Starters & Preferments

How to Make Rye Starter

A rye starter is basically the same thing as a white or whole wheat starter: a fermented mass of wet flour, only with rye flour as a base instead of some other type. Rye flours are quick to ferment for reasons that will be discussed later this week, meaning you can make one in a bout half the time of a white wheat starter: about three days. All you need to do is mix maybe an ounce of rye flour with an ounce of water, stir it and let it sit out overnight. The next day add two ounces of rye flour and two ounces of water and again let it sit out overnight. The next day add four ounces of rye flour and four ounces of water…and you should have a ready starter about four hours later. Bingo.

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How to Make a Poolish Sponge

This makes enough for my baguette recipe, but of course it can be increased if need be for some other application. The amount of yeast employed in a poolish is tiny relative to the flour and water. So tiny, in fact, that for a poolish sponge this small, we’ll need to dissolve some instant yeast […]

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How to Make Pâte Fermentée

It’s really just bread dough, only you don’t bake it. Of course, if you make bread regularly enough you can just make a little extra dough and hold it in reserve for the next batch. Pâte fermentée will keep for 3 days in the fridge and about 3 months in the freezer. A basic formula […]

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Pâte Fermentée

Pâte fermentée is what we in the English-speaking world call “old dough”, even though it means something closer to “fermented” or “ripened” dough in French. Classically, the old dough technique is very simple. Every time a baker makes a batch of baguettes (or some other bread that might be improved by old dough) he or […]

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Starting a Starter

The thing about starters is, they’re incredibly easy. If they weren’t, human beings would never have invented bread. The only trick is remembering to care for it. The vast majority of starter failures come from forgetting to feed one on a regular basis. If you can do that you won’t have any problems. Begin a […]

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A word about water

Growing your own starter is an elementary project than can become complicated if your water is compromised in any way. If you’re connected to a municipal water supply that’s heavy on chlorine, for example, or if you have a water softener. On the other extreme a relatively “dirty” water supply can introduce organisms that will […]

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How much does a starter need to be fed?

Whenever you’re maintaining an active, full-strength starter, you always need to at least double its weight to keep it healthy and happy. That can be a lot of starter assuming you keep it going at room temperature…two ounces makes four ounces make eight ounces make a pound and so on. Do that every day for […]

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Slow Starter

What do I do if my starter won’t grow? It happens sometimes. You use distilled water, you feed regularly, but you can’t seem to reach that ultra-bubbly critical mass. As long as it looks good, smells good and you’re seeing at least a few pea-sized bubbles every day, you’re probably on the right track. The […]

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On Moisture

One of the big variables in the world of bread starter recipes is moisture. Some can be extremely wet, up to 60% water, others somewhat dry, in the realm of 35% water. Is there any practical difference between them? For the purpose of getting a starter culture going, the answer is no. Though I’ve had […]

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Non-Starter

If you’re wondering what I meant when I said that I generally let my starter ferment for five days to make sure I “clear all the suckers out” it’s because starter bowls can occasionally grow some funky stuff. Actually, maybe I should take part of that back. They always grow some funky stuff, but occasionally […]

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