How to know that the sourdough starter is ready for baking? Everyone who works on their own sourdough wants to start using it as soon as possible. I understand your desire, but the right time is the key to success in baking bread.
If you start using your starter too early, it will cause a lot of frustration because if the starter is not yet ready, it will not behave the way you expect it to and will not ferment the grants as it should. As a result, instead of fluffy and soft bread, you can bake something very similar to a brick. That’s why it’s so important to know when your snack is ready to bake. So, how can you know for sure that sourdough starter is ready.
First, be patient, as the starter may take longer to prepare than expected. In my personal experience it took about 2 months for my starter to be ready. The time of readiness depends on the environment and room temperature. So, patience is the key.
Second, the sourdough must be alive, meaning that when you open the jar of sourdough, it will most likely move with the bubbles and look like breathing. If you don’t see a lot of bubbles, most likely your starter is not quite ready.
Third, the smell. Your sourdough should smell pleasant – a light fruity smell of vinegar and yeast should prevail. If your starter has settled well and has a strong acetone smell, it means the starter is hungry and needs to be fed.
Fourth, your snack should double in size 3-5 hours after your last feeding. To do this, you can fix the border line with tape or draw a border line of the sourdough starter on the outside of the jar with a marker.
Finally, with all three conditions in place, it’s time to test your starter with water. In general, you need to collect a full glass of room temperature water, collect one teaspoon of sourdough starter and add it to the glass. If your sourdough starter floats in water, it means your sourdough starter has enough balls and air and it is ready to using it for baking bread.
If your starter settles to the bottom of the glass, that means you need to keep feeding the starter until it’s ready. So just go back to step one and be patient. You can find out how to feed your sourdough starter here.
After a few days you can test your starter again, but until then you can always use your discard sourdough by making different recipes like this: Moroccan bread harsha with sourdough starter, Sourdough discard cupcakes with dates, Sourdough cornmeal muffins with strawberries, How to make semolina bread.
Good luck and enjoy your baking!
