November 10, 2015 - 2:45pm
Difference in crumb between sourdough and ciabatta
Hello
Is it normal for the crumb to be less open with sourdough?
My ciabatta is much more open. even if I up the hydration on the sourdough it is not as open as the ciabatta.
Plus my sourdough crust is more chewy. It is good. Just I think this is a sourdough thing. The ciabatta crust is more crispy
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What do you mean by sourdough? Sounds like you mean a specific type of bread. I think, around here, sourdough is generally understood as a natural leavening alternative to commercial yeast - people make sourdough ciabatta, for example.
I'm not sure if the crumb is commonly less open with sourdough. Acid comes to mind reducing the gluten, making it more dense, but that's never been my personal experience. All I know is that I've made both fluffy clouds and dense bricks with the same sourdough..!
What is your recipe for your sourdough loaf?
my ciabatta is a regular yeast dough and the other sough dough is a natural leaven bread.
So what I noticed is the crumb structure is different between the two types of yeast.
My natural leavened bread is not as open and the yeast ciabatta
for both doughs? If you do, then there is the start of the differences.
What I want to know is there a difference in the crust and crumb of a commercial yeast and a natural leaven bread
on various factors that can also act in combination. A single universal answer isn't really possible because even when you make the same type of bread substituting only the SD, the method and timing will change.
In addition, how noticeable the differences are can be somewhat personal depending on how finely you're able to differentiate.
That said, it is possible to make yeasted and SD breads that I can't consistently tell apart just by looking at them.
anyways the crust on my ciabatta with yeast is somewhat different than my SD bread,
Both are good just a little different in the crust. The SD is a little more chewier
Ingredients (particularly flours used and hydration level), autolyse, tang zhong, mixing and kneading process and time, oven setup, baking temperature, steam or no steam while baking.
I won't say sourdough versus commercial yeast won't make a difference in crumb texture for otherwise identical breads but it is a relatively minor factor. If you compare the two recipes side by side, you'll probably start to notice that there are a number of other differences between your ciabatta and your sourdough bread.
Paul