Here is my personal checklist of sourdough do’s and don’ts.
Please note that this is MY LIST ONLY – I’m pretty sure most of my fellow bakers will disagree with some, if not all, of my views below. But after 12 years of baking all the bread we eat, this is what I’ve ended up with!
DO use scales
My friend Al assembles her doughs by feel, and always ends up with bread that ranges from edible to outstanding. Even after a decade of baking, I can’t come close to doing that. I am experienced enough now to know how to adjust a bit – if a particular dough seems too dry or wet – but I always start by weighing quantities first.
Some bakers use teaspoon measures for salt, arguing that scales can’t measure small quantities accurately. My scales measure in one gram increments and I’ve never had a problem. And as my neighbour PeteV discovered recently – just a few grams extra can make a loaf too salty to eat!
The other reason to weigh salt is that it varies so much in volume – a teaspoon of fine cooking salt is heavier than flossy salt which in turn is heavier than flaky salt – but by weight, they’re all the same. My tip is to weigh the salt separately before adding it in.
I use scales for all my baking now, not just bread, as I find cup measures notoriously unreliable.
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DON’T pay a fortune for fancy salt
I have a wide selection of expensive gourmet salts, but I don’t use any of them in bread.
When I started my sourdough journey, I was buying boxed sea salt from the UK at $6 for 250g (it was still cheaper than Maldon salt flakes). But when you’re baking six to twelve loaves a week (and giving half of those away), it’s surprising how quickly a box of salt will disappear.
Then I discovered the Olssons cooking salt in little blue packets for under $2 a kilo. If you live in Australia, I’d highly recommend you seek it out. It’s not in the big supermarkets, but almost every Asian grocery store will have it on their shelf. As the packet says, it’s 100% pure sea salt from South Australia, 100% Australian owned, and 100% preservative and anti-caking agent free…
These days, I buy my salt in bulk and I’m always thrilled by how cheap it is.
It started with the broken 25kg bags I bought from Southern Cross Supplies for just $5. I’ve since discovered that the wholesale price is only $10! We use it in all our cooking, curing, breadmaking and skin care products, plus I routinely hand out 2kg bags to friends and new bakers. At full price, it’s just 40c a kilo for pure Australian sea salt.
Please, let me re-iterate. Don’t pay a fortune for fancy salt for breadmaking!
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DO use your hands
Do use your hands…if you can. A few years ago, my hands started to get sore, so I had to adapt my kneading method (I have a sturdy Kenwood mixer as backup, but I don’t like the bread it produces). As a result, I can now bake six loaves of sourdough with just ten minutes of hands-on time – a few minutes to squelch the dough together, a one minute fold after it rests, and then a brief shape before the second prove.
It can still be heavy work manoeuvring four kilos of dough, but it’s a quick process, and I hope to be able to keep baking by hand for years to come. One more thing – I don’t wear gloves unless I have cuts on my hands. I do keep my nails very short though, and my fingers jewellery-free.
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DON’T bake with a flat starter
Just make a rule to never, ever do it. If the starter doesn’t pass the float test, don’t even think about making dough. You might end up with dough that rises a bit, but you’ll still be disappointed with the finished loaf.
My starter Priscilla can be temperamental – she can sulk, bubble over and turn grey – sometimes all on the same day. She’s a diva but I love her, and I probably spoil her more than my children. Some days, she just doesn’t want to play. When that happens, we eat pasta or I grab the instant yeast from the fridge and make a filled focaccia (the fillings help mask the flavour of the bakers yeast)…
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DON’T spend money on an expensive linen couche cloth
I know many (possible most) of my baking friends will disagree with me on this one, but this really didn’t work for me. A few years’ ago, I bought a roll of bakers’ couche from Chefs’ Warehouse. I’m still not sure what I did wrong – maybe I was supposed to season the cloth first – but the first batch of dough I put on it came out covered in fluff. So I tried washing the fabric, which then shrank to an unusable size. I’m too Chinese to put wet dough onto fabric that can never be washed, so I gave up.
