Making sourdough bread in biger batches...

[big brown horse]

This is my first time to make more than one loaf at a time. Here is what I have been doing:

I have been adding to my starter to make enough for 2-3 loaves with a bit of starter left behind for the next day. (I have not been discarding any of it.)

With the starter I have leftover, (about 1 cup) will I be able to get another 2-3 loaves out of it within 24 hours? Common sense tells me to just leave it out on the counter at room temp and add to it when it gets frothy.

Any advice?

 

[big brown horse]

O.k. I have two nice looking doughs rising in a warm spot and my starter is going strong on the counter, I should be getting another two loaves out of it tomorrow.

DrakeMaiden????? *whiny voice* Where are you????

I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

If you have a large enough volume of active starter you can certainly bake more loaves.

So . . . I usually use about 1 cup of starter to make one recipe of bread (which I then make about 4 small loaves out of). If, instead of keeping a small amount of starter, I kept adding feed to the starter until I had a large volume (say 4 cups of starter) I could then take 2 cups to make twice as much bread as I normally would and then feed the remaining 2 cup of starter with 2 cups of feed so that the next day I would have about 4 cups again to work with.

Does that make sense?

You don't have to refrigerate between baking days . . . you only refrigerate if you don't want to keep baking/feeding daily.

 

[big brown horse]

If you have a large enough volume of active starter you can certainly bake more loaves.

So . . . I usually use about 1 cup of starter to make one recipe of bread (which I then make about 4 small loaves out of). If, instead of keeping a small amount of starter, I kept adding feed to the starter until I had a large volume (say 4 cups of starter) I could then take 2 cups to make twice as much bread as I normally would and then feed the remaining 2 cup of starter with 2 cups of feed so that the next day I would have about 4 cups again to work with.

Does that make sense?

You don't have to refrigerate between baking days . . . you only refrigerate if you don't want to keep baking/feeding daily.

Thank you it makes total sense.

I'm now on my 3rd and 4th loaf. I think two per day is my limit.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

How many loaves are you planning to make total? Do you have your elfen chef hat on or what?

 

[big brown horse]

How many loaves are you planning to make total? Do you have your elfen chef hat on or what?

Ha Ha very funny!

I'm making 5 total this week and probably another 5 for next week for other people.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

That's a lot of baking!

 

[Yaklady]

Just saw this. How are you doing with your baking? I'm wiped out myself. I decided that no one is getting presents this year unless it's home-made. Thus said, I've been baking, cooking, and pasta-making like a crazy lady. I feel your pain, my sourdough sisters. I always make a double batch, btw. My recipe is for a sourdough Italian loaf, and it's a one loaf recipe. I love it, but one loaf doesn't last long around here. So I pull out my crock from the fridge, scoop out two cups of starter, add 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water, and let it sit for about 18 hrs. I add a cup of flour and a cup of warm water to my crock, mix it up, and stick it back in the fridge. So far, this has worked very well for me, but please let me know if I'm doing something wrong. As we speak, I've got one bowl of white sourdough and another bowl of wheat sourdough sitting out so that I can bake tomorrow (again).

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yaklady, it sounds like you are doing everything right. The only thing I would say is that I let the starter I am going to refrigerate grow for a couple of hours (or until it gets small bubbles on the surface) before I put it back in the fridge . . . oh, and I try to feed the starter I plan to bake with twice before using it (at 8-12 hour intervals). Sometimes I just let it sit for 24 hours and then feed it again (and wait about 8-12 hours) before baking with it. It seems to be pretty versatile though.

 

[Yaklady]

Ok, thanks. Man, am I tired!!!! I just made two loaves of banana blueberry friendship bread, have two loaves of white sourdough on their second rise, have two loaves of whole grain sourdough with sprouted wheat berries and oat groats on their second rise, and have two loaves of strawberry banana friendship bread in the oven. My neighbors better like it. LOL!

Tomorrow is fudge and brownie day.