Recipe in Russian (run it through the google translation) https://brotgost.blogspot.com/2018/12/blog-post.html?fbclid=IwAR2XYpM14tgTXPgoKt1db3XS9petMTSEBnKbZpbSktLuj4YMkiQ_rIiUXxY&m=1
I baked this bread several times with great success, but this time I made several mistakes and the crumb surely shows it.
First thought looking at this crumb: weak starter
My liquid starter (made by fermenting white rye malt and raisins with small addition of vinegar) was less bubbly and fizzy than I wanted. I can think of two reasons:
-temperature of incubation was too high
-addition of vinegar was too big (and a piece of vinegar mother got into my jar, too)
Opara made with this ferment worked really slow. And I also made it too dense.
Final dough was overhydrated.
So the final result is an extremely tasty and flavorful loaf with really ugly looking crumb. It's rather acidic (which isn't a feature of this bread, if made properly) but really nice to eat. The dense crumb has a pleasant, soft, cakey mouthfeel.
And down below, a picture from my archive, showing how this magnificent bread should look like:
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Thanks for posting. Failure analysis is very useful especially coming from experienced bakers.
My batch has been at 29C for 40 hours and still no signs of fizzing. I'm stirring every few hours as suggested in his blog, hoping to see some activity by the 48 hour mark.
I was distracted when I mixed it up initially so maybe I make a mistake.
I was hoping that by starting in the early evening Wednesday, I'd be ready to make the preferment this evening (Frida) and do the remainder Saturday morning. I certainly can't do anything at 1AM!
I'm usually quite good with organoleptic testing of starters/ferments etc. but this time something definitely went wrong. I tried to post a video how the fizzy and ready to go brazhka (wort like liquid preferment) should look like, but the size of the file was to large to upload. Anyway, it should really be quite carbonated, have a pleasant smell, slightly like very young apple cider, and pleasant acidic taste with sweet notes. Mine was tasting very nice, so bacteria were working well, but wasn't yeasty enough, that's for sure.
If both of you had the same problem with this bake, then wouldn't it be related to the recipe?
The bread looks fine to me, yeast must be working to produce a crumb like that even though it looks a little dense. Could sugar be added as suggested by Mariana to the liquid starter to make the yeast stronger?
Recipe is good, I made it many times before. Look at the difference between "good" and "bad" bread. But the "bad" is still perfectly edible and actually, I think my impatience is a main culprit. And curiosity, as well. I really wanted to know what will happen when I proceed, even though I knew the starter wasn't perfect.
Gotcha. Unlike using a proven existing starter, making bread from a new starter made on the fly seems fascinating to me, something I have never tried before. Thanks for sharing it.
It's really fun method. I did similar thing with oats and raisins. Oats ferment in a very nice way creating very similar acidity to rye
Marta if the video file is too large, post it to youtube and then post the link here.
Thank you, Benny! I never thought about posting anything on you tube, but I think I may try!
I'm a newcomer to your bakes and blog and find myself looking forward to your posts. Thanks for sharing your work with us.
–AG
Thank you so much for your kind words. I like this platform so much more than facebook or instagram
This is how the liquid preferment should look like: https://youtube.com/shorts/2p4lF_BP6QQ?feature=share
It looks very active with plenty of yeasty and lacto activity going on in that mixture, thanks for sharing it.
Yup, and the one for this ugly bread was nowhere near this activity. Still, the bread is insanely delicious, even better today