So this was round three of starting my sourdough starter. This time I was feeding it whole wheat flour and weighing everything with the kitchen scale and I got starter that’s been happy and bubbling and passed the flOat test. I tried making a loaf of bread with it but unfortunately all I had was bleached all purpose flour. Also, when the recipe asked for me to stick it in the fridge overnight, someone Who will not be named.. (hubby).. Forgot to put it in the fridge overnight. I did not see any major rise to the dough but I decided to bake it anyway and it came out very hard and just incredibly dense on the inside. Really not edible. So I guess my question is, was my starter active enough or do I use the wrong flour all together. Or was it leaving it outside that killed the whole process? Is there anyway I can make bread with bleached all purpose flour? Also, I do not have a Dutch oven so I put a pan of water to steam in the oven with a covered roasted pan.. any thoughts would be appreciated!!
'Incredibly dense' sounds like underproofed (overproofed would end in a soupy mess). How old is your starter? If even after leaving the dough outside overnight didn't do much, it might be too young.
The flour is less likely the culprit unless it contains antibacterial stuff like iodine. Though the bleaching process likely rids it from valuable nutrients for your starter. But I'm currently using cheap AP and it works just fine, though not as ideal as my bread flour earlier.
It doesn't need to be a Dutch Oven, as long as it's some kind of heatproof oven dish with a lid, that works fine. I'm using a cheap pyrex dish from Ikea.
Also can you please give us your recipe so we can estimate some stuff better?
Ok, a couple of things.
1. Formula is only half (or LESS quite frankly) of the equation. Process is huge!!
You didn’t follow the process outlined in the recipe, and having that amount of time at room temperatures likely completely overfermented your dough. There isn’t really any recovering from a mistake like that for the most part, so there isn’t anything you could’ve done most likely (in the morning when you discovered what your husband had failed to do).
2. The other thing to consider as a new sourdough baker is that it’s possible (likely?) your starter is not active enough. This is like the number one problem with new sourdough bakers. What is your schedule and inoculation for the feedings you’re doing?
(Answering this question will help assess whether your starter is ready to make bread)
3. You can make sourdough with bleached AP flour. It will not perform like other (better) flours, but it can definitely work.
Can I ask what formula and process you are following for this bread?
This time, I was following the recipe online called Chef John's starter recipe and then his recipe for sourdough bread. Taking out 70 grams of starter and replacing with 70 grams all purpose flour and about 70 grams water. It had passed the float test and was doubling after each feed...
I would try the recipe again and follow the instructions and see where you end up. That will give us a lot more information as to what's going wrong (if anything!)
1) how long have you had your starter?
2) Does it rise over double after feeding? what does it smell like?
3) what recipe are you following?
You dont need a dutch oven, a roasting pan filled with boiling water is ok, I use rolled up tea towels in a roasting tray fileld with boiling water as this produces much more steam. Using a baking stone or sheet is beneficial as it gets extra heat into the dough quicker.