Subscribe to thisDo you have any other use for excess sourdough starter?
Do you have any other use for excess sourdough starter aside from giving it to friends?
Yes! When I feed my starter, if I know i'm going to bake a hearth bread within the next 3 days, instead of throwing out the excess, without refreshing or feeding it I simply refrigerate up to 1/3 cup starter (about 2.75 ounces / 75 grams) per loaf.
Just before adding the salt to the dough, I tear the starter into about 8 pieces and knead it into the dough. The starter dough adds extra depth of flavor and moisture, and also speeds the fermentation (rising) slightly even in a dough using the usual amount of instant yeast. (You should also add an extra 1/8 teaspoon plus 1/16th teaspoon of salt to balance this extra amount of dough--less if using less starter dough.) The starter dough serves as a "preferment" making it possible to use the quicker "direct" method of mixing the dough. (Simply combine the flour and yeast from the sponge or biga in the recipe with the flour and yeast for the dough.)
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Hi Rose,
I'm not sure if i've found the right place to post my question but i really need your help and advise.
Have you tried making sourdough brioche or Panettone? I'm desperate to try the 100% sourdough version but couldn't find even a single recipe for this.
And another question - i've left it at te Hector's panettone thread - i have a problem of panettone paper molds go oblong/oval while baking because of the dough extending both - up and to the sides. What am i doing wrong so it "grows" sideways and becomes not quite round? I want to make some panettones for this Easter and would like to go the easy way using those paper molds but that "oval" effect gives me hard time.
Posted by: Mila | March 29, 2007 4:53 PM #
Funny you should ask! I haven't tried this yet, but just yesterday it occurred to me that one could use leftover starter as a base for crackers . . .
Posted by: Patty Brogan | March 29, 2007 8:55 PM #
mila, i could be wrong but my feeling is that sourdough would not work well for an egg rich dough because it takes so many hours to rise and could therefore spoil. does anyone out there have any experience with it? the only thing i've done in this vein is to add old sour dough starter to my challah recipe which is similar to brioche and the flavor and texture really benefits. it's posted on this blog by the way.
Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | March 30, 2007 12:59 AM #
When I first looked into making sourdough starter I read somewhere that it can be used as slug bait - put it in a saucer like people do with beer. I plan to try it on the snails that decimated my clematis last year! Also the original "sourdoughs" used it as glue. Think I'll stay with Aleene's Tacky Glue.
Posted by: Ann Timms | March 30, 2007 9:45 PM #
The discarded portion of starter could be used to make batter for sour dough pancakes. Make up to a pint with milk and flour to form a smooth batter. Add 3 dessert spoons of sugar, two of olive oil and pinch of salt. I also add a handful of rough bran or so and also flax seed powder ground in a coffee grinder. The proportions are not that important Just put in what you feel like, As long as you reguarly breakfast on sourdour pancakes you can keep adding your discarded starter to the batter. Use at least a one litre jug AND KEEP YOU EYE ON IT, the fermetation could be so vigourous as to overflow. I have been using the same batter pot for months, it never goes off due to the protection given to it by the lacto bacilli
Mike, London, England
Posted by: Mike | April 10, 2007 1:35 PM #
I forgot to mention in my last posting that i have discarded my starters. Since I now have a vigorously fermenting pancake batter I just add a few teaspoons (not metal) of that batter to a sponge to start off my bread. Left overnight the sponge is in active ferment by the following morning. I now top up my pancake batter with more flour and milk and add the other ingredients as I feel necessary to keep the correct balance.
Mike, London, England
Posted by: Mike | April 10, 2007 1:52 PM #
Not sure if anyone has mentioned bannetons, wicker basket bread forms. Since they are virtually unobtainable here in england, and what are available are incredibly expensive, I have compromised by using plastic baskets (lined with a linen tea towel).
These can be purchased cheaply at any hardware store in various shapes. as long as they are of lattice construction they will be fine. If the base is solid you could drill holes in it. I have never bothered. I have plastic baskets to make baguette batons and if I make a 'boule' shaped loaf I use a plastic colander lined with a linen tea towel suitably sprinkled with flour to stop the dough sticking to it. Remember at the risk of stating the obvious, these are not for baking in, they are just to give the bread form and support when rising. Tip them out on to your peel, sprinkle with seed (optional) and slash with a sharp knife before placing on a hot baking stone in the oven.
Mike, London, England
Posted by: Mike | April 10, 2007 2:12 PM #
Mike,
Yes, Rose has a section in the Bread Bible about these improvised bannetons. They seem to work fine and are much less expensive. The only problem I have encountered is that my colanders are deeper that I would like, so I have to take extra care when inverting the boule.
Posted by: Matthew | April 10, 2007 2:21 PM #
I saw while perusing the King Arthur Bread site the other day, the suggestion to make crumpets with sourdough starter. Just add salt and soda and cook like pancakes. It worked very well and we ate them with butter and jam! Yummy. I also add it to my pancake and waffle batter or any other bread I happen to be making! It improves just about any bread product.