Thankfully, the following year I discovered the cotton tenegui from Daiso. These little towels are thin but strong, machine washable, and dough doesn’t stick to them. They’re now my default shaping cloths and they cost just $2.80 each…
. . . . .
DON’T use an unlined banneton
In colder climates, leaving bannetons covered in flour and dried dough seems to be fine, but in Sydney, we just end up with bugs crawling all over them. I now line mine with the tenegui (see above) and haven’t had a problem since. I dust everything with fine semolina and even the wettest doughs don’t stick much. The cotton cloths go into the wash every few bakes and dry quickly on the line.
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DO bake in an enamel roaster
If there is one single change that took my bread from good to artisan, it was learning to bake in a pot. My friend Emilie put me on to it, and I’ve never looked back. I’m not sure where the trend started – it was either the original No Knead bread guy, or the folks at Tartine Bakery – but either way, they all recommend using heavy cast iron casserole pots to replicate a closed oven environment.
I tried that and scared myself silly lifting blazing hot, super heavy pots in and out of the oven. Then it occurred to me that we might be able to substitute the thin enamel roasters often used for camping – as far as I knew, no-one had ever done that before, and I can still remember workshopping the idea on Twitter with my friends Joanna and Carl. Here’s the post I wrote about it five years ago.
I ordered one online, and then two more, and now I bake all my loaves in them. They sit three across in my 90cm Smeg oven (thanks for showing me that, Clare!).
There are so many advantages in using these enamel roasters for bread!
Because they’re lightweight, you don’t have to preheat them, as they get hot almost immediately. They’re easy to handle, especially if you have old, sore hands like mine, and you’re much less likely to end up with serious burns (I make sure by using welding gloves). Best of all, they’re cheap, especially compared to cast iron, so it doesn’t matter if they get trashed a bit. I don’t even bother to wash mine!
The only downside is that they leave a ridged bottom on the finished loaf – I know some bakers have a problem with that.
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DO share your bread
I can offer two reasons for this one.
Firstly, baking bread takes a lot of practice.
I can write a tutorial that will teach you how to get a decent result from the get-go, but what turns a good baker into a great one is experience. You need to get a feel for how your starter responds to ambient temperatures, how proving times change with the seasons, how adding a bit more water changes the feel and consistency of the dough, and so on.
The good thing is that, at least in Australia, bread flour is cheap. Even though there was a substantial price rise at the end of last year because of the drought, we’re still paying under $1.50 per kilo in bulk. So you can practice to your heart’s content and it won’t bankrupt you.
The downside is that you end up with a lot of bread. Freezers get full pretty quickly, and in the end, you either have to share it, or beach yourself trying to eat it on your own.
Secondly, more than any other food in human history, bread was made to be shared. So much so that it’s written into our vernacular – we speak of “breaking bread” with friends and loved ones. Sharing bread can create communities, feed those around you, and spread joy. Very few things can build relationships and bring such enormous satisfaction for so little outlay in cost and effort…
I bake so much these days that we’ve started inventing our own vocabulary around it. A large batch of Emilie’s twisted baguettes came out of the oven yesterday…
Pete: “what’s the collective noun for bread?”
Me: “no idea, maybe we should just make one up…”
Then I sent out this text:
“Neighbours, we have a GRUMBLE of wonky sourdough baguettes. Please come and get one!”
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DON’T sweat the small stuff
Just don’t worry about it!
So long as you don’t set fire to your oven like our friend Stephen nearly did, everything else should be ok. Loaves will vary from bake to bake, and baker to baker.
The way I see it, you have two options: you can either obsess about the holes in your crumb and the colour of your crust OR you can get excited each and every time about the fact that you’re actually BAKING BREAD and feeding those you love. Take my advice and adopt the second approach – you’re much more likely to persist with sourdough if you do.
