TIL my sourdough starter needs half the flour I thought it did after reading a 1960s baking pamphlet

I picked up a beat-up pamphlet from 1963 at an estate sale in Portland last weekend. Turns out commercial yeast was way more expensive back then so they used way less in recipes. I've been dumping double the flour into my starter for 2 years for nothing. Anyone else find old baking books that changed how they do things?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_hayes8d ago

That "commercial yeast was way more expensive" detail explains so much about why old recipes feel different. I ran into the same thing with a 1970s Betty Crocker cookbook I found at a thrift store. My starter was always sluggish until I cut the flour back to match what they used back then. Now I do a 1:1:1 ratio with less water too and it bubbles like crazy. What recipe did you try first with the corrected flour amount?

jones.angela8d ago

I read something about how flour in the 70s was coarser and less processed, so recipes called for more to get the same rise. That matches my first try with a simple white bread from my grandma's old notebook, where I had to drop the flour by almost a cup before the dough felt right. Swapping to a 1:1:1 ratio like you mentioned really woke up my starter too, now it doubles in about five hours flat.