The Fresh Loaf

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Problems with my sourdough

master_wort's picture
master_wort

Problems with my sourdough


I have big problems with my wheat sourdough but my rye sourdougt works better. If you have any tips or can see what I do wrong or what I can do instead,just shoot it out :)  I have done few wheat sourdough but the result is the same.

I have for example following problem:
1)After just few days (2-4) it gets liquid in my wheat sourdough
2)the qheat sourdough have bad ferment power
3) see sometimes that people have sourdough that just bubbling overthe whole jar, never going to happen wth my sourdough

I use this principle with my sourdough
Stage 1: Make the sourdough
stage 2: For the first time I take around 50 g active sourdough + 100 g cold water + 100 g wheat flour and put it in the fridge.
Stage 3: Vid baking time I do following
For baking: 50 g non active sourdough + 100 g lukewarm water + 100 g wheat flour
To nezt time: 50 g non active sourdoug + 100 g cold water + 100 g wheat flour and put it in the fridge.
Stage 4: try to feed the sourdough around 1 times every week as in stage 3 (to next time).

 

DavidEF's picture
DavidEF

If the process you described is exactly what you do, and you don't ever let the sourdough live outside of the fridge, you are probably reducing the yeast count every time you feed it. You should let it stay outside the fridge for some time when you feed it. If you haven't been doing that, then I would suggest you do so very soon. Maybe tonight, take it out of the fridge and do one of two things. If it has been fed within the past day or two: don't feed it, but leave it out all night. Feed it in the morning, let it stay out all day, then see what it does! If it has not been fed so recently, feed it by 50g starter to 50g water and 50g flour and then leave it out all night, feed again in the morning with the usual amounts, then set out all day, and see what happens!

You may even already see a difference just by the first time of leaving it out of the fridge all night. But, you should do it again all day so that it becomes stronger. After that, feed it like normal one last time, leave it out until you just start to see some bubbles forming and the starter begins to rise, then you can put it back in the fridge until you are ready to bake.

If you have all the time in the world, the best way to do your feeding is to let the starter rise as much as it possibly can, and maybe even begin to fall a little before you feed it - every time you feed it. At my house, I keep my starter refrigerated but I know from trial-and-error how much to feed it to get it to rise in a certain amount of time. I can feed it enough to rise in 12 hours or I can feed it enough to rise in 4 hours. When I feed it just to keep it fed, I usually feed it enough for a 12-hour peak rise. I then leave it out for several hours before putting it back in the fridge. That way, I'll know when I get it out again that it will be hungry and, after a short time to get up to room temperature, it will be ready to make bread. But, since it is already so close to ready, I may make dough with it straight from the fridge, keeping in mind that it will take a little longer to rise than if the starter were at room temp.