My first successful "Isolation Sour Dough", though I've made lots of loaves non-sourdough. For my successful sourdough loaves I used my starter discard to make the sourdough bread recipe, so rather than 75 grams of starter I used 220 grams. Until this point I had difficulty producing a good loaf. Previously when after adding my 75 grams of starter, the kneading/turning and time, the dough would turn "thin" and loose, it lost structure. My recipe is always 77% hydration. Perhaps too much LAB Lactic Acid Bacteria in previous loaves and not enough yeast, and it was all about the building of yeast ration in the fridge? Then after refrigerating my starter, which may have turned it more Yeast dominant and quadrupling the amount of starter in the dough recipe, my bread turned out awesome and was easy peasie. I timidly turned/kneaded the dough, and this time it built structure, even after letting it sit for 24 hours. Both kneading and time where causing the dough to lose structure in the past using room temp starter. Anyway, I am not sure how this large quantity of starter has affected the good outcome or was it all about the yeast/bacteria ratio of my now refrigerated starter. I'll make a dough with the normal ratio/75 grams of starter from my fridge. Too many variables to control with rigor, or report easily but super glad I am producing great loaves with confidence. What is the logic when deciding what the percentage of starter should be in the dough recipe? ps I like the thinking that Bakery's use a levain or poulish for time constraints, efficiencies, but home bakers can get away with extra kneads and prolonged times and create the same effect.
October 19, 2020 at 2:58pm
My first successful "Isolation Sour Dough", though I've made lots of loaves non-sourdough. For my successful sourdough loaves I used my starter discard to make the sourdough bread recipe, so rather than 75 grams of starter I used 220 grams. Until this point I had difficulty producing a good loaf. Previously when after adding my 75 grams of starter, the kneading/turning and time, the dough would turn "thin" and loose, it lost structure. My recipe is always 77% hydration. Perhaps too much LAB Lactic Acid Bacteria in previous loaves and not enough yeast, and it was all about the building of yeast ration in the fridge? Then after refrigerating my starter, which may have turned it more Yeast dominant and quadrupling the amount of starter in the dough recipe, my bread turned out awesome and was easy peasie. I timidly turned/kneaded the dough, and this time it built structure, even after letting it sit for 24 hours. Both kneading and time where causing the dough to lose structure in the past using room temp starter. Anyway, I am not sure how this large quantity of starter has affected the good outcome or was it all about the yeast/bacteria ratio of my now refrigerated starter. I'll make a dough with the normal ratio/75 grams of starter from my fridge. Too many variables to control with rigor, or report easily but super glad I am producing great loaves with confidence. What is the logic when deciding what the percentage of starter should be in the dough recipe? ps I like the thinking that Bakery's use a levain or poulish for time constraints, efficiencies, but home bakers can get away with extra kneads and prolonged times and create the same effect.