Hey guys, this week I wanted to share a (very detailed!) sourdough starter guide as it can get a little confusing out there! I would call myself more of a holistic, intuitive, sensory baker than a strictly scientific baker, but nonetheless, I hope you find these tips useful. Comment below if you have any queries or tips to share with me too! P.S so sorry the video wasn’t focused – nightmare!! Lily x
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00:00-00:30 – intro
00:35-02:15: my first starter (white)
02:16-02:55: my second starter (dark rye)
02:56-07:00: my current starter (50/50 wholegrain/white)
07:02-09:50: tips 1 & 2 (foodgeek sourdough calculator, minimise variation)
09:58- 11:37: explaining starter ratios
12:35 – 17:13: how I maintain my sourdough starter (non bake days)
Thank you Good morning guys welcome back to my Series if you're new here I'm Lily and I Run a micro Bakery small business called The least Loaf in South London so Welcome back guys it is a Tuesday Morning I've done all of my bakes all of My deliveries are done today I wanted to Dedicate this video to All About caring For and maintaining your sourdough Starter so when I first started making Sourdough back in 2011. All those many moons ago I found all of This stuff really really confusing and Genuinely Um up until maybe two three years ago I Still found it pretty confusing and it's One thing making maybe one local week to Going up to making 60 loaves a week if Not more So I wanted to really simplify caring For your sourdough starter and just Making it a bit more accessible if you Guys are having trouble with this Um because I know how overly complicated It can get So I've written a few notes and Hopefully you find this useful so the First starter that I ever made was back In 2011 and I believe I made that with Some strong white flower and a few Organic grapes because that's what the Recipe suggested Um because it helps speed up
Fermentation With all of the different bacteria in There and just so you're aware Um I am much more of like a holistic Intuitive kind of sensory bacon and an Overly scientific Baker and some people Really really go into all the details And if you want that maybe go to another Channel maybe go to a different recipe But I am much more about just like using Your senses kind of figuring out what Makes your your starter happy and I'm just going with a few basic Principles my second starter I made at The beginning of Lily's loaf if not a Little bit earlier was a 100 whole grain Dark rye starter and Um I chose Rye because I'd heard from a Few different bakers that it just Generally has more activity more Microbial activity and it's pretty Robust so when it starts to Peak I think It Peaks for a few more hours than say Like a 100 white starter where it will Peak quickly and then decrease again in Activity and my current starter Here that I need to feed now is 50 whole Grain wheat and 50 T80 wild palm flour so it's 100 Wild Farm flower and that just means that it Is grain is grown regeneratively they Prioritize soil health and it's They don't use any herbicides pesticides Or fungicides and they're just generally
Caring for the land anyway That is a side point and we can go into More detail about flour maybe in another Video but this is 50 50 whole grain Wheat and 50 Like strong white flour essentially so Um why I chose to convert to this one is Um actually an error on my part because When I went away in the summer for a Week I asked my sister to look after my Um Rye starter and to keep it alive but I think it was a combination of it was So hot over here in London Last Summer And the starter had kind of been I don't Know it wasn't that happy in the Heat And also my sister found it quite Confusing and so I just decided to shove It in the fridge and then when I came Back It was not in a happy place at all and I Tried to revive it But it wasn't it wasn't looking too good It wasn't smelling too good either so I Decided to start a new and I because I Had quite a big order the next day I had To get some Sour day started from a local Baker down The road which I'm so grateful for and I Decided to go 50 50 because Um because I'm I love my whole grains I'm big into the flavor of whole grains And just generally they are good for you So I'm told Um but I really love like the depth of
Flavor that a little whole grain brings Into bread and just products in general Um and also because I did a starge a Bakery stage at Ursa Minor Bake House in Bali Castle Um and they always did 50 50 whole grain And t80 so I really love their bread I Really admire all of their work that They do there And I thought well this could be a nice Fresh start so that is the reasoning Behind my 50 50. kind of Best of Both um Because I feel like uh White starters Can generally be on the sweetest side And like kind of milkier milkier flavors Whereas the whole grain brings a little More something else like another flavor Profile and that's also why I love dark Rye too Um and I feel like Darkrai Works Especially well when you are mixing it With a strong white bread flour so say If you've got 100 dark rye and then You're mixing it into a predominantly White loaf it just has like a whole Other dimension which is just so good Um and that is also why I use dark rye In my loaves right now Um But From what I've learned over the past few Years is whenever you bring in another Some sort of whole grain Um they do bring in a whole new species
Of bacteria and it can be pretty pretty Lively and active in there so it's just Something to be wary of and some people Even have multiple starters but for me One starter is enough with all of my Other products and things going on so my Two main tips when it comes to sourdough Starters that I would give to anybody Asking me for advice especially if You're scaling up from one loaf to Multiple loaves if you're running micro Bakeries or some sort of Bakery small Bakery business is Um get yourself onto food geek food Starter calculator I use this every week And one Baker friend of mine suggested It to me and it's changed my life it's Amazing Um it really helps you understand Say if you need I don't know x amount of sourdough Starter for your loaves this will figure Out how much you need to feed it and at What ratio as well you want Um so that is like my number one tip in Terms of scaling up your sourdough Starter and the second tip is Something that I learned from another Baker Ian Lowe a piece of bread on Instagram and he said minimize variation And at first I thought okay what does That mean Um but he went on to explain it and it Basically means like