Very little can’t be salvaged – burnt loaves have a lovely smokiness if you cut the thick crust off first and then toast them in slices. Flat loaves make great croutons or melba toast or breadcrumbs. Almost all mistakes are cheap and edible, either by humans or chickens or worms. Seriously, don’t worry about it!
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That’s really all I can think of right now. Ok, my lovely sourdough peeps, the floor is open – please feel free to disagree noisily with me (or add your own do’s and don’ts) in the comments below! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I cooked a loaf in a heavy cast iron pot and it was so hot that when I put it on the cooktop, I broke it. I haven’t tried it since. I can’t afford to buy more cooktops. I’ll look for the enamel ones. Good idea! Where do you buy the cloths?
M, I buy them at Daiso – the Japanese $2 shops. Let me know if you’d like me to send you some!
Celia, I worship the ground you walk on! To me, you are the master. You know this post is perfect for me 😘
I do seem to be back on track with baking again, thanks to you. Miranda is behaving again and she’s been pumped up today, ready for a Saturday of baking 🥖🍞🥖
Hooray for Miranda! xx
Great tips. Tartine bread was the turning point for my success with sourdough too. Although now my go to bread is Yoke Mardewi’s Turkish bread (2/3 quantity formed into 6 large rolls). I cook this on pizza stone, with preheated grill pan moved to top of oven and filled with boiling water for first five minutes. (Not too different from Tarkine method for baguettes).
In the absence of a banneton, I had some success forming cob loaves in wire sieve covered with calico (previously used to squeeze grapes so cloth was deformed to nice round shape). The key, I worked out, was that the container had to breathe.
I will have to look for the salt you mention , also the cloths, and pans. Where do you get flour at $1.50/kg and what quantity is it in. I’m paying $2/kg for baker’s flour plus more for spelt flour, (which suits my stomach better).
My oven is only 600mm wide so can’t bake in the quantities you do, and my oven takes exception to baking too many loaves back to back.
I made my starter with elderflowers off my tree. It is pretty hardy. Taking on board Chad Robertson’s advice on the desirable balance between lactic acid ( yogurt acid) vs acetic acid (vinegar acid), I stack the odds in favour of the lactic acid by adding the whey from my yogurt to my starter, as well as finding things to bake with excess starter (my current favourite is cheese crackers, but sweet buns, pancakes, waffles and scones all get a look in).
Karey, I’m not sure where you’re based, but in Sydney, we can get Manildra
strong bakers flour for $15 for a 12.5kg bag. I actually buy the Allied Mills brand these days at a premium, but I like how it bakes. Southern Cross Supplies in Marrickville has some excellent German spelt flour at the moment – under $20 for a 5kg bag, from memory.
I’m in Toowoomba. Nothing like that here. I get 5kg bags of Defiance bakers flour for $10 (they used to mill here but got flooded out in 2011 and moved). Cheapest spelt is $7/kg. Will search the brands you mention to see if anyone has them here. Kialla Pure Foods has their mill just out of town but they are a wholesaler and only sell 25kg bags (which are bigger than I can store and are not cheap anyway).
I haven’t had much luck with Kialla flours – I find the end loaves very heavy. And as you say, so expensive! You should be able to track down some Manildra – they’re Australia-wide – and the 12.5kg bags are quite manageable.
The 12.5kg Manildra sounds perfect. The closest distributor I could find was in Ipswich (outskirts of Brisbane) 120km away. I have emailed to see if there is a closer one. Not worth a special trip ($20 petrol) but worth stopping in if I am going to Brisbane anyway.
Love all your advice Celia. As you know, I’m a recent sourdough convert and I do measure everything, which helps. Your observations re salt are really helpful, I use the salt from my grinder but will look for the salt you recommend. I love the way the weather – heat, humidity – changes how the starter responds so I’m always quite excited about just what bread I’ll end up with rather than want it to be standardised and predictable. I like to alternate between making plain sourdough and multigrain with occasional multigrain with cranberries or sultanas. The latter two are always wetter and spread into big loaves so I’ve learned to use less water initially and make two smaller loaves…
Great post, Celia, thanks. I especially needed to hear about the salt as have been baking bread with gourmet salts that are probably better being sprinkled directly on food at the table to really enjoy them.
