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Is this picture ok?

sallam's picture
sallam

Is this picture ok?

Greetings

I've been making a new starter from scratch. Its now 8 days. It rises 2x in 3 hours when 20% inoculated (20g starter, 30g water, 50g flour), so I thought I give it a test by using the discard to make a poolish for pizza dough.

So I did a 125% hydration poolish consisting of:
- 70g starter
- 700 water
- 560g AP flour

Its been 11 hours now, and the poolish looks a bit unusual compared to the poolish I'm used to when using instant dry yeast. very tiny scattered bubbles, lots of them in isolated areas, while the rest of the surface has hardly any bubbles. It tastes sour. I'm attaching its picture.

My question: is this a healthy poolish? is it ready to mix with the final dough now? or should I give it more time? or is the starter not ripe yet to use? should I give it more discard-feed cycles?

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

gas from yeast.  It isn't a poolish though, it's a levain or a preferment and I suggest you add more flour and thicken it up to a dough, include the salt and oil if you use some.  Using it will tell you if the starter is ready to use.  You could thicken up your starter culture as well so as to trap more gas bubbles.

I'm guessing you will be adding another 560g of flour or more.  Let the dough start to rise and then divide for pizzas.

sallam's picture
sallam

Many thanks Mini for your tips. You're right, I should use the word 'preferment' instead.

After posting the above picture, I tried giving it a stir, and bigger evenly spaced air bubbles began to show up immediately. Its been 15 hours now. I guess I should increase the seed quantity next time so that it ferments in more reasonable 8-hours or so.

I've followed your advice and mixed in the rest of the final dough ingredients. I'll wait and see how long it takes to rise.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

mature starter will.  At 15 hours is is past its prime so use it in the dough for pizza.

sallam's picture
sallam

I did, and it was a flat dense crust.

You're right. It is still very young. I'll keep discarding and feeding. If I use 1:3:3 (starter:water:flour, 100% hydration), how long should it take to double - when its fully mature and ready to use?

And what if I use 1:5:5 ?

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

to peak not just double.  See how long it takes with just the thicker consistency.   

something bothers me:  It rises 2x in 3 hours when 20% inoculated (20g starter, 30g water, 50g flour)

sallam's picture
sallam

I guess its because back then the starter hydration was so stiff (50% hydration). But it was a pain to dissolve in water, so I've just switched to 100% hydration today..