Is there any way to generalize what happens to a hearth bread or sourdough when you either increase or decrease the hydration rate? My understanding is that a highly hydrated dough produces a more open crumb.  Does that mean those loaves have to be baked longer than a lower hydration loaf using the same method and ingredients?  What's the lowest hydration level you could have and still expect to have a tender and delicate crumb in a sourdough?

Thanks in advance

I am reading Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book which is my very first introduction to bread baking techniques. Thats right, I am a newbe to the bread baking world. I have zero knowledge with starters, bigas, poolishes, soakers ect. and I must say I am completley overwelmed and very confused with chapter 3 of Peter's book.

My questions do not pertain to sourdough breads. My interest lay in Italian breads and also breads make from freshly grinded whole wheat berries.

In reading Chapter 3, it describes how to make a starter very well and it also tells how to make a biga and a poolish very well. I am not into sourdough baking so I am confused; In what situation would I use one over the other? In other words, what is the difference in a Starter, biga, and poolish and in what situations would I use one over the others? Is a "Starter" only used in the making of Sourdough breads?

Also, I thought that making a starter or biga was to create a yeast? Right or wrong? If I am correct, then why does Peter use instant yeast on his final dough recipe? (page 82 of chapter 3)

thanks in advance...

Bryan

Hi all:

I am working on a sourdough rye right now.  It's on its second build, is proofing in the fridge, and due space and time issues has been there since Saturday afternoon.  By the time I bake it this evening, it will have been proofing for nearly 48 hours.  Am I still going to have bread, or will I likely just be baking a HUGE starter?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

Igwiz

My starter will celebrate his first birthday next month. It seems to be very robust, however two issues have plagued the process since starting. These issues are flavor and proofing, which may be related.

Process overview:

Flour (KA Bread) 100%

Water 65%

Starter 20% (have varied the hydration levels from 50% to 150%)

Salt 2%

Autolyse 20 min, add salt, first rise 2hrs, strech and fold, another 2hr rise, strech and fold, preshape, overnight in refrigerator, warm up then shape with final proof up to 3hrs.

The kitchen is typically ~70 F for the proof. Loaves look good, but oven kick can be as much as 50% as displayed in the attached pics. Minimal SD tanginess.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John Ambrose

I fed my sourdough starter but forgot to throw out half of it first.  Is it ruined or can I throw out half of it now, and refeed?  I have had this starter for several weeks, have actually baked a few pretty good loaves from it, and would hate to have messed it up! Please help!!

Hi Everyone!!

I began baking sourdough from my own starter about a year and a half ago and have had steady success.

I started to make the Poilane-Style Miche from BBA last weekend, but my plans changed and I couldn't finish it.  I made the firm starter, let it double, but stopped there.  It's now been in the fridge for 6 days.  I wanted to make this bread this weekend, but am wondering if I need to throw out what I did last week and start from scratch, or should the firm starter still be fine?  Will there be any difference with the additional 5 days in the fridge?

Thanks in advance.

Hilary

Hello Everyone.

I am starting a sourdough starter again since my old one "die" due to several problems.  Anyway, I choose the "pineapple juice "formular of the "sourdo lady".  It is now on it 8 days and doing poorly.  On the 4 days it double and I was very excited that it is on its way to maturity.  After that day it went down hill and now appear "puffy" but never rise!  I religiously follow the instructions.  What is wrong?  I use rye flour which I just bought from the Natural foods store .  Please, please help.

mantana

I have made sourdough 5 times now and it keeps turning out flat. The directions I have say to put the formed loaf on a baking sheet and let it rise. The problem is it "rises" the wrong way. It gets bigger, but not by getting taller it gets wider. Is there some sort of pan for a sourdough loaf? Is there some trick to getting it to rise and not just widen? This is really frusterating me! I don't want flatbread, I want beautiful half circle sourdough loaf. =O 

I've read a lot of posts here (great group of folks) but I'm still confused about what I need to do prior to using my starter.

I have been just taking it out of the fridge and using it to make a barm, providing I've fed it in the last three days. My rising has taken much longer than the recipes call for,

even at warm temps, and my bread is still pretty dense.. Should I be letting the starter get to RT before using? Shou;d I feed it nearer to using and leave at RT?

Any advice appreciated.

BH

I am new to the sourdough game and thought that I was doing so well as my starter took off over the first 3 days. The problem was that I had an unexpected business trip that I had to go on and needed to refrigerate my new starter.

I have been trying to revive the starter for several days now but I am just getting a whole lot of Hooch and no activity. I have been feeding 2:1 KA AP flour and 80 F tap water 2-3 times/day but it just wont take off like it did from the get go. One thing I have not been doing is discarding as I feed. I was under the impression that you only discarded as the beasties grew.

Please help...I dont want to start over again.