sourdough starter, now what?

Great!  I love my starter.  Here is some of what I have learned.  

You will I'll get a ton of advice. Most of it will work. Relax this is easy...

you will observe some bubbles in the next day or two, that is bacterial not yeast (fungus). Ignore them. 

I like to feed red everyday for two to three weeks 1:1:1 filtered water:organic whole grain flour: starter. Not the only way, just my way. 

Keep in trucking!  

@gerhardk sent me my starter and included a recipe. I'm in the US for work but I can send that to you Friday. I think it was 1 cup of starter to 500 grams of flour to make a sponge and then use that but I don't recall for sure.
ive made a few loaves and they have been good but I have a lot to learn just on basic baking so I haven't posted here yet. 

@SciAggie offered me some tremendous tips a while ago. Hopefully he will chime in. 

Nice looking loaf!!

"Flour Water Salt Yeast" by Ken Forkish is a great resource.  I also really like "Classic Sourdoughs - A Home Baker's Handbook" by Ed Wood.

@simcan that's a beauty! I'm having trouble getting good oven spring, but I think I may be kneading the dough too much in the mixer .

You've been given some great advice. One of the things I've learned is that you can bend your recipe to suit your daily schedule. @jtcBoynton @caliking and @Simcan gave great advice and sound recipes. I'll offer up basically what I do as an alternative; mainly it will give you timing alternatives.

Feeding the starter:
I use an electric balance and weigh my ingredients. I'll weigh out 150 grams of all purpose flower. I'm using Gold Medal brand because that's what's available locally. I measure into that 150 grams of purified, non-chlorinated bottled water. To that I add 150 grams of starter out of the refrigerator. I mix it up well and let it sit out in the kitchen for a few hours - I don't stress over how long. When I can see some activity I put the starter in the refrigerator. 

Making bread:
It's currently about a three day (easy) process to make bread.

Day 1:
before I go to bed at night I pull the starter from the refrigerator. Mix 150 g water, 150 g flour, and 150 g of starter. I put it in a small bowl covered in plastic wrap and leave on the kitchen counter. Put the remaining starter back in the fridge (feed it separately when you feel like it). I use room temperature water. 

Day 2:
Early AM before work (usually 5:30 for me) I repeat the feeding of the starter - I think it's normally called a leaven now that we're going to bake with it). Same 150, 150, 150 process. I throw out the excess from the first feeding. 
Cover it and leave ot on the counter while at work. 

After I get home from work (usually 5:30ish)
Before I describe my process let me talk about my loaf. I have found that using about 430 grams of flour makes a loaf that my wife and I will eat before it goes stale. I use a baker's percentage based on that amount of flour. 

Back to mixing: I mix 100 grams of King Arthur 100% organic whole wheat flour with 330 grams of King Arthur bread flour for a total flour mass of 430 grams. 
I use a 75% hydration; I'm not comfortable with more hydration at this point. 

Ok - I calculate how much water is 5%. Based on 430 g flour that's 22 grams of water. That leaves 300 grams of water - with me?
I add 300 grams of water at about 90 degrees F to the 430 grams of flour. Mix this roughly and let it rest an hour. This is the autolyse. 

After one hour I add 1 tsp of salt, 90 grams of leaven (that's a little over 20%) and the reserved 22 grams of room temp water. Work this all together well. Trevor J Wilson has a good YouTube for how to mix relatively wet dough - worth watching. 

After the dough comes together I place it in a clean plastic tub for the bulk rise. I put the dough somewhere that I can keep about 80 degrees. Right now, I'm using a spare bathroom with a space heater, lol. 

I turn the dough every thirty minutes for 4 turns. Then I let it rise undisturbed for 2-3 more hours. I just look for it to be active and "fluffy" - maybe doubled in volume. 

At this point I turn the dough out (unfloured) onto my wood cutting board. I use a bench knife to preshape the dough. TJ Wilson has another good video for that. I then let the dough rest for thirty minutes. 