I’ve seen ‘flossy’ salt but not known what it is. Like you I love a bulk buy so will be keeping an eye out for big bags of the stuff!
Also love the point about sharing bread :) a grumble of wonky baguettes, haha!!!
Cheers, Sally at One Family, One Planet blog
We have access to so much affordable salt in Australia and it’s all perfectly good for breadmaking! I think we get convinced that some salts are better than others – and that’s true for some uses, but I think the subtlety is lost in everyday breadmaking.
Hi Celia! Mafalda ( Priscilla’s daughter) is still in great shape. I love your advice but I must say that I ‘am not the measuring type. But everybody at home love this bread and for me it’s fine.
And I love baking my own bread. Thanks to you I rarely used instant yeast!.
You are a genius and very very generous too.
Ale, you’re like my friend Al – maybe it’s something in the name! She never measures either! :)
Just the post for me, Celia…I have an enamel roaster and wasn’t going to buy a cast iron one…I would burn myself…haha..Starter take 2 is fine just slower initially than take one which came out of the starting block firing on all cylinders this lady seems more sedate. We have salt flats close to us so salt is cheap and lovely and fluffy…Thank you for the tips very timely for this beginner :)
Thank you so much for your detailed Sourdough Do’s & Don’t. Brilliant advice Celia. I really should start baking since I’m trying not to buy supermarket bread as it all has Palm Oil added in U.K.
Lovely post. I remember reading ages ago that even people who insist that Maldon or other salt is best can’t tell the difference once its dissolved- might have a different texture sprinkled, but that’s it. Things are added to table salt so it doesn’t cake in the cruet; really the only downside is that brine made with table salt can go cloudy, so yes, use your flossy or Olsens’ for preserves.
Celia fancy me suggesting to you that you check out the Asian Grocers! One near me has small stainless steel roasters, about $15, SMOOTH bottom and even lighter and thinner than the enamelled ones. And a bit smaller. I like them because they take the banneton, so I can pop the cover on instead of using plastic film and do the last rise in that, then tumble the proofed loaf into it and bake.
Whoops I ought to have said, if I havent’, thanks again for the starter. There’s lots of posts about starting it from scratch but I do think the “friendship” idea of sharing has charm! Another aliquot was gratefully received by a friend working her way through Dan Leppard’s book, and yet more went to the local thermomix demonstrator – I use a wet mix so I like the mixer.
I’m glad the starter is working so well for you!
I agree, the enamel pot is the one thing that really upped my bread game. I don’t have bannons but I’d like to try one. I do my final rise right in the roaster with the lid on which keeps the flies off. I drape a wet paper towel across the top if it’s dry. Thanks for being my bread whisperer, lovely Celia. Each loaf is a gift. <3 Hugs, Maz.
Maz, I bought bannetons for a friend recently and found them very reasonably priced on Ebay. They were a bit small though!
I agree with ALL and the only difference is I use a canvas type cloth for a couch. Cheers!
Yep I agree with everything except here in uk I do put my dough in a rice floured banetton most times though once when doing loads I used the inside of a salad spinner in an Irish linen tea towel. Note Bakery Bits do a scales for really small amounts a pocket scale and its under a tenner
Love this post Celia. I haven’t been baking much lately. It’s been too hot in Sydney but I just got out my starter. Leo (Priscilla’s son) is happy to be doing his thing so fruit bread for tomorrow’s breakfast and maybe wonky baguettes. I follow all your bread advice closely. Might try yoghurt next….
