June 29, 2009 - 4:24pm
Advice regarding sourdough baking in hot weather
Janedo currently has a nice entry on her blog about sourdough starter feeding and sourdough baking during the heat of Summer. (It's in French, and I haven't checked the English version.)
Anyway, Jane offers some good things to think about as the weather heats up. (It's 106F where I am today.)
Here is a link:
http://aulevain.canalblog.com/archives/2009/06/22/14168757.html
Enjoy!
David
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Man oh man... the warm weather advise was great, but did you get a load of those glazed doughnuts...?? My waist gained 2 inches just looking...
- Keith
What she says, essentially, is:
Find a cool place (garage, cellar, etc.) to store your starter in hot weather.
Maintain it at a lower hydration level than you otherwise would.
Feed it more often (which makes sense if you're not going to keep it in the fridge.)
Add a bit of salt to slow down the fermentation. Of course, she says, consider that when you're preparing your bread recipes so that you don't over-salt the loaf.
Keep in mind that, if you use rye flour in your starter, it will ferment faster.
I started my sourdough experience last fall and now that hot weather is here, I had to learn a whole different handling routine for my starter. I'm using the refirigerator and planning ahead to take it out and feed it for 1-2 days prior to use to activate it.
I almost lost my starters to enzyme activity. The starter,normally like a thick pancake batter (100%) became watery,even though I used the same proprtions of flour/water as previously. And my loaves would not hold their shape-very flat,spreading batards. I was able to discard most of the starter,aggressively feed/discard it for a few days and then refirgerate and back off the feeding program. It is finally back and performing beautifully.
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Faulevain.canalblog.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F06%2F22%2F14...