I keep seeing sourdough starters all over socials. How can sourdough starters be many years old. Don’t you need to use the starter to make the bread? ELI5!
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I’m a professional baker kind of specialized in naturally leavened products like sourdough. A lot of people have explained how they work and they’re right. What I want to say is that an old starter really isn’t that old. As far as I’m concerned it’s really only as old as its last feeding and it usually only takes around three weeks to get a starter going from scratch.
The culture itself doesn’t come from the air as so many people think. The wild yeast and lactobacillus are present in the flour already, and adding water allows them to wake up and start fermenting. This is important to remember when cultivating a starter as leaving it open to air flow isn’t really necessary. It’s also important to realize that when you’re feeding the starter you’re incorporating new yeast and bacteria that might impact the balance of the culture.
Furthermore, the feeding schedule, temperature, feeding ratio, and bill of grains will impact the balance of the culture. Feeding it while keeping it dormant in the fridge will have a different profile than keeping it at room temperature all day. Each have their advantages and drawbacks. Depending on the desired final product you may choose any combination of variables to suit your needs.
Ultimately what I’m saying is a 100 year old starter just means that someone remembered to feed it for 100 years. And I’m not dismissing that accomplishment, that’s actually pretty cool, and it’s nice to have a family heirloom like that, it just isn’t really much different from a starter I can make in a few weeks.
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