My Top 5 Sourdough Cookie Recipes by Make It Dough (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you put too much sourdough starter in your dough? ›

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

To bake the best bread possible, always take it out and give it a few feedings until it shows strong signs of fermentation consistently each day. While I know some bakers who can make sourdough bread using their starter from the fridge, mine has never worked in this way.

Think of sourdough starter as a natural leavener, and in many cases, a way to cultivate the wild yeast that exists naturally in flour and in the air, and convert it to something that you can use to make bread (or whatever else) rise.

When your starter is reliably rising to double or triple its size and falling in the jar anywhere between 4-8 hours after you feed it (dependent on your ambient conditions and the flour you feed with) it is ready to bake with. When the starter is at the peak of its rise, it is called ripe, fed, or mature.

Using less starter in your recipe will help slow down the fermentation process. So if your schedule has you away from home for awhile, or you want to do the bulk ferment over night, I'd recommend using less starter.

Too little folding can result in weak dough. But too much folding can produce excessive tension and compressive forces. An over-folded dough might have a tighter crumb as the layers of alveoli push against each other and coalesce. In the worst case, excessive folding might cause a dough to tear under too much tension.

Do I have to discard my sourdough starter? It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.

The secret to sourdough is simple: water. The more water you add to your dough will affect how open the crumb (bigger holes and softer texture) will be once it's baked.

Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.

It is important that you stir the sourdough starter every day in the morning and in the evening. Feed the starter. Add 60 g flour and 60 g lukewarm water, stir well to combine, and let sit out for 24 hours.

Can I start my sourdough starter with all-purpose flour? ›

If this is your first time making sourdough, I'd recommend starting with all-purpose flour because it tends to behave the most predictably. If you're feeling ready to branch out, just start feeding the starter with whatever whole-grain flour you would like to use for baking.

Conclusion. Covering your dough with a plastic bag will stop it from drying out and delivers great results no matter how your fridge functions.

If your starter gets completely covered on top with bubbles but does not rise, it is healthy but may just be a wet mix. Try reducing the water in your next feeding and see if you have different results. Also, the type of flour you are using can impede the rise of your starter.

If it's a little too much (10–20%), your starter will be a little sloppier than usual (with extra water) or a little tighter than usual (with extra flour). Extra water may cause the starter to get sour more quickly, where extra flour will slow that process down.

An overfed starter can be too diluted and it will be very watery. Your workers are there, they are just overwhelmed with too much food and water. When this happens, first leave it out in the warmth overnight. In the morning discard all but a tablespoon of starter and feed it.

You can use the 1:1:1 ratio in many situations when scaling your sourdough starter. Even if you only had 10g of starter and you wanted 200g of starter, you'd just have to feed it at 1:10:10 which would mean adding 100g of flour and 100g of water to that 10g of sourdough starter.

Starter that's kept at room temperature is more active than refrigerated starter, and thus needs to be fed more often. Room-temperature starter should be fed every 12 hours (twice a day) using the standard maintenance feeding procedure: discard all but 113g, and feed that 113g starter with 113g each water and flour.

However, if you detect any strong, putrid, or rancid smells, it is a clear indicator that something has gone wrong. Rancid or Putrid Smell – If your starter has a rancid, putrid, or even rotten odour, then it is likely to have spoiled or have been contaminated.