The sourdough Starter Thread

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop If I’ve got no discards I feed up my starter a couple of times until I have the amount for the recipe plus a bit leftover to leave in the pot.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Bren. That's what I'm doing. Glad to have your opinion.

And thanks, Mr B. A new blade, thanks to advice from Bren. Tastes fantastic. One of my favourite loaves. I also really like barley flour, so next time I might swap out a bit of the wholewheat for barley and a bit of the bread flour for a stronger white. I have rather a lot of different flours... Very lucky in that respect (and others).

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop I like the design you've done on the sides of your loaf, it's something I haven't tried yet.

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop I like the design you've done on the sides of your loaf, it's something I haven't tried yet.

It's not something I tend to do. I'm not very successful at it. But the new blade went through the dough so well that I thought I'd give it a go. In fact, the other side was cleaner cut but we preferred the look of this one. I was surprised how well it worked with the new blade. I reckon you could do something beautiful on one of your 'high-rise' loaves.

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop spotted you had crumpets today, any tips? I’ve not had much success so I’ve been sticking with pikelets instead.

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop spotted you had crumpets today, any tips? I’ve not had much success so I’ve been sticking with pikelets instead.

They weren't that good, to be honest. I used the King Arthur recipe and the mixture was too dry, I think. OK split and toasted, but toasted whole they seemed a bit too doughy. More to the point, no holes developed so not as much butter soaked in. Will have a look at other recipes and see what's different. I've made them with yeast in the past, but they taste too yeasty for me. Am determined to crack this!

[Bren In Pots]

Snoop thats the recipe I tried I did wonder if I wasn't cooking mine for long enough,

[Snoop Puss]

Snoop thats the recipe I tried I did wonder if I wasn't cooking mine for long enough,

I love crumpets and it's impossible to buy them here. So I'm going to try and see if I can find a recipe that works. When (if) I do, I'll let you know.

I've looked around to see what other people do and lots of bloggers seem to suggest adding additional water and/or milk to the starter. I was thinking of trying these two:
https://www.lavenderandlovage.com/20...-crumpets.html
Though she too gets mixed reviews in the comments at the end.
And this one:
https://www.notquitenigella.com/2020...ough-crumpets/
Her pictures look the part!
And if not, I'll try and adapt my yeast ones (Good Housekeeping) to sourdough.

[Bren In Pots]

Reading those recipes it looks like I had my heat to high and the batter to thick.

[Snoop Puss]

In my case, definitely too thick. I do remember when I made the yeast ones they took an age to cook. I got rather bored, to be honest, standing around for a long time for something that was eaten in a trice.

[Bren In Pots]

Pikelets are much easier to make Snoop it's the same mix but a bit thicker and they cook faster. So it's a win.

[Snoop Puss]

^Thanks, Bren. I'll give that a go.

[Snoop Puss]

Right, reasonable crumpet success. The recipe is a Goodhousekeeping recipe, so a proper crumpet recipe that I've adapted to sourdough.

350 g bread flour
300 g water
30-40 g of starter

1/2 level tsp salt
225 g milk
1/2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

Fat for greasing pan and rings (I use butter)

Mix flour, water and starter well and leave for twelve hours or so.
Add salt, milk and lastly bicarb and stir well. I did this by hand with a spoon and it took a bit of effort to incorporate the milk in fully.
Heat pan to very hot (I used carbon steel, I think a pan with non-stick coating might struggle with the heat). Butter inside of rings and pan very lightly. Place as many crumpet rings in pan as will fit and pour a 1/4 cup/60 ml of mixture into each one. It's very liquid, but if the pan is hot enough, it will set immediately at the bottom and not leak out.
Turn down the heat a bit and cook till dry on top and then turn over and cook the other side. The rings should come off when you turn the crumpets over, so they'll be cool enough to regrease for the next round. I tried putting a lid on the pan while cooking the first side and this speeded matters up a bit but not massively.

I tried a third of a cup of mixture, but I couldn't get the crumpets to cook properly inside. A quarter cup makes a decent sized crumpet.
I might try more bicarb next time. I got some holes, but quite not as many as a shop crumpet.

Great taste. I'll definitely make these again.

The original recipe has yeast (no sourdough starter) and all the ingredients are mixed in at the start, including the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture is then left to rise for about an hour till sponge-like in texture. The amount of dried yeast is given as 7.5 ml or one and a half teaspoons. That strikes me as quite a lot for 350 g of flour. When I first made this recipe, I had never made bread so just did as I was told. I found the crumpets too yeasty in flavour adn never bothered making them again. These days, if I were to use dried yeast, I'd put in two or three g of dried yeast for that amount of flour and just leave it for as long as it took.

[Bren In Pots]

Thanks Snoop I'll have to give these a go.


300 g water
30-40 g of starter

225 g milk

Just checking are these measurement liquid or weight ?

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks Snoop I'll have to give these a go.


300 g water
30-40 g of starter

225 g milk

Just checking are these measurement liquid or weight ?

All the recipe ingredients are by weight, yes. I find it easier to do that. One bowl on the scales and away I go.
Another thing I was thinking about was whether to add the milk in with the preferment, leaving just the bicarb and salt to add at the end. Might be easier to mix. I've never added milk to a preferment, though. You've more experience than me. What do you reckon?