Leaven sinking like a rock....
my starter is about three weeks old, give or take a few days. I've baked twice with it, and although the leaven "floated," I simply didn't trust it to completely do the job of adding air to my bread, so I cheated with a bit of yeast. Today was supposed to be my first yeast free bake and, after messing around all week with flour percentages (whole wheat, AP, rye, tile grout - just kidding on that one) and weights of the actual starter (30 grams, 60 grams, 60 grams and so on) last night I made the leaven according to the tartine country bread recipe and this morning, 10 hours into it, I attempted to get the starter to float. It sunk like it had on cement shoes. should I again resort to supplementing it with a bit of yeast and swear to never mess around with my starter formula again or give it a couple of hours to ferment a bit more? Will that make a difference? Darn.
Not to say that I make much ado over nothing, but, yes, I am an alarmist. 30 minutes later and she floats. Whew. here's to my first bake without a commercial starter. I'm all atwitter!
working with a starter is a lot like working with a toddler who is stuck in the "terrible two" stage! There are days they are angels and days when they will push you right to the edge, and days when they just refuse to participate at all!! Good luck, I'm sure it's going to be delicious!