About homofermentative LAB

Toast

Hi everyone.

I've read some book about sourdough.

If we want more lactic acid flavor, we can encourage the homofermentative LAB in starter at high hydration and temperature(30-35 Celsius).

But after we made starter into Levain or dough, do we need to keep at higher temperature?

Will the heterofermentative LAB become dominant bacteria if the dough Bulk ferment at room temperature(20-25 Celsius)?

 

Best regards,

SDY

A.  You don't know what is in your starter.  It may be entirely homofermentative.  It could be entirely obligately heterofermentative.   It could be entirely facultatively heterofermentative.  Or it could be two or all three in random ratio.  Temperature will affect the outcome only if you have facultatively heterofermentative LAB in your starter.

B.  Temperature affects fermentation pathways, not the ratio of LAB species in your starter.

What you’re asking is quite a complex topic. I found this post to be a good introduction: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10375/lactic-acid-fermentation-sourdough

If you are looking for ways to increase the sour taste by using different temperatures, then you should have a look at this thread: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/57674/increasing-sourdough-tang

Note however that there are other ways to go about it too, such as increasing the proportion of whole wheat