This playbook documents how you should feed your starter. It assumes you have a starter already.

State

Note

Using a transparent container to store your starter makes it easier to know how active your starter is.

There is a gradient of which how hungry/active your starter is, and it can usually be gauged by the volume that your starter takes up.

Not fed in a while: Not bubbly, and may have a clear fluid on top (referred to as hooch). This fluid smells like alcohol and is a byproduct of fermentation. A build-up of this fluid usually indicates that your starter needs to be fed. Pour it out before the next feeding. This will be the smallest in volume it can be.

Bread making log, Dec 30. I made 2 loaves, so this will be two parts.

Loaf 1

• Fed starter 1:1:1 at 10pm, left at RT
  • 200g ea
• Used starter around 11:30am
  • starter more than doubled, overfilled
• Mixed in water and dough first
• Then incorporated the starter
• Then added salt
• Poor mixture, it was quite lumpy
• did not pass windowpane test, dough was not airy
• Dough still sticky after last stretch and fold, shaped into a ball
• waited 10-15 mins
• Put into banneton
• Fridge overnight
• Preheat both dutch ovens no lid
• Put in oven 10:40am
• Did not take out to score until preheated
• did not shape, boule was firm and skin was dry
• A lot more expansion
• Expansion potentially caused crusting to not be as burned
  • This could also be conflated with 19 mins lid off
• Scoring went too far along the sides, reduce length of cross. Depth was slightly deep too.

Loaf 2

• 1:1:1 on stbl starter
  • 120g
• Used starter around 7pm, last fed 10pm but in fridge. Taken out around 2/3pm (5 hour warm up)
• Mixed all together, started with 250g (1.5 cup) water — added another 1/4 as needed
• did not pass windowpane test, was a bit dry
• Left in oven to proof on “proof” setting
• Stretch and fold focused on not ripping the dough
• Much more stretchy than earlier one after stretch and fold.
• Put in oven 10:40am
• Did not take out to score until preheated
• did not shape, boule was firm and skin was dry
• A lot more expansion
• Expansion potentially caused crusting to not be as burned
  • This could also be conflated with 19 mins lid off
• Scoring went too far along the sides, reduce length of cross. Depth was slightly deep too.

Reference Recipe: King Arthur no knead

Supplemental Videos Watched:

• Bake the Perfect Sourdough Bread: A Step-by-Step Guide (Natashas Kitchen)
• Make Beautiful Sourdough | NYTimes

This playbook documents the process needed to create a sourdough from your starter in as much detail as possible.

Prologue

• Make sure the sourdough starter is very active (it was fed recently)
  • If refrigerated, feed it a bit and leave it up to 2 hours in room temperature.

Recipe

• 600g bread flour into bowl
• 18g salt (3% of flour weight) into bowl
• 227g (1 cup) sourdough starter into bowl
• 397g of lukewarm water
• Mix well
• Bulk Fermentation:
  • Set dough in room temperature and wait for an hour
    • Modification: Set dough in oven for warmer environment. If there is a “proof” setting, this can be used.
    • Windowpane test: Dough should be stretchy enough allow you to create a windowpane
  • Stretch and fold, wait for an hour
    • You can use water to lubricate; Be gentle with the dough
  • Stretch and fold, wait for an hour
  • Stretch and fold;
  • (experimental addition) This may lead to bigger air pockets.
    • Bulk rise 3 hrs
    • 30 mins relax
• Transfer dough to floured mat, and shape by folding it in
  • Then also cup sides to get a round shape.
• Cold Fermentation
  • Once shaped, flour bread basket (with cloth or without, optional) with bread flour, or rice flour if available
  • Place dough seam side up into basket
  • Cover with a lid and place in fridge for 8 hours, but we can maximize for more.
• Once dough is ready
  • Place a tray at the bottom of the oven. This helps reduce intensity of heat on the bottom of the bread, leading to less browning.
  • Put dutch oven (lid off) into oven.
    • Lid can be put on during the preheat, but it is a bit easier to put the lid on afterwards (since you’ll have to take it off when you put the bread in).
  • Preheat oven to 450 F.
• Once oven is preheated
  • Take sourdough out of fridge.
  • Score sourdough. Make sure to do enough such that it has room to expand.
  • Take dutch oven out
    • Sprinkle generous amounts of flour on the bottom
    • Put dough in.
  • Put dutch oven back in, wait for 35 mins @ 450 F
  • Lid off 20 mins @ 450 F
    • The oven I currently use runs a bit cooler, so I do 25 mins lid off.
• Once bread is baked, leave on cooling tray to cool, for approximately 1 hour.

Other Helpful Notes

• If the bottom of your bread is a bit dark, you can place a tray under your dutch oven when baking to help deflect some heat from the bottom.
• To achieve a softer crust, place some water in the oven when you take the lid off.
  • The exact quantity was unknown, my sources say it was “a bit from the kettle”.

Metadata

Changelog

• 2024-12-26: Initial Version
• 2024-12-30: Separated bulk fermentation and cold fermentation. Also removed experiment to bring dough temp up after cold fermentation.
• 2025-01-09: Updated instructions to recommend lid off when preheating the dutch oven.
• 2025-04-09: Added a section for some more modifications.

Bread making log, Dec 27

• Starter successfully doubled in size 2 hours after feeding.
• Required amt. in recipe called for about half
• Fed around 60g of flour and water (Resultant wt: 500g). Split into two jars, approximately 250g each.
• Original in plastic container (nightly release), and new fork in glass jar (stable, weekly feeding)
• Plastic container will be placed in fridge due to production freeze lasting Sat - Sun (inclusive).
• Glass jar will be placed in fridge, to be fed around 1 January (6 days from now).
• Will attempt to not stretch too much to avoid breaking bubbles (in response to dough being a bit dense)
• Did not transfer to clean bowl after last stretch and fold
• Taken out 10 hours after resting
• shaped bread by stretching and folding a bit
• Placed into clean floured bowl and put in oven on “proof” for 1:30, lid on
  • Dough was more bubbly than last time
  • Dough stuck to walls of the bowl, added flour to compensate
• Bake time good, think I needed more scoring
  • AI: Make sure scores are long so they can expand
• Seasoned dutch oven with olive oil; Very smoky after preheat.
  • AI: After preheat, make sure to take dutch oven lid off under range hood. Also, olive oil is not low smoke point.
• Puffier after baked