Is there a formula between % starter and fermantation times?

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gong on 8 Nov 2016 at 00:52

Hi,

I was wondering how do you calculate BF and proofing times according to the percentage of sourdough starter.

For example I saw in a site that by using ~30% starter in your dough, you could expect about 3-4-5 hours of BF.

Can I somehow calculate this? I want for example to kneed in the afternoon, BF all night and place in bannetons in the morning, so as to bake in the afternoon after work. Can I somehow calculate how much starter I should use in my dough? BF will be almost 10-11 hours and proofing 8 hours (which will be probably in the fridge?)

Thanks

Can you control the temperature of your bulk rise?

Can you control the activity of the sourdough starter itself?  If so, how reliable is that control?

I, myself, can control the former and not the latter.

 

well even the temperature is quite difficult to control. Either I have 20-22oC in the kitchen or 5oC in the fridge.

As for the starter, of course I cannot control the activity, but I think it's rather active. I feed it 2 time before starting the process with ratio of 1:1:1 (that is 50g sourdough, 50g flour, 50g water)

If the standard 3:2:1 sour dough formula gives a 4 hour bulk fermentation period , halving the amount of starter should take twice as long to bulk ferment, it is something that you will need to play around with a bit i suspect. You may need to make up for the half that is being omitted by adding equal parts flour and water it just that it wont have the activity in it but will bring the formula back on track. keep a record of what you are doing so that it can be either replicated or  tweeked as the case may be.

Kind regards Derek