Winter food projects

one last bit of info, i found this guy to be fairly thorough and helpful:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com

his 'best sourdough recipe' is what i used as a base and have modified slightly based on my own tastes.

It's super hard to kill your starter. If you're gonna be traveling or neglecting it, feed it, and stick it in the fridge.
I just revived my started that has been in my fridge for a year and totally neglected. Still rips once I got it fed!

one last bit of info, i found this guy to be fairly thorough and helpful:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com

his 'best sourdough recipe' is what i used as a base and have modified slightly based on my own tastes.

It's super hard to kill your starter. If you're gonna be traveling or neglecting it, feed it, and stick it in the fridge.
I just revived my started that has been in my fridge for a year and totally neglected. Still rips once I got it fed!

Cool! What have you changed in the recipe, and what was the resulting effect?

mostly the whole wheat proportions...i can't remember exactly what my ratio is, i've got it written down somewhere...
using local flour (central milling).
hydration content varies...but usually try to get at least 80%.

mostly the whole wheat proportions...i can't remember exactly what my ratio is, i've got it written down somewhere...
using local flour (central milling).
hydration content varies...but usually try to get at least 80%.

Thanks Mike.  Please share when you find your note.

just checked my notes...so i shoot for almost 15% whole wheat flour.

He's got it at 10%. I've found that the extra 5% gives it just the right amount of extra kick in body and flavor.
I've gone back and had sourdoughs that were either straight white flour or even the 10% and have found them a bit boring.
Your own tastes may vary...i'd say experiment and figure out what works best for you.
If you don't have a scale, get one. They're pretty cheap and make all the difference in terms of consistency and experimentation.
i got this one, was 10 bucks cheaper 4 years ago : https://www.amazon.com/Escali-Countertop-Nutrition-15-Pound-Capacity/dp/B0051ABGG6

Thanks for your notes and the link Mike.  I will buy the scale as your suggestion.

I almost got into sourdough with the rest of the bandwagon at the start of the pandemic and bread making has always called to me. Living in a tiny, cold apartment in SF with plenty of really good crusty sourdough within 2 blocks walking distance kept me from making the jump.  This thread has revived the desire...  and now I have the space... and it seems we live in a crusty bread desert now.

The question now is do I start a starter from scratch or get someone's discard and go from there?  I'm not new to working with yeast -- I used to harvest and propagate various strains of proprietary brewers yeast and step them up for brewing beer -- so I think I'd do fine starting from scratch, but I'll yield to the experts here.

If you want some of my starter I can send you some. It will take a few weeks for me to prepare it. I dry it out and send it in an envelope in the mail.

A starter made in your own environment will do best. A great reference for all things bread and pizza is "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast" by Ken Forkish

Some say a starter from elsewhere will anyways adapt to the local environs, the strongest yeast strains surviving.

-Allen

If you want some of my starter I can send you some. It will take a few weeks for me to prepare it. I dry it out and send it in an envelope in the mail.

I’m only a few days into reviving the starter you sent me.  So far, so good, more active than I thought it would be.  Thanks again, and I’ll report back when I start using it.

-Allen

If you want some of my starter I can send you some. It will take a few weeks for me to prepare it. I dry it out and send it in an envelope in the mail.

I appreciate the offer and all the advice from everyone in this thread.  I think I'm gonna have a go at starting fresh because I have a penchant for doing things the hard way.

If you want some of my starter I can send you some. It will take a few weeks for me to prepare it. I dry it out and send it in an envelope in the mail.

I appreciate the offer and all the advice from everyone in this thread.  I think I'm gonna have a go at starting fresh because I have a penchant for doing things the hard way.

It’s not hard.  Just be diligent for 2 weeks.

-Allen

I almost got into sourdough with the rest of the bandwagon at the start of the pandemic and bread making has always called to me. Living in a tiny, cold apartment in SF with plenty of really good crusty sourdough within 2 blocks walking distance kept me from making the jump.  This thread has revived the desire...  and now I have the space... and it seems we live in a crusty bread desert now.

The question now is do I start a starter from scratch or get someone's discard and go from there?  I'm not new to working with yeast -- I used to harvest and propagate various strains of proprietary brewers yeast and step them up for brewing beer -- so I think I'd do fine starting from scratch, but I'll yield to the experts here.

all you really need is some nice whole wheat or rye flour and water. Just gotta feed it every day till you get it going and it stabilizes. The more hearty the flour (i.e. whole wheat, rye, etc). the easier it will be. general all purpose is pretty sterile and won't have as much yeast built in, so to speak.
No. 1 rule: Good bread comes from good flour. 
As polepole said, just gotta be diligent about feeding for about 1-2 weeks, and you should have some good starter.

For starter feeding, i generally feed 1:1 ratio of water and flour in grams.
What I found less annoying is if you use a bigger jar, you don't have to do the whole discard thing as much. Then just add water and flour to it. The bigger jar will give you more time before you have to discard (i.e. bake something). I typically save discard in the fridge in a separate container for use in recipes. Then if you're going to do a proper bake, start building it up during the week or whatever till you get a healthy amount.

Once you have some starter going and you discard or want to propagate...use a 1:1:1 mix - i.e. 50 g starter, 50 g water, 50 g flour. Then feed accordingly. I usually try to keep it small so i can get more feedings into a jar before i have to discard, i.e. like 20g or 25g...cause i'm lazy. If you leave it out, it'll need feeding more often (i.e. warmer temps will promote activity), usually fed once every 12 hrs or so. You can do 1 per 24 hours too...yeast is pretty resilient.

A starter made in your own environment will do best. A great reference for all things bread and pizza is "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast" by Ken Forkish

definitely some OG shit 
another one is Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson

Thanks everyone here for sharing your knowledge and tips.  Will post pictures when I successfully bake my first sourdough bread.