February 26, 2016 - 9:11am
Hamelman v. Reinhart
Hi everyone,
I have both Jeff Hammelman's "Bread" and Peter Reinhart's "The Apprentice" and am having trouble reconciling the two with regard to sour dough. I made a starter from the Apprentice's methodology and it's worked beautifully in several of the formulas for that book. I'd like to use it in some of "Bread's" recipes but the proportions seem to be so different (1 c. of starter vs. only a couple of Tbs.) Am I comparing apples and oranges or am I missing some obvious commonality? Thanks!
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As long as you follow the formula, both PR's and JH's methods work wonderfully - even if very different from each other. There is no right or wrong when it comes to these two - they are just different.
I think Peter's recipes are tweaked to be easier and more reliable for a home baker. Hamelman's seem to be closer to scaled down versions of what he uses in a professional setting.
Just like adjusting the amount of commercial yeast, adjusting the amount of starter is variable you can experiment with, along with fermentation time and temperature, to get different results out of the same basic ingredients.
I don't make it often, but one of my favourite sourdoughs uses only a tablespoon or two of starter (20g) for 1kg flour. It takes a long time to get going, something like 18-24 hours, but once it does it is fantasticly tart and with a beautifully uneven crumb.
I agree with Floyd's general assessment of the two.
see what works best for you. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
...as long as you get the bread you want. I use a modification of Hamelman's approach with a tip to David Snyder's San Joaquin Sourdough recipe. It works reliably and I get a good loaf at the end of it all.
it really depends on all tha variables in reconciling formulas - time, tempt, etc., not just starter amount...but in the end judgment is always called for in any formula
Not that this solves anything, but in my experience, I know of no more reliable source of formulas than Hammelman, and I've had really mixed results with PR. But don't listen to either, listen to your dough...
The starter culture is really nothing more than an inoculant that supplies yeast and lactobacilli (LAB) to the growing medium (flour+water). Working with rye, I've found that following the European standard of 100% hydration and 10% starter culture produces a very robust sponge within 10-12 hours at room temperature. It also maximizes sponge activity because older sponges (i.e., starter cultures) contain more dead microorganisms and depleted nutrients (starches and sugars). Obviously, if I need to develop a sponge more quickly, I'll use a higher percentage of starter culture and let it ripen at a higher temperature, but in general, the 100-100-10 works really well. Incidentally, I only keep one starter and use my rye starter when I'm making wheat sourdoughs also; in that case, however, I generally only hydrate to about 70%.
As far as amount of sponge in a formula, rule of thumb is that you need at least 30% flour weight prefermented to eliminate the need for commercial yeast. I would amend that by adding that the older the starter, i.e., the more acidity and less leavening power it has, as in an acidification sponge that may ferment for 1-7 days, the greater the need for commercial yeast.
Hope this helps.
Stan Ginsberg
theryebaker.com
Guys,
Many thanks for the helpful feedback. I basically followed Hamelman's formula and used the amount of starter he called for. The bread came out quite well, although I was a bit disappointed in the crumb (but that's just me being obsessive.)
Thanks again to all!