So he will feed his starter twice a day Every day and that means that it's in a Routine and it understands like when It's being fed and it's much more Reliable than say if you were to feed it Once or twice a week but keep it in the Fridge for days when you're not Using it So it completely depends like what sort Of bacon you are if you're baking every Single day if you're baking once a week But I have taken Grains of Um of advice from all sorts of different Bakers and I've kind of tweaked it to Working with my own production schedule So personally What I will do Is I will build this as and when I need It so say if I've got a prep day the Next day I will take out a little bit of This and then I will feed it to either a 133 ratio or a 155 ratio Um and I'll feed it roughly at like half Five in the evening the night before I'll be mixing it at 5am the next day Um and the higher ratios you go the less Sourdough starter you need and the more Flour it will be eating through so it Will Peak at a lower rate so like the Higher the ratio The longer it will take to Peak and that As the baker is quite handy especially If you are running a busy Bakery and if
You're making lots of different products Um on the other hand some Bakers may Come in and feed the starter first thing And then only start mixing it three Hours later I used to do this at the Beginning of Lily's loaf but I found Things were just taking too long and I Wanted to really get the mix Going as Soon as I started my working day because If you think about it it'll take it'll Add three hours on to your day now There are pros and cons of doing this Because If you If you're feeding it at a higher ratio The flavor may not be As good as say if you're Feeding it at a lower ratio so you're Using a younger starter and you fed it On the morning of your mixing it Um but you've got to bear in mind that You know there are so many other things That you need to be getting on with in The day and in an Ideal World I would Probably feed it three hours before Mixing and it would probably make the Bread better and this is something that I learned that Josie Baker who's based Out in San Francisco him and his team Will start their days earlier because They know that it will make the bed Breath the bread better So I guess it just depends what you want So if you're a home Baker then
Absolutely you could do that Um but for me I tend to feed it the Evening before I am mixing it and it Works well for me I realize I'm kind of Jumping all over the place here but Hopefully You're staying with me and hopefully It's clear so when I did my bakery stage At Ursa Minor what they did is Um they always kept back at least a Tablespoon and then they would just feed That tablespoon with however much Starter they needed for their loaves the Next day So that's all they would keep so say if They've mixed they've mixed the starter In a big container They would then take out one tablespoon Of that and put it back in a clean small Container like this and this is a Version of what I do now actually They'll keep that in there and then at The end of the working day they will Feed that in the big container and grow It again Okay so because Um because tomorrow isn't a Sourdough Prep day for me I am just feeding this Just to maintain the starter And what I do is when I Um discarding extra excess sourdough I Will put it in a bowl like this and then I'll use this I'll keep on adding to This for a few days see
And I will use this for Sourdough crackers or and I then sell Them so I call them my zero waste Sourdough crackers and so good I eat Them Eat them I end up not selling loads Because I Because Um but anyway Um As you can see in here I only have about One tablespoon left Of the sourdough starter so I will feed This with About 60 grams or 50 grams of Whole grain flour And then 50 grams of t80 or strong white bread Flour 100 grams of water So that means in in this mix I'll Probably have about 200 and 225 say Um grams of mixture of sourdough mixture So this means that tomorrow I can build from this and I will have Enough sourdough starter for my loaves To mix and prepare on Thursday and say If I've made an error say if I haven't Mixed enough sourdough starter here I Can always build it at a higher ratio And then it will just Peak a little bit Later so I will mix this on Wednesday
Evening At either a 133 Ratio or 155 ratio I'm Also my third number one tip is to use Your hands because the sourdough start To speed off like live bacteria and wild Yeasts they've done scientific Experiments and they often find like the Same bacteria like good bacteria From baker's hands in the sourdough Starter so it actually really likes that So you just have to make sure that it's Well mixed and then I will keep this in The fridge and a few days later I'll Have enough sour day started to be able To make some more crackers with so That is essentially how I care for my Starter I hope that made sense guys Um leave me a comment down below if Anything doesn't make sense but I feel like I've kind of gotten to grips With it and it doesn't have to be overly Complicated if you are a home Baker you Can just like leave it in the fridge for The majority of the week and then I Would give it a couple feeds before You're making your sourdough The um the next day But if you are running a micro Bakery I Would say feed it most days but like for Me for example it gets to Friday night And I won't be doing any prep until Monday So I will put it in the fridge most of The time because
I also want to have a break Um but obviously when I move into a shop I'll probably have a different Production schedule So I'll just have to make it work Um In a way that works for me so I really Hope you guys enjoyed this video if Anything doesn't make sense I will try My best to get back to you and to help Make it clearer for you but it doesn't Have to be complicated and Um You can make your sourdough work for you So yeah so thank you so much for Watching guys and I will see you next Week for another video bye