Fall Sourdough Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How quickly should a sourdough starter rise and fall? ›

When your starter is reliably rising to double or triple its size and falling in the jar anywhere between 4-8 hours after you feed it (dependent on your ambient conditions and the flour you feed with) it is ready to bake with. When the starter is at the peak of its rise, it is called ripe, fed, or mature.

Over the years, I've found keeping the mixture warm at around 80°F (26°C), and high hydration (100% water to flour in baker's percentages) helps get things started. In addition, while not mandatory, using certain flour also helps increase the chances a starter will take hold quickly (see below).

The secret to sourdough is simple: water. The more water you add to your dough will affect how open the crumb (bigger holes and softer texture) will be once it's baked.

Past-Peak and Falling: If your starter/leaven is past-peak and is beginning to fall in height, it is beyond the optimal point to use it for baking, but it will still work. The only thing to consider is that once a starter peaks, it starts to become more acidic as it falls.

stir your starter in between feedings - try stirring it twice in between feedings and really give it a chance to get oxygen into the mix. This will help to activate your starter without too much effort.

You can perform a float test to check if your starter is ready. Take a small spoonful of the starter and drop it into a glass of water. If it floats, it indicates that the starter is sufficiently active and ready for use.

If you do not have whole wheat flour, just use all purpose flour instead. The starter will be fine. I switch to all purpose flour for the feedings because it's reliable, inexpensive and practical for everyday baking (remember, a portion of your starter is removed, discarded, or used for something else).

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour. Why do you need to use these two types of flour?

It is important that you stir the sourdough starter every day in the morning and in the evening. Feed the starter. Add 60 g flour and 60 g lukewarm water, stir well to combine, and let sit out for 24 hours.

What makes sourdough taste better? ›

The key taste compounds include salt, which is directly added to the dough, as well as acetic and lactic acid, produced during fermentation. After these experiments, they applied a technique called “unified flavor quantitation,” which was previously developed by Hofmann's team, to the sourdough bread.

You'll find I use honey in many of my recipes. I love to use it in my no-knead 100% whole wheat sourdough bread because it makes it much softer and less dense than it would be without it. Subbing it in recipes that call for sugar is not usually as simple as a one-to-one sub, though.

A truly good starter will double in 6-8 hours when given a 1:2:2 feeding. If you find your starter is rising so fast that it has sunk back down to its starting point by the time you feed it, it needs more food. You can either feed it twice a day or increase the ratio to 1:3:3 or even 1:4:4, depending on your starter.

More often than not, sourdough bread deflates when scored if it's been over proofed. What is this? If you shape the dough and then place into the fridge for cold fermentation (or proofing as it's sometimes referred to), the dough will continue to ferment.

A truly good starter will double in 6-8 hours when given a 1:2:2 feeding. If you find your starter is rising so fast that it has sunk back down to its starting point by the time you feed it, it needs more food. You can either feed it twice a day or increase the ratio to 1:3:3 or even 1:4:4, depending on your starter.

If your sourdough starter is left too long it gets hungry and exhausted. You will know because it will have doubled and then the air pockets start to collapse and the mix deflates. This can happen at any temperature, but it will be slower to occur in cool environments and much faster in warmer.

Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter. All-Purpose flour, for example, will not rise as robustly as a blend of bread flour and whole wheat flour.

Often, the starter will double in size in 12 hours or less. Sometimes it takes 24 hours. If you get good bubbling and the starter doesn't double, that's OK. Feed the starter again - this time discard half the starter, add 1/4 cup, or 50 grams, of water and stir the starter.