AMAZING Bread with Unfed Sourdough Starter (always works)

[@yoongiwifeinthenextlife]

I had suggested putting salt into starter in a FB group and people ripped me a new one. They thought it was ridiculous. But I had the same idea you did. It’s trained by having salt in the starter.

[@simplybeautifulsourdough8920]

I've been using long-unfed starter to make my sourdough for several years now. Once, it was 3 weeks old! But, it was kept in the refrigerator. Your tip about using less when it's older has been really useful for me. Sourdough is not the delicate, finicky thing many people make it out to be.

[@MichaelRei99]

While It is possible to make dough with a neglected starter we can all agree an active well maintained starter is best. Of course not everyone has time in their schedules for that so I do appreciate your video!

[@gabrielglouw3589]

Your videos have been amazingly informative and helpful to me. Thank you. I’ve converting my starter to a stiff starter and your aliquot jar method has been game changing for me as well.

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you ❤️

[@mattymattffs]

I had mine in the fridge for over six months and made a loaf with it no problems. Took longer to ferment and that's it

[@dbpike]

Great timing. I have not been able to make bread for about a month. My starker has been “chillin” in my fridge unfed all this time. I had been using a recipe using unfed starter for my last few batches with great success. However today, with the now obviously acidic starter combined with 800g water, the effect of the bacteria was definitely noticiable. Fortunately, I found some high protein flour that I think will save this batch. In using this unfed sour recipe, I have actually been keeping the starter flour to water proportions at the same as those of the main dough. I never thought to add the salt also. So thanks for that. You know, this had kindled a memory from my childhood and, I guess, my first exposure to sourdough. There was a small cartoon booklet produced by the flour company. It featured a little blob of dough with eyes that you kept in your fridge like a pet and kept feeding it until you used it to make bread. When you did, you just picked off a piece of dough, salt and all, and just put it back into the fridge. I think I am going to give this a try the next time!

[@SuperDavidEF]

RE: Salt in the starter, there is already a method called "old dough" which is often used as a kind of preferment for breads made with commercial yeast. It is literally a piece of the bread dough held back for the next bake, so it is longer fermented. As such, it has all of the ingredients of a complete dough, including the salt. I've made "old dough" from sourdough before, and for a while I even kept it in my refrigerator as my only starter. But I converted it back to a "regular" sourdough starter with just water and flour. It seems to be fine either way.

[@_Obi-Wan_Kenobi_]

Very useful thanks

[@zacharysherry2910]

BUUUURRrrp

[@DianeH2038]

I'm really enjoying all your sourdough and bread videos! implementing your cues about timing, coil folds and especially looking for the correct signs the bread is proofed and ready to bake (I was over-proofing!) has totally upped my bread game, which I already thought was pretty good! but there's always room for improvement. I'm experimenting more with sourdough and rye bread as well, and I've seen some huge improvements in alveoli and oven spring. thank you so much!

[@Taai02]

Your videos are so incredibly informative-Thankyou!!!

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you ❤️

[@manuelgarrido5602]

Thank you. You know I came to conclusions (using my witness small recipient for knowing the state of fermentation and to keep just this little qty for next sourdough starter), but you went even farther and explaining this one low fermentation and more in precisions and give impressive informations.

[@wolmannn]

In France (and probably elsewhere), the baker just takes a portion of the unbaked dough before shaping and keeps it as the starter for tomorrow, so technically, there is always salt in a baker's starter. Is this clear ? ^^

[@the_bread_code]

Yes! That works very well too. I do the same in many cases 🙂

[@jansteyaert1]

What I like doing with unfed starter is make a preferment. A poolish (100% hydration), used for traditional baguettes. If it hasn't been fed for ages a biga (50% hydration), used for traditional ciabatta.. Leave that for 12-16 hours then add it to my dough and proceed as normal.

[@weileongloong4627]

Hi, today I baked using my stiff starter 4 days old discards (50% hydration) following your recipe. 400gm BF@12.8%protein level, 2% salt, 10% discards, 65% water, 10% flaxseeds and 0.5gm instant yeast. As my room temperature was around 28C on average I decided to use icy cold water. Maybe that was my mistake🤭. From the start, the dough felt very firm. I did not do anything and let it ferment for like 5 hours and then shaped and baked. 230C covered loaf pan for 40mins and uncovered for another 15mins. It turned out okay with a small ear but not much oven spring. No crumbs shot yet as it's still cooling down. I can't wait to see what the effect is as this is my first time using a stiff starter. 🙏

[@rainerrain9689]

Keep at it . I've been there but it's fun learning along the way to perfection :)

[@achmo1]

This speaks directly to my lazy nature! 🤩 Can you use unfed stiff starter? What would be the inoculation rate? And where do you get the starter for the next dough if you are not feeding the starter and putting aside the needed amount for next time?

