Stiff Sourdough Starter (probably the best way to make bread)

A stiff sourdough starter is hands down the best method to take your sourdough game to the next level. You will learn how to make a stiff starter and why a stiff starter might be better in most cases when trying to make sourdough bread.

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:18 The solution
1:34 Whiteboard
3:00 The solution
3:42 Making the starter
5:34 Bread recipe
7:20 Starter maintenance
8:03 A note on "tang"

#bread #sourdough

[lsieu]

Henrick, I've been following your journey for the past year, and I love how you have run the complete gambit from super watery to this new stiff starter method. For a lazy guy, you've achieved a Sourdough knowledge anthology! Thank you!

[grad]

Dear Hendrick, so glad I came across you channel. The level of detail, the experiments, the clear step by step instruction and the humor make your channel exceptional. Thank you so much for all your hard work

[grannygood-law]

This really works!! One of my regular customers texted me saying that my "other" bread was "like steak" (and she loved it), but this week's bread made with the stiff starter was lighter "like bread", she said. My kitchen here in central Texas is quite warm, so not sure if it was due to the ambient temp or the starter, but it proofed fast and resulted in a super light dough.

[erniejofo]

I will be trying a stiff starter. My dad made sour dough bread all my life. I can't believe we never talked about it because I took it so for granted. He was a cook for the sheepherders in northern Arizona and New Mexico for 17 years so he had cooking out in the country down to an art everything was cooked underground in cast iron. I so regret not asking more questions because those secrets are gone from me forever. I've been working with sourdough for about 3 months now and have only had a couple of successes. My starter's name is Pedro, in other words, Peter Pan, pan is the Spanish word for bread and Pedro is the Spanish word for peter, thus Pedro.🤓

[bluebird]

Recently found your channel! As an electrical engineer, finding relaxation with bread- making in my kitchen, I absolutely luv your analytical style! Thanks to all your pointers I am finally seeing some success with rise and crumb, thank you so much! You are a terrific teacher. THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!
I knew I shared many things in common with my many Germans friends, my Leica, my Eurasier puppy, and now its my sourdough! Hooked on your channel- keep up your great work! Cheers!👍🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

[chrisdirchalidis]

Tried the stiff starter and loved it!
The result was way more spring than my regular sourdough method and it was much easier to work with as it was not at all sticky.
Thank you very much.

[yamakarasu]

I'm still experimenting with my stiff starter, and it has been a good experience so far! My last sourdough burger buns with stiff starter turned out incredible. They exploded in size after shaping. I never had such huge fluffy and delicious buns. I'm looking forward to my next bake, which I think might be the recipe in this video. Thank you and may the gluten be with you 😘

[daviddawson]

Love your videos. A couple of thoughts to thank you. Hope they prove of interest and value. 1. When scoring proofed bread prior to baking - dip the sharp thin blade in olive oil to lubricate it. It reduces the potential of tearing the dough. 2. Try short autolysis times - 1 to 30 minutes. Less destruction of gluten network, more improved taste than longer times.

[agentlx]

I just want to say I love watching your videos and enjoy all the information you provide! I just started my sourdough journey back in January this year and it blows my mind at how much I'm still learning about the whole process! I'm very intrigued by the stiff starter and am probably going to start converting some of my 100% hydration starter into a stiff starter tonight to start experimenting with it! Thank you for all the research you've done (along with your experiments) and for sharing it with us!

[taximan]

I have two starters one is regular sour starter and the other has no sourness at all and i use them together 50/50. So it's fluffy and tasty. And i can increase one of them to have either more sourness or less.

[amarijae]

Love this! I myself stick with a 100% hydration starter, simply because I don’t want to choose between oven spring and sourness 😋

[pinkfinproduction]

I gave up making sourdough bread in the past because it came out flat. Now I know why😃😃. Thank you for sharing this knowledge. Right now, I am on day one of stiff starter process. Wish me luck!!!

[mkrstn]

I actually started to use the stiff starter from when I first watched your yeast vs sour vs mild video and i super love my bread ever since! The tang that it gives is really right for me. I dont personally like too sour bread and it's especially hard before since it's easy to mess up the fermentation when living in a hotter climate. Using the stiff starter is truly a game changer! (I super love your videos and Ive probably watched your videos at least 10 times per video for reference 😂) Much love and greetings from singapore!

[AJansenNL]

Ah! Now I understand why my new starter works so well. It's stiffer than my previous one. It doesn't stick (yeah!), and has an excellent rise. And so yummy.

[solangetinnerello]

The best solution ever! I was tired to maintain a liquid starter and also the waste of flour it’s insane.!. I decided to give a try to the stiff starter and my relationship with sourdough starter changed for good.
The Bread Code is the best resource to learn about sourdough.
Danke schön!

[GregPerkins]

I made 2 loafs, one with my regular starter and the other with my first stiff starter. I did the stiff first, I kept your basic recipe as close as I could, 80% hydration using white bread flour and whole wheat BF. The day was hot, 77 (25) in the house, very unusual for April in upstate NY. They both fermented nicely with the regular sourdough inflating more than the stiff even though it was started an hour later. The most surprising thing is the ph of the stiff was much lower at time of baking, 4.05 vs 4.2. The spring was great, but I bungled the scoring on the regular starter loaf, so it isn't very symmetrical.

Thanks for all the experiments you do! I usually make 2 loaves at a time since my oven will fit 2 dutch ovens so I can do my own experiments. I've started half baking one loaf and leave it in the fridge until I need it. It works great.

[the_bread_code]

One warning and note, after converting your starter into liquid starter you will permanently change your starter's microorganisms. I couldn't get back the acetic vinegary notes. This vinegary flavour is excellent though in case you are making rye bread for instance. So please keep this in mind and also make a backup. Also another note, some people who make the starter initially from fruit water never get the vinegary notes at all. It's fascinating and just shows one more time how unique every sourdough starter is. Sank you.

Edit: Had fun with my new camera 🤣. What do you think? What can I improve?

[dominodarwin]

Love from a new subscriber! I’m so enjoying your content and learning a TON about baking bread and raising starters.
I traveled around Germany about 20 years ago and just loved the country and the people. I miss it!
Gluten tag!!

[NeilDougan]

Thanks for this video.

I live in the bush in west Australia and it’s summertime now so my kitchen which is outside ranges from mid 20c overnight to upwards of 40c during the day.
I agonised over failure after failure trying to create good crumb until I started to think about this yeast and bacteria balance. At last I’m making reasonable sourdough. With the info in this video I can feel greater success coming.

By the way the dogs are quite happy with a bit of the gooey sour pancake bread. And the worms in my worm farm love it. 🙄

[lmbruty]

I've never tried a stiff starter before...today is the day I try! Thanks for the tips 😁🍞