My first sourdough loaf

[Chipfo]

So not to hijack Donna's thread for class idea's, I am posting this thread as a continuance of our discusion in another thread. I am an experienced yeast bread maker but I am making my first sourdough bread today using one of Donna's starters (Bahrain starter).

I activated the starter yesterday morning, by that evening it had become very active (bubbly), I added the second addition of flour and water last night, it started to get bubbly within a couple of hours and is now (this morning) ready for the third addition of flour and water. I will be making bread this afternoon.

My question is: After I use whatever starter I need to make the bread, do I pour out all but 1/2 cup of the starter and add another cup of flour and cup of water and immediately stick in the frig? And - When I want to make another loaf, say next week, do I just use it out of the fridg or do I need to add flour and water and let it sit out until bubbly again?

[Chipfo]

My starter is nice and bubbly, with a strong sourdough scent, if you remove the lid and smell it almost takes your breath away, I will be making the bread very soon, smells like it going to be very good!

[Chipfo]

I have made the dough and it is rising nicely, I kneaded it for around 10 minutes and everything is looking good so far, it has been 1 1/2 hours into the rising and it is already about 1 inch over the top of the pan.

I reserved 1 cup of the starter, washed the container and put the starter back in and added 1 cup each of flour and water then stuck it in the fridg.

This Bahrain is a strong yeast, I haven't had a problem yet.

[Donna M.]

Yay, Chip! Sounds like it is going great. Has that loaf come out of the oven yet?

I have been gone all day doing the family Easter thing and I just got home. It doesn't appear that you ran into any stumbling blocks.

Yes, after dumping out the excess starter you feed it like you said you did. I usually only feed 1/2 cup, but 1 cup is fine too. Then you should let it sit out on the counter for 30 to 45 minutes to start bubbling before you put it back in the fridge.

[Chipfo]

The loaf came out great! (Your Basic Sourdough Bread recipe #34753 ) Great taste, good texture and crust. My loaf came out looking like the pictures that Marg posted. That is a strong culture you have going there (and now me too) it didn't miss a beat, ahead of schedule most of the time. I cut off an end slice while still warm and spread butter on it.....Heaven. Thankyou so much for sharing this with me, I am willing to bet it is only going to get better with age, can't wait to bake some for family and friends, it is already in demand and all I did was mention it.

I did stick the starter back in the fridge directly after feeding but it will be next weekend before I will get a chance to use it again, as long as I let it proof before I use it then it should be ok right? Or should I pull it out tomorrow and let it proof a little and put it back?

Thanks again Donna, this means a lot to me, I would have got back sooner but I was watching a movie and eating your bread

[Donna M.]

Glad it turned out good for you, Chip! I thought maybe you ate so much bread that you couldn't get up off the couch or something.

The starter will be fine as you fed it and put it in the fridge. Starters are really very resilient and flexible. It takes a lot of neglect to kill them. Believe it or not, I actually left the Bahrain starter shoved in a back corner of my fridge for a year without feeding it (NOT recommended). I pulled it out a month ago and since it had no mold or off-color I decided to feed it and see what would happen. The first day it did nothing. I fed it that night before retiring and the next morning it had expanded with such force that it had blown the top of the lid up like a balloon! I was so impressed that I baked a loaf of bread with it and it was the best tasting loaf that I have made yet. I now have a great respect for the Bahrain starter that I neglected to the point of beyond starvation

[CarrolJ]

I also baked my first loaf of Bahrain bread recently. I was surprised at it's activity so quickly as well. Especially since it was a new reconstituted starter from flakes Donna sent me.

It had a wonderful texture and my husband really enjoyed it too.

Before I started making wild yeast starter bread, my DH supposedly hated sourdough bread. No more! He loves what I have been making.

I'm one of those persons who also loves the extra sour loaves I used to buy in San Jose, California when I lived there many years ago. Soon I will experiment with some citric acid that a sweet friend shared with me to see if I can duplicate that taste for an occasional treat just for me!