After the bench rest I'll lightly flour and shape the dough  - see further videos. After shaping I'll leave the dough on the board for a few (< 5) minutes for the bottom seal to close. Then I place the dough in a linen lined banneton dusted with 50/50 mix of rice flour and regular flour (very important) to keep it from sticking to the linen. I put the banneton full of dough in a 2 gallon Ziploc and put it in the refrigerator. If my math is right it's time for bed now...

Day3:
When I get home from work I turn the oven on to 475 degrees. My pizza stone and ceramic cloche are in the oven. I give it a full hour to heat thoroughly. When ready, turn the dough out onto the pizza stone, slash the dough and cover with your cloche or DO. Bake 20 minutes and remove the cover. I have been reducing the oven temp to 425 at this point. Bake another 20 minutes or so until nicely browned. 

Remove to a cooling rack and let the bread cool completely before cutting. 

I hope this helps, 

I would wait for atleast 2 weeks of life before using.  After five days you would be better off using commercial yeast. 

bigalsworth said:

bigbadben said:

I would wait for atleast 2 weeks of life before using.  After five days you would be better off using commercial yeast. 

okay, just to clarify, two weeks on the counter with feedings everyday?  or should I throw in the the fridge sooner than that?

I would say two weeks in counter feeding everyday. Yours might be ready a few days before or after 14 days, but you will have to see how much rise you are getting 12,18, and 24 hrs after feeding. 

bigalsworth said:

Okay guys I think I'm blowing it.  I think I ruined my first starter so I turfed it and started a new one.  I changed containers that I am making it is which is a wide mouth Mason jar.  

I am following the King Arthur website and the first couple days things seem to be going super good, I got bubbling after the first day and after the first feeding it doubles in size.  After that I get tons of bubbling but no more doubling in size after a feeding, I also get some water separation but from what I understand that isn't a bad thing.  The smell also smells salty like homemade playdough, you know the stuff that is just a mixture of flour and salt.

It has been 5 days now and I decided to try @jtcBoynton recipe with the starter I would discard.  I followed his instructions but my dough didn't double overnight, it expanded some but not much.  I baked it anyway and while it doesn't taste bad it just doesn't taste like what I would recognize as sour dough.  It maybe had a slight tangy taste that seems like the start of what should be sourdough.

One question I have is the King Arthur website says to measure out 4oz of starter then add 4 oz flour and 4 oz water.  Should I be removing all my starter from the jar, measuring it out, clean my jar and then start with a clean jar?  I have not been doing that, I have just spooned out until I have what should be 4 oz of starter left and then adding the feed.

I also wonder if the flour I use maybe wrong?  I use Robinhood bread flour, and day used Robinhood whole wheat for my day one starter.

I use wide mouth mason jars as well.  Bubbling is an indication of active culture.  The doubling in size is a function of the air bubbles being trapped in the culture.  The hydration levels of the culture go a long way in determining how much rise you get.  With higher hydration, you will get less rise even though the culture is active (more air bubbles escape rather than being trapped).  I keep my starter near 100% hydration so I don't get as much rise.  You don't need to go to a clean jar every time you use your starter.

Sourdough means using a natural starter as opposed to using commercial yeast.  Natural starters are a culture of yeast and bacteria. The bacteria are what produce the tangy flavors.  The balance between the bacteria and yeast and the specific bacteria influence the amount of sourness you get.  How you proof the loaf will also influence the taste profile.  Advice from Ed Wood (Classic Sourdoughs - A Home Baker's Handbook):

• Proof at room temperature for good flavor and even leavening but mild sourness.
• Proof at higher temperature (85-90ºF) for more sour loaf with good flavor but decreased leavening.
• Proof at room temperature for first hour and then raise temperature to 90ºF for much more sour with only slightly lower leavening.

Most sourdoughs will not have the leavening capacity as commercial yeasts. 
The taste profiles are influenced by the different bacteria and yeast in your starter.  The mix in your starter is primarily determined by the strains of bacteria and yeast that came attached to the whole wheat flour you start with.  This will vary based on the source of the wheat used to make the flour.  You can override this randomness by using a starter from a commercial source or getting some from a friend who has a good culture.  Also remember that "room temperature" is a term of art that means different thing to different people.  Culturing your starter at 65º will get a different bacteria/yeast balance than culturing at 75º.