I am still a fairly new sourdough baker. I have had a lot of mixed results so far. The loaf I am currently is making is one of your earlier recipes the basic 101 sourdough. This recipe does use cup measurements for the reawakening and feeding of the starter, and also feeds the starter with bakers flour rather than plain flour. Do you still feed with bakers flour, or do you now find that plain flour works just as well? Which recipe do you use now for all your sourdough loaves? Also I have been rising my bread in a banneton and then putting it straight on a tray in the oven. Is there a reason for using a roasting pan over a tray? Also I chuck a few ice cubes in the bottom of my oven. I notice some people do this and others don’t. Is there a reason to add or not to add ice?
Hi! I’ve changed how I bake bread enormously in the last few years. Here’s my latest tutorial with all the info.
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2018/01/19/sourdough-cooking-class-2018-step-by-step-instructions/
And good pick up – thank you – I do still feed my starter with 1/4 cup bakers (not plain) flour and filtered water. Just because it’s easier than weighing in that case and it doesn’t affect the finished dough.
If you look on my bread page, there is also a link to my Priscilla sourdough tips.
Still struggling to get a sourdough starter….killed the one I tried last week. For some reason I always try this in January when it is stinking hot. I’ll have to start from scratch again. Not confident in knowing when the starter is actually ready. I have the banneton and the bakers enamel dish just need to get the starter to look like a starter…struggling big time. Kathy, Brisbane
Kathy, you’re not having much luck! Do you want me to try sending you one more? I don’t have any fresh stuff, but there’s a packet still in the fridge.
PS. next time you get an active one going, dry some off and stash it in the fridge as backup.
We think along the same lines Celia, particularly on weighing and scales. I weigh everything and if I find a cup measure recipe I convert it to weights before I even start. Happy baking, I still fall back on many of your recipes, especially the focaccia that has both yeast and sourdough starter in it x
Jane, your breads are always amazing..xx
Dear Celia, your “daughter” Priscilla you had sent me many years ago, is still going strong, although she had to go through some tough times, where I had ignored her for a few months, not feeling like baking bread. Sometimes she gets a bit moody, but feeding her with compassion she decides to become strong again. Thank you ever for her. I do measure, but not by cups, since I am European my scales goes by European pounds and that’s perfect. I will follow your great advice of getting an enamel roaster, so far I have baked my breads in ceramic bowls , created by a friend, but the bread doesn’t really get crusty. Priscilla is send her love from California to you.
How wonderful that she’s going so well! xx
Thanks for these tips. Baked bread this morning and it felt so good to have some nice bread for so little money and so little effort. I used weighing for overnight bread but have other recipes I use cups for. I think one of the tricks is getting good scales – my bread bowl is too big for my current scales but am hoping to replace them with another set I just bought. Your tea towels look so pretty!
I’ve been making sourdough for years cultivating the starter every week. It’s more work than a baby! I’ve been trying to make a sourdough ciabatta lately and have had mixed results. Do you have a recipe for ciabatta, extra sour, with large holes? The large holes is the problem for me when I use the starter, I can achieve without so it’s not my folding technique. Any ideas?
I don’t do extra sour, but I did learn a trick from an old Italian baker on how to make holes:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2018/07/31/holey-loaves/
Thank you Celia you have been a wonderful sourdough inspiration! When I was living in Darwin I learned to store my banneton in the freezer in a bag, it works a treat cos the dough never sticks and it doesn’t get mould or bugs. I still do it in Sydney!
I am having trouble making a viable sourdough starter ( I live in Darwin) – the first couple of days I had dramatic rising of the starter – since then the activity has dramatically reduced – well no rising. any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Your comments re the scales echo recent conversations I have had re baking in general… once you get into the habit of weighing/converting to weight and using scales it makes following any recipe simple. And always remember to tare! We still prefer our Romertopf bread, your recommendation all those years ago stuck, I now have 2. To the Do’s I add… dehydrate a batch of back-up starter and keep it in the fridge in case of disaster, or you want to share.
The Romertopf loaves really are wonderful – thanks for the reminder, I haven’t baked them in ages!
