Using stiff sourdough starter to predict bulkfermentation time
Hi,
I have been busy with creating a mature sourdough starter by daily feeding it for atleast 4 months. It is a stiff star with the feeding ratio being 1 starter : 5 flour : 2,75 water : 0,0625 salt. It usually gets active after 2,5 - 3 hours an is tripled in volume in between 5-6 hours. It usually stays this way for a long time and never really gets back to its original volume within 24 hours. After 24 hours its usually between 1,75 - 2 times its original volume. Maybe thats because of it being a stiff starter.
Anyway, in all those hours i have been poking it to get a feel for the poke test. I figured that my starter is basically a small version of a 55% hydration dough with 20% starter added to it. So did I get a feel for the poke test. I dont know. It always jumps back. Also after 24 hours at 25 degrees celsius.
But i noticed that after 6 hours the dough felt a lot weaker when its tripled and at peakactivity. So I would say that the starter is at the point of overproofing at that time. Don't know if im right since im a real baker noob. But if im right should that mean that i should start being real vigilant at around 6 hours of proofing time when using this starter in a dough
Get rid of the salt - when in thins down to almost water (almost is the key) - feed it - use when thin. Expect differences from what you've been seeing. Enjoy!
Salt is fine in small quantities in a stiff starter. I routinely add 1% to my 50% hydration starter and it has been stable for nearly a year.
Lance
I’ve kept a 65% starter for over 25 years. I’ve never added salt. My starter lives in my fridge. I have never heard of adding salt to a mother starter or levain. What is the reasoning to do this?
It reduces proteolysis, according to Prof. Calvel. All I can say is, my starter is nice and healthy with it, but each to their own!
Lance
I remember reading that the amount of salt needed to reduce proteolysis is around 1/10 of the amount we usually use for bread. I think that came from the San Francisco Baker's Guild (or whatever it's called) web site.
OTOH, I tried salting my starter once and even 2% salt didn't seem to make a noticeable difference to its behavior. Too much salt over too long a time, though, tends to suppress the lactic acid bacteria. I achieved that with 6% salt over a period of weeks. Not that I was trying for that result - I was just trying out the salt.
TomP
As an experiment I made a starter using 2% salt from the off and it did nothing to slow down the starter maturing. I did notice two differences though. Firstly, it made a starter at a slow but steady pace, instead of the more erratic behaviour one normally sees in a non salted starter, but in end took the same amount of time. There was no initial burst of energy followed by a quiet period but rather slowly it gained in strength. And secondly, it was very mild. No strong sourdough flavour.
Trevor Wilson, for one of his recipes, does a long overnight autolyse however myself and others noticed a breakdown in the dough until we started to incorporate 2% salt and manged to get all the benefits of an autolyse due to the extended time (even though salt was added) without the proteolysis.
The German Monheimer Salzsäure uses salt (at usually 2%) to prepare rye sourdoughs that are stable for up to 48 h. The flavor profile is also supposed to be comparable to 2- and 3-stage rye sourdoughs. I imagine that concept could also be applied to non-rye SD.
I just try to make a more salt stable culture of yeast. Its a pretty vigorous starter. I made some great english muffins with it.