Hi All,
I am returning to baking sour-dough bread after a long hiatus (quarantine is the mother of invention). I created a new starter 1 week ago and have baked 2 loaves with it (day 5,6 on the starter timeline). The recipe calls for AP but I only have bread flour. While they both have flaws:
- not enough oven spring
- a bit dense
- fairly big holes,
the second loaf was better than the first.
I made a couple of adjustments to the 2nd loaf: increased hydration slightly to compensate for higher protein bread Flour, reduced mix/kneading time as i thought that the limited rise was a function of over-development.
The recipe has a 1 hour autolyse, a 2.5 hour bulk ferment with 2 folds, 2.5 hour proof. It has a 67% hydration, 14% pre-fermented flour and ~25% of flour is WW or rye.
My questions:
1. how much of my problems with oven spring/density are a funciton of a new starter that is still developing "power"?
2. is the hydration the issue? should i increase hydration more to compensate for protein. i increased to 75% for today's bake
3. are the big holes a problem with de-gassing? If so, at what point should i de-gass? during shaping or folding?
4. what is the effect of the kneading time on the outcome? does a lot of kneading constrain the rise of the bread?
Thanks for any help provided.
Josh
-- Just now saw the photo. Under-fermented.
-- Yes, your new starter can raise a loaf, but the strength and "balance" (lactic acid bacteria versus yeast) is going to change in these early stages. It has neither "matured" nor has the balance been stabilized. The time-table of when the maturing and balancing happens varies from individual to individual. A good rule of thumb is at least 4 days after starter at least doubles after a 1:1:1 feeding, and more likely 7 days, maybe two weeks over all. So, if you mean 5/6 days since you first mixed flour and water, you still have a "baby" starter. (WW and rye starters work up quicker than white flour, but still take time to balance out.)
-- It can work, but whatever tweaks/adjustments you do at this point will need to be re-tweaked in a few days cuz the starter hasn't matured, it's changing.
Totally agree with everything idaveindy says here!
You need more time, amigo
so what's the call -- can i extend the fermentation time or do i just need to give the starter a few more days?
Starter seems to provide a bit more buoyancy. Are those holes just a de-gassing problem? This bake was done on starter day 9.
That is definitely going in the right direction. To answer your question, maybe a bit of both, proper folding at the time of preshape/shape, and a _little_ degassing; but also the starter could use few more days.
How's the taste?
it's a nice bread. mild tang. nice wheat flavor.