Starter too wet?
I'm working with a 14 day-old sourdough starter...I got the recipe from Alton Brown's baking book. It calls for 200% hydration. The first use, in a recipe from the same book, gave excellent results, albeit with some commercial yeast thrown in for a faster rise. Subsequent uses in my own recipe-in-process, also with additional yeast, have not risen as well, although I did pull off a very well-received baguette in the last. I have yet to find any mention of a starter beyond 100% hydration anywhere else. Other than being thinner it seems to be everything a starter should: good smell, good color, very even consistency, and copious bubbles after feeding. I'm using baker's percentages, generally around 65% by adding only the needed flour to a quantity of starter, and a little salt. The flavor has been there...just not the rise, troublesome only b/c of the added yeast. I'd love to get to a point where I'm using only the starter for leavening, baking a 1lb loaf 2-3 times per week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Since I can't find anything relevant, I don't know what impact the hydration level is having on the performance of the starter.
How much are you feeding your starter when you feed it?
Reinhart is adamant about at least doubling the starter everytime you feed it....I'm not sure the reasoning for this, but it's why there is throw away starter when feeding a starter....commercial bakeries wouldn't have this problem, but a home baker could wind up with too much starter if they didn't throw away some before doubling or tripling when feeding.
Why does Reinhart emphasize doubling, tripling, or quadrupling when feeding? I'm not sure, but he is adamant about this. Hammelman uses a %125 hydration starter, which isn't much different than a %100 starter.
%100 starter is easy to calculate and use actually. If you have 10 oz. of leftover starter when feeding, you know that you have 5 oz. water, and 5 0z. flour. This 10 oz. starter can be added to a yeasted bread recipe instead of throwing it out, and you know exactly how much flour and water to subtract from the recipe to compesate for the flour/water in the starter.
There are also descriptions of "when" the starter is at it's strongest to use in a formula. Usually at the time when the starter has risen (doubled/tripled) after feeding and is just starting to collapse.....hope this is helpful.....I'm not a sourdough expert......but these are the things they point out consistently in the books.
Reinhart also discusses at length about refrigerating the starter when it's doubled/tripled after feeding...to slow the process down to have the starter ready when you are.....feedings should be at least three days before using.
Hope this is helpful?
It is. After rereading Brown's instructions, along with dozens of various articles online, it appears I'm significantly underfeeding my starter. I'm on my way to the store now to get some better equipment for managing the starter. For now I'll maintain the 200% hydration, if for no other reason than trusting that is someone like Alton Brown put it in his book it probably works well when properly manged. It's likewise easy to use in recipe calculations. I should also probably draw upon my brewing experience...I always build my yeast starter as close to 72 hours before pitching as possible, to maximize cell count.
Of course, I still have dozens of questions (how the heck does one manage a 70%+ dough...I'm having enough trouble with the low 60s) but I need to do more reading through the forum before asking. They've likely been answered if I dig deeply enough.
The higher hydration doughs get a little bit different treatment. Generally, and I mean generally-everyone is a little different. There is a mixing period...then resting of the dough....then there are slam, stretch, and fold techniques....and also stretch and fold at twenty/thirty minute intervals two or three times...There are some good postings on this, but I don't know how to retrieve them.