I use the plastic bannetons I ordered from the San Fransisco Baking Company. They work well, but I have learned to spray them with cooking oil spray and coat with a mixture of rice flour and all purpose flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
Posted by: Vernita | August 12, 2007 11:49 PM #
thanks vernita--i can't wait to try this. now where or where are my crumpet rings!
Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | August 13, 2007 1:57 PM #
Hi
Would you please let me know the recipes of sourdough and starter and soft cottony bun(hamburger).
Thanks
Hashem
Posted by: Hashem | August 17, 2007 2:56 PM #
both are in the bread bible. use the soft sandwich loaf for cottony burger buns.
Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | August 18, 2007 11:29 AM #
Rose - I have a question about using the excess sourdough starter in the hearth bread. You said "if I know i'm going to bake a hearth bread within the next 3 days, instead of throwing out the excess, without refreshing or feeding it I simply refrigerate up to 1/3 cup starter." Do you feed it before you use it in the hearth bread? thanks, Louise
Posted by: Louise | February 2, 2008 7:52 AM #
yes louise, you need to get it up to speed to raise the bread. in bakeries that use starter every day they feed it every day.
Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 3, 2008 10:38 AM #
Rose - now I am officially confused about when to feed a starter to be used in bread dough that has yeast. Earlier today you said that if the recipe has yeast you do not need to feed the starter. If it has been in the refrig for less than a week, you let it sit out of the refrigerator for an hour and then you can use it without feeding or refreshing it. So, why would you refresh starter to be used in hearth bread when it has yeast in both the sponge and the flour mixture? thanks so much for clarifying this issue. Louise
Posted by: Louise | February 4, 2008 2:51 PM #
you don't refresh starter that is used in hearth bread that has the full amount of yeast in it. this is my final comment on the subject. please reread the book or perhaps someone else can offer a better explanation.
Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 4, 2008 2:55 PM #
Last weekend I made sourdough bread and have leftover starter that has been increased 4 times. Is it possible to return it to normal starter status and continue using it? I hate to throw it away.
Also, Rose’s recipe says the starter increased 4 times is good for 20 hours. I want to make some sour dough pumpernickel today. Any way to reactivate and reuse the starter that was previously increased 4 times? Thanks , Louise
Posted by: Louise Allen | March 18, 2008 8:02 AM #
Louise, is this stiff starter?
If you haven't added any salt or anything other than flour and water, then your 4 times increased starter "is" stiff starter, just huge!
Feed it, and keeps refrigerated for 7 days, as stiff starter.
There are several posts regarding freezing starter. Or do like me: make pizza crust out of 100% stiff starter (sprinkle some salt when you line your pizza pan).
Posted by: Hector | March 19, 2008 1:57 PM #
I have extra sourdough starter that has been quadrupled for the sourdough pumpernickel bread. I saw some posts from Hector (I think) that he uses sourdough starter for pizza dough – but I was confused. Is starter the has been quadrupled for a sourdough bread the one that is used for pizza?
Thanks, Louise
Posted by: Louise Allen | April 17, 2008 2:52 PM #
Louise, I have been using for pizza dough the 1 week old stiff starter: the starter that has sat in the fridge for 1 week after feeding.
You can, (and confusing is here), use your quadrupled sourdough starter, or in fact, even earlier. Sourdough that has reached double in volume is called "most active state" and this state is comparable to 1 week of refrigeration.
It will take much less time to stretch and rise your "pizza dough" if using freshly risen than 1 week refrigerated.
Posted by: Hector | April 17, 2008 3:16 PM #
Hi Rose,
I think i just forgot to post on my experiment with sourdough panettone. I did it last Easter and it turned out perfect! The whole process takes 3 days and there are steps where you should feed the starter every 3 hours but not even a grain of yeast in the dough and i was sooo impressed with the result! I got the recipe from my friend in Italy, unfortunately she didn't tell me what boo it was from
Posted by: Mila | April 23, 2008 3:07 PM #
Mila, do share the recipe, if possible!
Posted by: Hector | April 23, 2008 3:54 PM #
Hector, I sure will! I just need some time to translate it from Russian :)
I'm starting the whole process for that Panettone tomorrow so i could bake it Saturday and have it for our Easter which is April 27th :) Russian Easter bread is so much like Panettone but it has no fiori di sicilia, just vanilla and sometimes nutmeg and cardamom.
Posted by: Mila | April 23, 2008 10:03 PM #
Has anyone ever used Rose’s sourdough starter for other recipes. Rose’s stiff starter is 50 grams starter, 50 grams flour and 25 grams water. I want to use it to make Maggie Glezer’s Rustic Garlic Bread. Maggie’s sourdough stiff starter is 10 g starter, 25 g water and 45 grams flour – so the proportions are different. Do you think Rose’s starter would work in Maggie’s recipe? Thanks, Louise
Posted by: Louise Allen | May 9, 2008 6:16 AM #
Louise, I was planning to use a different Glezer recipe. Haven't gotten around to it yet. What I did was take some of my old starter and just started feeding it according to Glezer's instructions. I think after a day or two it would be fairly equivalent. Just my 2 cents, I'm not really sure.
Beth
Posted by: Beth | May 9, 2008 9:41 AM #