My Sourdough Journey: Part 1 - Liquid Levain Starter

I've tried numerous time to bake with sourdough, and have definitely failed more than I've succeeded. In Jakarta, the most widely available flour was made by one company that produces three types of flour: bleached (and obviously bromated) AP flour, bleached bread flour, and bleached cake flour. In one occasion a batch of King Arthur's Flour materialized in a shelf of Grand Lucky supermarket in South Jakarta and it was like seeing a ghost. Price was ridiculous, and therefore I could not justify a purchase just for experiments. 

So I tried several ways in solving the flour problem by making starters using fresh apple juice. My starter did grow, but not flourish. And don't get me started about creating a healthy temperature for my starter. Jakarta's temperature averages in 80 to 90 F, so there's no question of storing the starter on the countertop. At least not to my judgment. But this also means I can not rely and follow 90% of the guides and recipes online or on print, which was all created by people living in non-humid and hotter than hell places.

I did successfully make a rustic bread using a dutch oven, but only by jacking up the dough with added commercial yeast. I made the mistake of trying to make an enriched dough using ONLY my starter, and it fell short. It's edible. But I think most of it is still the freezer back in Jakarta. lol

So moving to Omaha, Nebraska changed everything. I now have access to a variety of flours, (even from Walmart!) and most importantly, a friendly room temperature. Although currently, it gets a little too cold in the house due to a record-high prolonged winter. yikes.

So the first starter I made was a Liquid Levain from Daniel Leader's 'Local Bread' book (which is a great book, by the way) that I borrowed from Ralston's awesome local library.

According to Barber, the Liquid Levain method itself was popularized by Eric Kaiser in the 90s. Supposedly, with higher liquid content, fermentation is faster and measuring is easier. And so I realized that almost every recipe on the internet out there IS liquid starter, because most of those that share these recipes are indeed home bakers. But, anyways, here is the original recipe: 

Liquid Levain Starter 

*percentage denotes baker's percentage*

160 gr spring water (70-78 F)  - 60%

25 grams Unbleached All Purpose Flour - 50%

25 grams Rye Flour - 50%

Let stand for 24 hour (stir every 8 hours) and feed with below ingredients for two to 6 more days in a row - depends how fast your starter activates: 

65 grams of water - 130%

50 grams of unbleached AP flour  - 100% 

When it's 'ripe', it's time to refresh the starter: 

Take ONLY 50 grams of your starter. (yes, I know, it's a waste. That's why you want to pray your starter works quick. If not, you can always look for sourdough discard recipes) 

mix with:

65 grams of water and 

50 grams flour, as above.

There's no smell more wonderful than a fully ripe sourdough smell

The first recipe I tried using this starter was the Sourdough baguette from the same book, but it was a flop because I think my oven was not hot enough, and I had misjudged the strength of my starter.

After feeding it once more, this time using rye flour and with higher flour percentage as to replicate stiff rye sourdough starter asked in the Spelt Bread recipe (to follow), which turned well.

Anyways, after reading some more resources and feeding it once a week for about 3 weeks, I think I realized I have been overthinking my starter a little bit; Dan Leader's book is very thorough and detailed, but (like with everything else) his way is not the only way. My only complaint would be that he didn't tell you how to maintain your starter if you only want to keep just a little bit of starter, instead of nearly 200 grams at all times. That after discarding 150 grams too!

Yes, discard. Every time you're going to bake.

I really don't like discarding anything. At first, I followed all his steps to the T and only try to solve this issue by using the discard into other baked goods. BUT THIS MEANS MAKING MORE BAKED GOODS. The whole idea is not to make more stuff. (and yes I have been giving away bread to my neighbor and family members but really that's beside the point)

So.. after too much reading and stopping at Elaine Boddy's blog and hearing Jack Sturgess explanation, I decided to keep as little starter as possible to keep it healthy. (Because it's better to keep a small amount of starter you frequently feed than keep a lot that you rarely feed).

For now, I still have around 300 grams of starter that's healthy, albeit dormant. So every time I want to bake,  I will take a little bit to make as much as I need, and mix it with enough flour and water. Enough is usually: equal parts of water and flour. So for example, if I need 150 grams of fed starter, I will mix 50 grams of starter with 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. (This is what they call the 1:1:1 feeding ratio)

I am going to do this until I have just about 100 gram of starter. After which point, I will follow Elaine's method of only keeping that much at all times.

I'll see you next time with my success (and failed) sourdough bakes.