Hi there, I live in Sydney and started to make sourdough 2 years ago and I finally have reached satisfaction with how my bread is turning out. I totally agree with your article especially about sharing it. These warm summer months have been perfect weather for fermentation and learning to store my starter has reduced wastage. Good Luck!
Such wise words and a reminder for me to thank you for helping me so much on my sourdough journey!
Hercules! I’m glad he’s still going strong!
What a great post of do’s and don’ts, thank you for putting it all together. I made my first beeswax cloths on the weekend. I couldn’t find 100% beeswax beads so I grated a large block of beeswax on a Microplane and it worked out perfectly. Other than my parchment leaking onto my ironing board (it took some elbow grease to clean it but it’s as good as new now) they turned out fantastic. I bought the cloth from a local Japanese store.
Eva, I’m so glad they worked, though what a palaver to have to clean up stuck wax!
I echo Tanya’s comment. I wouldn’t have got this happy with my results without your advice.(bread cooling as I write)
Buying Emilie’s book after your recommendation was another game changer!
Isn’t Em’s book just the best?
Absolutely. Without doubt 😍
Hi Celia,
I have been making sourdough for about 6 years now with considerable success. I started with the Oregon Trail starter supplied by Carl Griffith’s group but after it passed away while we were away on holiday I made my own using the pineapple juice method pioneered by Debra Wink. I have been using this for the last 2 years with good success in both my oven and a bread machine.
Sadly we have had another death in the family with this starter perishing while we were away on an extended holiday. I made considerable effort to revive it for a couple of weeks without success. When it began to smell more like vomit than a zesty starter I fed it to the compost so at least it had a good death.
I have been a follower of your website for a couple of years now and am inspired by your enthusiasm for sourdough baking. I am very taken with your description of Priscilla and her resilience. She sounds like the sort of friend I need in my fridge. I usually bake once a week because, with just two of us, we can’t eat more bread than that, so I need a starter that will recover strongly from a week on holiday in the fridge.
Can you recommend anyone in Canberra that might be prepared to share some daughter of Priscilla starter or, failing that, would you be prepared to supply a bit of Priscilla to get me started again. I’d be happy to pay any costs involved. After I’m established I’d be happy to provide starter to other Canberra people. There at least 2 more bakers in the building that I live in that I’ve turned on to sourdough and between us we should be able to keep a viable strain going.
In closing I’d like to share this recipe that I developed after trying an Ikea Flerkorn bread mix. This is a very heavy Scandinavian bread best eaten a day or two after baking and very thinly sliced. It’s great with savoury toppings like cheese, salted fish and, especially, vegemite with lots of butter. It keeps well for a couple weeks. I know you aren’t a rye fan but other followers of your blog might like it.
Day 1
60gm starter @ 100% hydration
375ml tepid, filtered water
100gm rough rye meal (or any cracked grain meal such as rolled wheat or oats)
50gm flax seeds
60gm sunflower seeds
180gm white bakers flour
50gm rye flour
Mix all ingredients together, cover and let rise for about 12 hours (overnight is great)
Day 2
125ml tepid, filtered water
9gm salt
175gm rye flour
Mix all these ingredients into the previous day’s brew. You don’t have to knead it, just give it a thorough stir. I use a danish whisk for this and stir for about a minute. (At this stage you could take out a teaspoon of the mix to save as your next starter. Let it sit on the bench until it becomes active then feed it with 30gm rye flour and 30ml filtered water then store in the fridge.) Cover the dough mix and let rise for about 3 hours. It won’t rise as much as a standard white loaf but it should increase about 50%. If you want it a bit more airy let it rise until you’re happy with the volume. Heat the oven to 175c. Shape the dough. I usually bake this in a tin but you could also cook it on a pizza stone. I haven’t tried an enamel roaster but don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work in that. Bake for an hour and 45 minutes then check doneness with a skewer. If it comes out clean it’s done. If not cook for up to another 45 minutes. (This is a bit vague but ovens are all different and this is cooked at a much lower temperature than most bread so it won’t burn.)
