hey jo you caught me making bread dough this morning. Discard originally got its name because folks kept their levain at room temp all the time . Because one takes out 1/2 of their stored levain and feeds the other 1/2 that’s left the removed part is “ discard”. One saves this in a separate container. Keeping at room temp of course makes it use “ food” at a faster rate since the temperature is higher. Unless the person is baking every day it’s soon obvious that you are going to have way too much discard due to all the feeding. Now most folks store their levain in a small amount and just remove what they then feed just to the amount they need to make their bread that day. If the stored amount gets really low you can add some flour and water to it to keep it going.

Discard gets a bad rap but if fed it becomes levain ... magic 😊. To make a gallon of levain just feed every few hours and pretty soon it’s a huge amount. Nothing special about it. To change to a different flour just take a small amount of stored levain and feed a couple times with new flour.

The liquid is fondly called hooch. It’s alcohol due to your starter being hungry. You can stir it back or toss. It’s not anything harmful.

Hope this makes sense. Please ask more questions anytime c

I feed my starter weekly if I’m not using it but only feed part of it or else I end up with too much and use up a lot of extra flour. I remove about 4 oz (by weight) and add 4 oz each, by weight, of water and flour and put it in a clean jar. This becomes my Levain for my upcoming bake. What’s left of my original stash after removing the 4 oz. is the “discard”. I save it to make pancakes or whatever.

Sometimes I want to keep another one going, so I weigh what’s left and feed that too, using equal weights of water and flour. Now I have two active jars to keep or give away. You can give away the unfed bit too, with instructions on how to feed it right away and keep it going.

I started baking with sourdough last year and have been having a lot of fun with it. I just mixed up a huge batch of fed starter to dry some in case something dreadful happens to my jar. I should have a pitcherful by morning. The dried starter is also easy to share.

Thanks Trail and Saypoint. Super helpful. Off to divide and conquer!

Saypoint, drying some starter to have a back-up and to share is a great thing to do. Are you spreading it out to dry? I did that for years but recently tried mixing flour into the starter in the processor to make granules that are nearly dry from the start. If you have to mail the dried starter, the granules are easier to mail than hard bits and they soften back up faster. Thought I would mention it in case you haven't heard of that method.

Lascatx, yes, spreading it out. Have never heard of adding flour and using a processor. Interesting. Will have to check that out. Thanks.

On TFL “ the fresh loaf” one of the members came up with the name NMNF starter. no muss no fuss. There isn’t any reason to keep your stored starter fed. All you do is is as lascatx says and thicken it till it’s a dough consistency or even as she suggests create your own yeast by making a powder. It only takes a few grams of the stored starter to grow your levain. It reconstitutes easily from a thickened or dried state . As you run low make extra levain and add to your storage. You should actually never have discard. Always make what you need no more. I have to make discard if I want the King Arthur waffles! They are the best! ( Trailrunner)

Anyone freeze their starter for a while. I need a break from bread making!

Yes I have done it many times. Thicken it so it’s like play dough. Wrap tightly and freeze. You can also thin it till runny and paint it onto wax paper and air dry then store the flakes. Or just thicken it and leave in fridge covered tightly. I’ve kept it for 6 months like that with no feeding

I need a little reassurance....My family is loving the bread I've been making and wants more, so today I decided to divide my starter and create a second one. This is what I did: I measured the entire amount of starter (505 grams) and divided that into two containers of 252g each of starter. Then I added the 252 grams each of flour and water to each container and mixed it up. I tasted the mixture and it doesn't have nearly as much tang as before. Is this because it was just fed? Or did I add too much flour and water? Both containers are marked with tape and sitting out for a couple of hours before going to the fridge. If I did it correctly and it doubles, when can I take some out to use?

Thanks.

Jo

To create a new levain from starter ( levain raises the bread and starter is your base storage) you should take out 10-50 grams only of starter and first feeding add 100 g flour and 100 g water stir and leave till bubbly so that would be between 220-250 levain if you need more for your recipe feed again to get the final amount you need to bake your bread and let double at room temp. You can then use it right then or mark it and store to use in a couple days.

Now just to throw another wrinkle in you can actually take unfed stored starter from the fridge and just use the amount you need to make your recipe! Yep no need to feed at all. Will have lots of tang and take a longer time to rise but it works great!

If you think about it stored starter is just levain waiting for food. You can feed it first then use and bread rises faster but it’s all good.

one more wrinkle: add 1/2 tsp active dry yeast to the water and dissolve it and you will get amazing Sourdough with a slightly quicker more reliable rise but no reduction in lovely SD quality or flavor.

Ugh, so have I ruined the starter? Everything I read said 1:1:1. Will it develop a tang again? Is it salvageable? It is rising nicely as I type.

No -- you did great. If you want more starter to maintain. Sounds like Caroline and I work pretty much the same way. When you have just fed the starter, it is diluted by all you fed it, but will eat and get fat and happy again. If you want more tang, you feed a little less or let it go a bit longer. I like to use my starter when It is fat and happy, as I call it -- cuz then it is maxed out and ready to get growing in the dough. No catching up to do. But I have used it right out of the fridge (works better if you have been using it regularly. If it has been parked and lonely for a month or two, it will definitely benefit from a couple of feedings first.

Pink, you can freeze starter, but it loses potency and takes up freezer space. I keep mine in the fridge and there have been periods where I did not use it for a month or two. I've heard of people who have gone much longer and taken a small spoonful from the bottom and restarted their starter. It just needs at lest two feedings to get going again. If that will leave me with more starter than I can use plus have put back in the fridge what I want to keep, that or if my baking gets delayed by a day or two are the only times I have any discard. It happens occasionally, but I try to avoid it. If you don't have any dried, that is also a good time to take some of the extra fed starter and dry it for a backup or sharing.

Remember that sourdough or levain have been used for centuries. If the gold rushers could keep sourdough going without exact measurements, differing conditions and whatever life threw at them, you can too. Butt keeping a little dried is a great way to ensure you don't have to start over if things get really wonky (happened to me once when my dad was sick and in the hospital and I was looking after him and my mom -- got left on the counter unfed for at least a week or two in summer. It was disgusting. LOL).