[@stellaball7289]

Hi Henrick, i have recently discovered your channel and have found it so so useful. Thank you! I have one question . Is there any reason why you can't add the salt to the autolyse? My logic is that the salt is better dispersed in the mix and not touching the starter in such a big way as when you inoculate with the starter. I would love to hear your thoughts. Stella from London

[@mrsbryant]

Made my dough last evening 21:00Uhr German time. Now it’s 11am and it still has not increased to 50% with Dinkel Mehl 1050 which has 12% protein. It was a stiff starter in the fridge for 3days with no feeding. I made the mistake to use 80g of starter for about 500g of flour. I think that’s the problem with the dough. If I poke the dough it doesn’t come back. Maybe I’ve fermented for too long or the acidity was to strong for the amount of flour 😢.

[@barrychambers4047]

Thank you Hendrik! Really quite interesting! Is there going to be a part 2?

[@the_bread_code]

What would you like to see in part 2? :-)

[@rtcommodore9354]

I love your videos. I learn so much from them. But you terrified me at 10:05 and now I'm afraid to leave my apartment. Thankfully, I have plenty of flour, water, and salt at home so I don't need to leave.

[@the_bread_code]

🤣 meme insertion gone wrong.

[@Glatzel132]

I just asked chatGPT for some funny sourdough related names. Not sure if I‘m gonna go with Yeastin Timberlake or Doughlly Parton. 😂

[@the_bread_code]

😂 😂 😂

[@MauzyrockRC]

My Starter was (R.I.P.) "Tony Levain" (King Krimson)

[@ws.hicks14]

I’m one of those starter neglector and, with a very sporadic life schedule and my come-and-go whim to bake, I was having a lot of issue figuring out how to bake with my ever-slumber starter without having to awake it and/or making a levain every time (it went unfed in my fridge for months and months on end at time). Recently, I was almost doing what you did by chance. I was mixing the scrape of starter I kept with the flour part of the dough and weigh out the portion I need, keeping the leftover scrape as starter; unfortunately, I used all purpose flour and waited for a 100% increase so it was over fermented. With your pointers, I think I know what to do next time.

[@Simple_and_natural]

What is the difference in the process when making bread with einkorn , spelta or emmer flours. I just both them.

[@silvermoon3486]

Nice 👍🏼 video. Thanks 😊❤👍🏼

[@Gankzillorated]

Welcome back, Hendrik 🤗

[@michaels.6363]

Hi Hendrik, eine Frage: woher beziehst du dein Mehl? Frage als Deutscher der im Laden nix über 12,7% Eiweiß findet 😢☺️

9:16 *Slap dough* This bad boy will give you so much amazing bread

[@michellegarcia2914]

When putting the small amount of dough in the shot glass does it need to be covered?

[@ccubillo]

Thanks for your video! When you talked about the balance of yeast to bacteria ratio being off in unfed starter, would this also be true for refrigerated starter or only for unfed room temp starter?

[@gregwmanning]

Great video, I understand the ferment process better and what influence the variables are having. Regarding salt: why is salt added to the dough anyway, is it just for flavour? I guess it would negatively influence the both bacteria and yeast fermentation. Is adding salt just another variable that needs to be managed? I try to eliminate as much salt from my diet as I can. Is salt really required in bread? Many thanks

[@INXPhase]

salt is absolutely not required in bread. You will lose a lot in flavor (just like anything else) as the salt essentially seasons the bread from within. But if you're used to little salt anyways, all good. You may find success in longer fermentation times which comes with stronger flavor. more sour sourdoughs may be a thing you enjoy as a flavor kick instead of salt

[@Wimosifr]

I always know when I forget to add salt because the dough stays sticky and has a hard time really coming together into a smooth dough ball. The salt actually helps the gluten bonds. When I first started sourdough the recipe was truly no-knead and called for a heaping Tablespoon of salt for a boule using 20 oz of flour. Now that I added stretch and folds I can use a lot less salt, but wouldn’t go with none. All that to say that salt serves a purpose, however I’m sure with the right recipe /technique you could make a great loaf without it.

[@the_bread_code]

You can eliminate it completely if you like the unsalty flavor!

[@Jatzette]

The time I forgot the salt I found the bread inedible, tasted like cardboard. I do try and limit my salt for health reasons, so I generally only add half the salt any given bread recipe calls for. I am interested though in Wimosifr’s comment as I have been having so many problems with sticky dough and heavy or gluey bread. Maybe I have to add a bit more salt, just to my dough (and continue reducing/removing it in other foods). More experiments (k)needed.