Let it rest for at least 4 hours before cutting. It is actually better after a day and continues to improve for a couple of more days.
Thanks Ian!
I lost my sourdough you sent me long ago in the floods up here the other week (Townsville) ;( I had my Eve in the fridge and 2 packets dried, crovac’d and in the freezer. Lost it all. Never mind I kept her alive and well for all this time so thank you for all the loaves I got to make. I guess I could have risked trying to save the ones from the freezer but we had sewerage through the house and couldn’t do it.
Thank you Ceiia, for such comprehensive and clear information on your methods. I’ve had several tries at sourdough the last few years, with very mixed results from wonderful to verrrry heavvvvy. :-)
I am using a starter given to me by a friend, and it doesn’t seem to have the resiliance and strength of yours. So, like Ian above, i’m wondering if you share your starter, for appropriate recompense?
Of course I understand if it’s too time consuming to do, and thanks again for all the blog information you’ve given. Very helpful, :-
cheers Bee
Dear Celia
I’m a newbie to the sourdough scene. Everyone raves about your Priscilla & I wondered if you still sell/share her (dried or wet). I live in Sydney & am keen to get baking. Can you help?
Kind regards
Laura
Celia, i’ve so enjoyed your writings & experience – thank you! I got to you after a bit of research & a mention in Emilies book. I was hoping to find a bit of Priscilla for my own starter to join your worldwide family here in Canada – is this possible & how do i make that happen? Thanks so much.
Hi Tom, I’ve sent you a Twitter DM.
Hi Celia, Help please…I’ve been given starter from a friend and have been following your directions for feeding it. Today I decided to try and make a loaf…I followed your directions, fed my bowl at 12pm with 1/4 cup each of bakers flour and water and covered with glad wrap…then again at 4pm….it’s now 8pm and no bubbles. I’m going to feed again with one cup each of flour and water and wait til morning….what am I doing wrong? Why won’t my starter bubble? Your instructions are so clear and concise I thought it would be easy, unfortunately step one hasn’t gone awry but I’m not giving up. Also it’s cold here, that may be a factor.
Hi Lisa, was it a Priscilla starter you were given? If not, it may not be as responsive – every strain of starter is a bit different. If it’s already established but just unresponsive today, it could be the cold weather. Try this trick which I’ve just used tonight – fill a larger bowl with warm tap water (mine was about 45C) then sit your bowl of starter in that. Cover it with a plate and leave it for a couple of hours and see how you go. In winter, the starters are much more sluggish depending on how cold it is and how much it’s been fed in recent days.
The other thing it might be is your flour or water. Sometimes the starters can be killed off by the chlorine in tap water, so I always feed mine with filtered water. Boiled and cooled tap water works as well. I don’t have much luck with stoneground flours, but a lot of folks do – I use high protein white roller milled flour. Good luck with it all!
Hi Celia, I don’t know if it’s an original Priscilla starter but I don’t think so, but funnily I named mine Priscilla too even before I got onto your page. I ended up feeding the starter heaps before bed and it was raring to go this morning. I proved the dough for seven hours and the bread worked beautifully, thank you. I’ve made another batch tonight so will see how it goes in the morning. I’ve put the est I f the starter into a new jar into the fridge, is that ok? Can it still be out after being out and bubbling? That’s for your tips. I’m baking on an oven tray but will look into getting an enamel baker. Great website and tips! Thanks again.
Hi Celia,
my daughter-of-Priscilla starter, named Molly, has been providing us with wonderful sourdough since April when she arrived, and she has been shared with several friends who also follow your overnight sourdough tutorial method with successs.
I’ve only just realised that Southern Cross supplies is moving out west!!!! OH NO!
i live within a few blocks of them now, and am spoilt with being able to get my flour so easily, though I never see the great bargains you seem to find there. :-)
cheers
Bee