Trailrunner, some sourdough questions...
jojoco
3 years ago
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HU-797908698
3 years agoSaypoint zone 6 CT
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Sourdough Bread Question
Comments (2)You have to start a "starter". Check out the thread linked below for how to do that. Linda C Here is a link that might be useful: starter...See MoreSourdough Bread Question
Comments (3)I would suggest you give the starter another 4 days to a week to "age" a bit. Then first making sure you have enough to keep some back, take out what you need for your recipe about 3-4 hours after it has been fed. [You don't want to use all your starter in your recipe and have none left to keep in the frig - do you? Then you would have to start all over again.] Prepare your recipe just after the starter has expanded all it's going to expand. It will just go down hill from there. When you add the recipe ingredients to it, it will recognize the feast you are giving it and go to town on that. It is alive, you know? Teresa...See MoreAnother Sourdough Question(s)
Comments (43)Primer: Pre-ferment is a method by which a small dough is made of yeast, flour and water, to develop the activity and flavor of the yeast, usually overnight. "Ferment" refers to the yeast activity in the final bread dough. Biga (Italian) and levain (French) are pre-ferments. Usually, however not exclusively, bigas are made with commercial yeast, and levains are made with sourdough starter or saved levain starter. Those distinctions refer to the origins of the words. Many bakers use the words interchangeably. If you're not sure, just say "pre-ferment" and you're covered. Similarly, banneton, a woven basket, usually lined with cloth (French) and brotform, a coiled basket, less often lined with cloth (German) are used interchangeably for both types. In English, you can say "bread form" or "dough basket". Many people say "proofing basket", but I don't care for the word "proof" as a synonym for "rise". I'm not old, but I remember proving cake yeast before dry yeast was stable, but fresh yeast could have died. The yeast was proven (i.e., "proofed"), when the biga rose. The rises of the main dough were a given unless something really bad happened. Nowadays, people just toss in dried yeast and expect it to rise, and it does, so they proof in the baskets. This is a persnickety quibble that has no real meaning to anyone but me. :) Hydration refers to the weight of water in the dough based on the amount of flour, and is usually expressed as a percentage. The flour is always 100%. If there are different flours in the dough, then they have partial percentages, e.g., 95% unbleached white flour and 5% whole wheat (a substitute for European style bread flour). Add them up and they equal 100% because the flour is always 100%. This allows one to discuss, clearly, the amount of water in the dough, which can be more useful than adjectives such as loose, wet, sticky, tight, tacky, etc. If you have 1000g total of flour in your dough, and your recipe calls for 68% hydration, you would use 680g of water. If you have 650g of white flour, 120g of whole wheat, and 30g of rye flour, for a total of 800g flour, 68% hydration would mean 544g of water. These percentages really only apply to what's in the bowl. When you do your stretch and folds on additional flour, you're changing the percentage. When you wet your hands to do them, you're also changing the percentage. So they make it easier to talk about baking, but every baker is still going to have slightly different results. Factor in environment--flour absorbs humidity from the air, and also releases it and dries out. It also has a fat component, though much less with white flour, especially bleached. (Put your white flour in a half full, air tight container for a year (i.e., trapping in some air so oxidation will take place), and even the bleached stuff will smell rancid when you open it up (personal experience talking).) If you oil your surfaces, hands, etc., a trace of oil can also be added, mostly negligible, but sometimes a few drops can make a big difference. With all of those factors, as well, the percentages refer to the basic recipe, and the rest is whatever works for you. Like S&P to taste. Experience is king. Repetition is important. Getting a feel for it is crucial....See MoreSourdough starter question
Comments (26)Chris, if your kitchen isn't arctic, your starter should be fine on the counter while you're feeding it daily. If you have a heavy stone counter that never warms up to ambient, put the starter on a pot holder or something to insulate it from the cold mass. It doesn't need to be warmed. Even if most of the yeast died, there should be some left in there. The oven light shouldn't be hot enough to kill the yeast. Where there are bubbles, there's hope! My own guess is that the yeast gorged in the relative heat and settled in for a post-prandial nap. Let us know if it perks up on the next feeding....See Morejojoco
3 years agolascatx
3 years agoSaypoint zone 6 CT
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHU-797908698
3 years agol pinkmountain
3 years agoHU-797908698
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agojojoco
3 years agoHU-797908698
3 years agojojoco
3 years agolascatx
3 years ago
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