My BIL generously gave me dough starter (levain) and I’m thrilled but terrified, lol!

[Ginevra]

As I mentioned, I am getting into baking bread and was planning to make a wild yeast starter. My sister’s DH is a chef and he gave me a portion of his 8-year-old levain. I am so excited! But I’m also a little like, “OMG! What have I done?! I have this living thing in a yogurt tub in my fridge now, but I am a little, baby virgin bread baker!“ I don’t really know what I’m doing and I am afraid of messing up this precious yeast starter. 

Help me not kill my levain and make some good bread this week. 

 

[Liz CA]

Is it anything like sourdough? Sourdough is an easy baby to care for. Feed, use, store somewhere cold - rinse and repeat.

Did your BIL give you any directions with the starter?

[Guest]

He said it was basically ready and I just need to wake it up. But I was too shy and distracted to say, “yeah, but I don’t really know what I’m doing so...what am I doing?” 

[Guest]

Oh, and yeah, it is pretty much like sourdough starter. 

[Liz CA]

11 minutes ago, Quill said:

Oh, and yeah, it is pretty much like sourdough starter. 

 

With sourdough you take it out of the fridge and "feed" it equal parts of flour and water. Then let it sit at room temperature until it bubbles up visibly. When my sourdough is bubbly, it's ready to process into bread dough.

I understand the feeling of panic. Take a little of the starter and put it in a separate jar back into the fridge. Should something happen to the rest, you have more starter to feed. I think if you don't use the backup starter, you still need to feed it small amounts of flour & water once a week just to keep it alive.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Liz CA said:

 

With sourdough you take it out of the fridge and "feed" it equal parts of flour and water. Then let it sit at room temperature until it bubbles up visibly. When my sourdough is bubbly, it's ready to process into bread dough.

I hope it works! I’m nervous! 

[Liz CA]

1 minute ago, Quill said:

I hope it works! I’m nervous! 

 

Nothing bad can really happen. Just don't leave the original starter at temps over F85 or so for a long time. This would kill my sourdough but I am not sure about a yeast starter.

[happi duck]

I would email and say "now that I have the starter at home I'm afraid to mess it up!  Can you please give me written beginner instructions?" 

[Lecka]

It should be okay in your refrigerator a while, it sounds like it’s dormant right now.

You have time to ask him about feeding it (aka probably adding flour or flour and water or something like that).  

You might be able to divide it and work with it in two sections, in case you mess one up.  But you probably won’t, I think sourdough at least is very forgiving.

I know King Arthur cookbooks have a lot of recipes and are easy to understand, you might check at the library.  

[klmama]

Google.  I just googled "levain" and got a lot of hits, some videos on using it, etc. After you read and watch a bit, you'll know better what questions to ask your BIL.

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, klmama said:

Google.  I just googled "levain" and got a lot of hits, some videos on using it, etc. After you read and watch a bit, you'll know better what questions to ask your BIL.

Yes, I found some instructions on King Arthur Flour website and think I will follow them. ? 

[mumto2]

Somewhat off topic but I can’t help but recommend a fun fiction book called Sourdough by Robin Sloan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough.  It’s fiction but all about the gift of a special sourdough starter!

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

Somewhat off topic but I can’t help but recommend a fun fiction book called Sourdough by Robin Sloan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough.  It’s fiction but all about the gift of a special sourdough starter!

I’ll have to check it out! Thanks! 

It was William Alexander’s memoir, 52 Loaves that led to my interest in baking. 

[Lecka]

I’m just going to add.... even though your BIL’s recipe is 8 years old, for sourdough at least, once it is started, after a short time it is what it is.  It isn’t like a wine or something that gets better with age.  It is just an established starter.

I think it’s really cool to have old starters and pass them around.  I like that with plants, also.  I have had mums that came from my mom’s garden, that came from a great-aunt’s garden, that were brought to that area by her friend, etc.  

They are more special.

But they are also just mums, and they are forgiving.  And, there are also more where they came from, since they are established in my mom’s yard.