Sourdough Starter Instead of Yeast

Hey Lazy Bakers!

So, just posted the Danish Twist recipe, and wanted to talk about using your own sourdough starter instead of the yeast in the recipe. It's actually what I do most of the time. The general rule of thumb (etymology of that phrase is associated with milling/baking, so always appropriate in a baking blog) is you need 100g of active, alive, awesome starter.

Two things to remember if you go this route:

1 Because your starter is generally 50% water, you need to reduce the milk in the recipe accordingly. In the Twist, it calls for 180g milk, so reduce to 130g milk if you are using starter instead of instanty yeast. Same goes for the flour - reduce accordingly.

2 Rising will take MUCH longer. The first proof has taken as long as four or five hours in cool weather. The second can take up to three hours.

Is it worth it? YES.