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What to do, what to do? Where to put it all?

I recently acquired the Carl's Oregon Trail culture via mail. I created a liquid starter in white and whole wheat flours. Just recently I took the last little bit to try it in rye. That seems to be working as well.

Peter Reinhart (PR)in his Whole Grain Breads (WGB) book creates a 'mother starter' from which he creates a starter. I took some of the whole wheat liquid starter I had and proceeded to make a 'mother starter'. It may be a bit wetter than the one in the book but it is dough like. From this I took a bit to create the starter for the bread. So far, so good.

But now I have my liquid culture that is like batter, the 'mother starter' that is like sticky dough. Both are not in use. Now I have the 'starter' for the bread I'm going to make on Tuesday. All have to be refrigerated. I'm rapidly running out of room in the fridge.

Can I use some of this mother starter in regular (not sourdough) bread? I normally make a light whole wheat bread for sandwiches. Can the 'mother starter' be used in it?

I work most days of the week and sourdough has always been a challenge on my schedule. I'll see what other trouble I can get into with this WBG.
Mike

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GinaG
  • Reply by GinaG on January 16, 2012 at 2:50 am
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Mike,

Congratulations to you on your Mother! And the Oregon Trail Starter; I love Carl's story, it's great.

I think I may have mentioned to you in another post WWW.Northwestsourdough.com, am I right? I mention it again because the author has great information, advice and recipes pertaining to use of a mother starter. I have been contemplating using one myself--professional bread-makers use it more frequently (in fact, KAF sends a piece of theirs when people buy starter from them)...A mother starter makes superior bread.

To answer your question about the wheat bread,
yes, you certainly can make a wheat sandwich bread with sourdough starter or the mother. It won't be exactly the same loaf, but it can be done.

If it's a recipe calling for mostly wheat flour and commercial yeast, converting it to a wild yeast leavened bread may require some vital wheat gluten to help her lift.

Please let us know your progress and post back with questions.
I'm sure you'll get more feedback--let's hope!
Good luck,
GinaG.

--jej
  • Reply by --jej on January 16, 2012 at 6:57 am
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Hi Mike! If you lived a bit closer, I'd loan you a little corner of my garage. One of the cool things about living in the northlands is using the garage when room in the fridge becomes scarce! LOL

Your work with the starters looks wonderful. Congratulations on your progress.

pmiker
  • Reply by pmiker on January 16, 2012 at 7:21 am
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Ouch, I don't do cold well. I grab a jacket when the gauge drops below 70F. It may have been 70 here yesterday afternoon.

I have a secondary refrigerator, a compact one. The shelves are too short for starter jars. I'll need to get some smaller ones. Right now the starter cultures, wheat, white and rye, are each in 1L jars. Half liter or pint jars might work better for these. They only contain about a cup each. The mother starter is in a medium sized (2.5 qt) bowl.

I have a ww wild yeast starter and a soaker on my counter for a 100% whole wheat loaf tomorrow. I saw a recipe for a transitional loaf that is less than 100% whole wheat. I may put the starter and soaker together this evening for a tomorrow bake of it as well. Then I can see which I like better.

I'll check the link. I tried sourdough a year or so ago. I remember it being hard to coordinate and find room for.