Check out Day 4’s instructions here
You’ve reached starter day 5 – your starter should be bubbling nicely! If it is, congratulations – you have a viable starter and can use some of it to start baking straight away.
Now’s the time to grab your storage container (see the notes on getting ready to make your starter for more information) and get it sterilised. Then you can transfer any starter that you haven’t used into it for storage. Never use up all your starter! Always have some held back in your storage container – you should aim to always refresh too much starter each time you want to bake so that you can put some back in the pot for next time. Otherwise you’ll have to start again and make another starter.
Storage
You can keep your starter in the fridge in between bakes. This is especially useful if you don’t bake every day. If not kept in the fridge, your starter will need feeding each day with new water and flour, which can be wasteful if you’re not going to bake. Once in the fridge, the yeast and beneficial bacteria will slow down, almost to the point of inactivity. You may find, if your starter has been in the fridge a while, you may need to do a couple of feeds in order to kickstart your starter back into life.
Get baking!
So now you have a viable rye starter and you can get baking! Check back soon for some recipe suggestions for using your starter.
Want to find out more about all things sourdough? Check out my upcoming sourdough breads classes here.