My Zero Waste Sourdough Starter Strategy

I waste zero time or flour using this sourdough trilogy to fuel my sourdough baking. It's easy and promotes effective scheduling too. Save money and time, what's not to love?

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[JoseGomez-vrmj]

I like this videos and i wanted to give a good tip. Many people refeed very often and discard which is a waste. What I do which is also a 0% waste of flour and be able to bake whenever i want is something i learned from an old german grandma. She had a starter in the fridge that was very dry. She would let the starter ferment till it rises, than she would add a good amount of flour till it was dry. Somewhat like fermenting 100g flour and 100g water. Letting rise. Then adding another 100g flour but no water and then storing it in the fridge. The low hydration, the low temperature and the more concentrated acidic compounds would slow down fermentation to a minimum. Yet still there is consistent food for the microorganisms and the flour is perfectly preserved in this environment. I can go for months not feeding my starter. I just take a little bit and make a levain overnight which is fully active after 12h-18h with a pleasure of sourdough smell that isnt overly acidic. The loaves rise fully and have an amazing flavor. It couldnt get easier and convenient. I can store it in the fridge for up to half a year. Is it all getting used up? Just replenish it with the same method. Game changer.

[fivewattworld]

You…are…the….man! Only baking channel I watch now. Thanks!

[rebalspirit]

I appreciate these various ways of conserving our starter and for feeding it without daily feedings and discards. I've seen a number of methods and developed my own that has been working for me for three years. My starter even survived not being used for 2.5 months as I recovered from surgery last summer.

This is my process. I make sourdough sandwich bread, and my recipe calls for 240 gr of starter for a double loaf batch. So I keep my starter at 250 gr and use 240 gr every week or two to make a batch. After starting my levain, I feed my remains with 120/120 water/ flour and then stick it in the fridge, where it will have a moderate activation response but will quickly go dormant. Then, the night before I'm going to make a batch, I take it out to bring it to room temp, and it activates again. I proceed with my recipe as if I'd fed it the night before.

If I go longer than two weeks between bread batches, my starter develops hooch. I'll stir that back in and proceed the same as always. Because it's in the fridge until use, it develops a mature but not overly sour taste.

When I went to use my starter after recovering from my surgery, the hooch was almost an inch above the starter. The goo was almost clay like and showed zero evidence of life. I used a stick blender to reincorporate the hooch, and then I fed it. The starter was alive. I brought it out of dormancy with a standard feed.

[alef]

I’ve learned with you, months ago, to use the residue left. I’ve never ever had discards siting in my fridge again! Thank you so much! Kind regards from Brazil!

[vanalaphachuasritrakul]

I have been using this technique since I watched your earlier video. It really works well. Some week I will be a bit more generous to my starter and feed them a more than once especially when I want to use the discard to make some 🥞.

I am with you, I won't be going back to the classic way😅...

[Nettkin]

I have always wondered if I could put my jar with just the culture residue in the fridge without feeding it first. What a game changer! Thank you!

[Isabel_fit]

I need to try this!!! I had to retire my sourdough starter after having a baby because the weekly feeds were too much for me. I have my starter dehydrated and I can’t wait to start again! 😊

[urwindj]

Brilliant. I’ve always struggled with the concept of discard. Recently I’ve been happily avoiding that by using your method and the fridge to create a leaven by the weekend, as I’m a weekend baker. Great video and I will definitely dry my Mavis out so I’m covered for an emergency. Thanks fella

[yemeksablonum]

Bu işi çok güzel yapıyorsunuz harikasınız 👌👌🇹🇷

[BTs-helg]

Hi Philip, never thought of start baking with the discard while waiting for the starter to rehydate 😄. With the scraping method, lately I started feeding the leftover right after I took out the amount needed, and leave at room temperature till it started rising a little, put in the fridge. A few hours before baking, I removed to room temperature for it to peak, not sure whether I saw this in one of your videos.

[sylviaramirez]

Thank you for this sounds wonderful less discard! That is why I follow you whether on YouTube or your other like Instagram

[KS-oudu]

Hi Philip, I'm using your no feeding technique since I saw your video a few months ago. Can highly recommend it! Discussed this yesterday with a friend, no need for starter feeding at all. What a waste of food as well. Anyway most of the time I don't even take the starter out of the fridge the night before and just use the cold starter (around 10g left) in the morning to create the new starter (add 50g flour/50g water) for the sourdough. At the moment thr Kitchen is around 24C and it takes approx 6hs, easy-peasy. Usually I bake one or two loafs during the weekend. But I will definitely create a dried starter, just in case, thanks for the tip! Heading to Greece in September and don't want take chances 😅

[chopsddy]

This definitely works.
I agree. It can get as complicated as one wants to make it, but the principle at play here is as basic as life gets. You mix flour and water, wait and life starts . This knowledge is about as old as it gets.

You and Jack have cut through a sea of opinions and notions and shed light on a myriad of paths leading to a good sour loaf under nearly any circumstances.

[opheliahamlet]

Whoa! I've got a freezer full of discard, not from now on! YES!!

[yigallupo]

Ancients used to keep a peace of dough for tomorrows bread

[jeanlukelippi]

Phil, love all your videos and it is huge contribution to me and I'm positive also to everybody else. However, for some reason, this video was sort of not clear to me even though I ve watched it like 3 times but it may well only be about me... :-) thank you and keep doing what you do. I surely appreciate it...

[ayresysarmy]

For any naysayers, ask any pizza place and they do this with they're dough made with commercial yeast - they normally call it carry-over dough.

[richspizzaparty]

The proper names are pate fermentee or pasta di riporto but I just call it old dough.

[thevikingfarmerhd]

I've never tried making sourdough before but I've been watching videos on sourdough for the past few months and I want to start my very first sourdough starter in a few days at the new house I'm moving to. What size glass wreck jars do I buy to start this method? I know how to start and make a sourdough starter but how exactly do i really start one to do your method? And how do I bring down the sour taste and acidic. I'm also interested in where you get your rolling pins and bread baking tools?

[isagrace]

This is the same as pate fermentée right?