March 7, 2018 - 1:53am
Strength of a Stiff Levain?
I've always run a 100% hydration starter and levain, but just out of interest I'm having a go at a stiff levain similar to Gérard Rubaud's 3 stage build with a hydration of about 55%.
My question is whether a stiff starter is considered to be "stronger" weight for weight than a liquid one?
On the one hand there is more flour in a given weight of thick starter which might give more leavening power, but on the other, the 100% has more liquid which could be full of yeast and bacteria.
Are there any known conversion factors or is it simply a case of using the same weight of levain whether thick or thin?
Lance
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Are good for weak gluten flours. There will be flavour differences too. And don't forget to take the preferment flour percentage into account. Like you have said, weight for weight the percentage of flour within a low hydration starter will be more.
431. Do you have his book? If not I'll transcribe the paragraphs for you.
Another resource: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/stiff-starter/
hester
Thanks Hester; yes I have the book and I understand how to do the maths to do such a conversion.
What I really meant, and obviously I didn't make it clear, is this:
If I have say 200g of stiff levain will it have less, more, or the same leavening power as 200g of liquid leaven?
As a crude analogy, 200g of IDY would have 3X the leavening power of 200g fresh yeast.
Is there a similar variance between stiff and liquid leavens? Obviously the variance wouldn't be as extreme as the yeast example.
above my pay grade. Apologies for my misunderstanding.
P.s. The one or 2 times I used a stiff starter the leavening power was equally as good but I found i had less leeway in terms of time. I recall I was supposed to use it when it had domed and b/f it fell. This leaves less wiggle room. But I also recall the leavening power being just as good, if not better. But I'm old and my memory might be faulty. lol
Good luck
hester
my starter is approx 65% hydration stored in the fridge. Maybe I should try using a refreshed newly built levain at 65% hydration for Trevor’s country champlain instead of at 100% hydration and see if that helps with dough strength and the high % spelt and rye.
food for thought indeed. great idea Abe.
Lance, I too wonder your point above.
Leslie