[@jeffstrehlow2623]

@@Wimosifr I use 1% salt, according to baker's math. That's half the amount normally used.

[@lindsayparker2965]

If I leave my starter for a couple of days (at room temp or in the fridge) I always get a furry growth (bacteria) on the surface and sometimes a blackish liquid. Is this bad? I use a mix of spelt and wholemeal to feed. I always scoop the furry growth off and/or pour off any liquid that has collected, before referring or using the starter. My starter is called Frank(enstein) because "it's alive!!.

[@the_bread_code]

That's normal. The liquid is called "hooch". Just stir it back in, no worries! That's a good name for a starter haha.

[@Sridarsh]

Hi, i had a question, i know it is very hard for your starter to die, chain baker did an experiment where he left it out for like a month and came back, but still the starter was fine. I feed my starter once a week, kept in the fridge, one day when i knew i was using my starter for the entire week, i decided to keep it out. I didnt use it for two days or so, with it still being out and i thought oh well nothing is gonna happen to it. The 4th day, when i opened it, it had a layer on top, which ive seen people say is not mold and just a protective layer. But what was different was this had a very bad smell, like all the fermenty smell had died, left with this old sock type of smell, which when i researched a bit means if those smells come it has gone bad. So i proceeded to make Idli (indian steamed rice cake) with the starter and even the idli smelt like that, but noone in the family had any problems later. So yeah, it seems my starter went bad, but it doesnt make sense why keeping it out just 3 days would cause that. Literally, like all fermenty goodness smell just gone, replaced with old kinda sock smell. It was a starter ive had for a year too 🥲well i ended up throwing it all away like a week ago anyways, but would like to know what happened to cause that, Welp :/

[@the_bread_code]

It might be that you have a lot of acetic acid bacteria. At the start the smell is very subtle and then gets more pungent. Nothing to worry. You probably could have saved the starter. If you like more dairy notes look into making a liquid starter. It could help 👍

[@Sridarsh]

@@the_bread_code But the smell defenitly was the layer that formed on top, ive seen chainbaker describe it differently than what i had smelt. And i mixed the layer on top back into the starter.

[@the_bread_code]

​@@Sridarsh Feel free to share a picture on our discord the next time. Would love to see what was going on!

[@Sridarsh]

@@the_bread_code Yeah, thanks for trying to help. Ngl if I had to take a guess, it had to have been contaminated in some way, my flour or the water maybe.

[@MichaelRei99]

Nice that you play Russian Roulette with your families health.

[@dimaalhourani3369]

Hi Can you please answer my questions ~First: When I make bread, for example, in a braided shape, why does it crack in the oven, given that I fermented the dough before shaping and after shaping. I notice that the bread rises in the oven, and this is normal, but why is it cracking? ~Second: In the recipe for panettone, the amount of instant yeast is small, about 5g in the recipe, and fermentation takes place in stages. In the first stage, it is 12 hours. Is this the reason for the presence of wide holes or pores in this bread? And if the issue of wide holes is related to the long fermentation period, how do we explain the absence of these holes in the Japanese toast bread? The amount of yeast is small, and the first stage is also fermented for 12 hours, but there are no gaps in this bread, it is soft and smooth from the inside. Is the issue related to the presence of eggs? Brioche contains eggs, yet it doesn't have wide holes like in panettone. ~Third: What is the importance of having a small amount of active yeast in the recipe? Knowing that some recipes contain 25g of active yeast and the rest of the ingredients are flour, eggs and the same liquids. ~Fourth: In the panettone recipe, the bread in terms of height, enters the oven and exits maintaining the same height. The surface is cut with a blade and a piece of butter is placed, while in the rest of the recipes, such as the recipe for Japanese toast bread, the height of the dough must reach three quarters of the height of the mold, so it will rise in the oven.

[@MichaelRei99]

I e never seen you shape the dough before fermenting. Is that building dough strength?

[@the_bread_code]

Yep! That's just very efficient kneading. I like to shape the dough a few times until the gluten is really tight :-)

[@TalsBadKidney]

Gluten abend

[@onlyinparadise4613]

Don’t worry, Bread Pitt is super fertile and will reproduce quite easily.

[@bamdadnouri1042]

Is it ok to add extra powdered gluten to the mix in case of weak floar? Does anyone has any experience with this? (I've actually done it and it worked surprisingly well, I just feel it's like cheating or something :DD)

[@the_bread_code]

Yes! Works well. You can add around 5g of vital wheat gluten per 100g of flour.