrianI]

Evets was kind enough to send me some of his Ischia starter and it is great! I've already made several breads and a batch of pizza with it and it's working great. I already made my pizza dough at least a day before I would cook it when I was using dry yeast, so doing it with a starter isn't a big deal, and the flavor is much better with it. I'll have to take some pictures of the breads and pizzas I'm making. They are looking almost as good as they taste.

 

[Evets]

I'm glad that's working out for you. Pics would be nice!

 

[KingBrianI]

With the hurricane blowing outside, I thought it would be a good day to make use of the awesome starter. It's not the best looking bread I've made, but it is the best textured and flavored so far. It has a soft, shiny open crumb with great chew and a thin, shattering crust. The high hydration (80%) caused it to spread out a bit but I don't even care because it tastes so good.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

The best way I've found to get a starter going is to use equal parts of organic rye flour & water. Every 12+ hours I remove half and add AP flour & water 1:1 for the first few days, then slow down to once a day. After ten days its usually good to go. The organic rye tends to have more yeasties on it's hull that take over the starter. AP flour has been hulled and most of the yeast goes away. You can try it with whole wheat flour but rye definitely works best for me.

 

[Evets]

Beautiful crumb there! Looks like a "Tartine" loaf baked in a dutch oven.

 

[PseudoChef]

Noice. I made some sourdough pizzas last night. I'll have to take some pictures of my next batch.

 

[KingBrianI]

Beautiful crumb there! Looks like a "Tartine" loaf baked in a dutch oven.

Yep, it's the tartine method and recipe minus the whole wheat. I find I like the results much more when I don't add any whole wheat.