Help! Yeast water vs sourdough question
Today I am making my first yeast water bread using my 10 day old yeast water Rosie. I have made an identical loaf using my SD starter. In the photo it is approx 3 hours after I finished S&F/slap & folds (4x @ 40 minute intervals). Rosie is lagging behind hugely, although you can definitely see bubbles at the bottom and underneath. Room temperatue is a bit cool today at 22°c.
Do I leave Rosie's loaf until it doubles then shape proof and bake or should I give it a hurry up by putting in a warmer environment? I did notice that my test sample and also the poolish I made last night were also quite slow to double. I hadn't intended to retard the loaves, but don't really want to heat the oven twice. I may need to retard the SD.
My flour mix is 50% higrade, 30% sprouted wholewheat and 20% sprouted rye. Both levain and poolish made yesterday afternoon using just higrade flour.
Any suggestions please, I am uncertain of best option.
Leslie
or you can bring it to warmer environment. By my experience YW is slower than SD so to reach the approximately same timing it needs warmer environment. But it will do it, don't worry.
happy baking Leslie,
Joze
will work. My kitchen is 15-18C these days. YW levain/poolish doubles for me anywhere from 12-18h. I've had some breads take up to 40h from initial mix to bake.
If you do choose to warm it up, watch your YW dough carefully. Once they get going my YW breads rise very quickly -- like 12h for the first 50%, then just 4h to reach 100%.
Your YW loaf will be fine however you choose to manage it. :)
the sd is shaped and in the fridge and I have put the YW dough in a warmer spot. will watch it carefully.
Can I retard the yeast water loaf like I do the SD? or do I need to leave it on the bench prior to retard or afterwards before baking? or...... SD i bake direct from the fridge after an overnight retard and it works well.
Leslie
I find YW loaves don't get much tang from any amount of retardation. I'm in the habit of retarding at whatever stage I need to suit my schedule.
My last brioche was retarded during bulk, brought out to finish up, then chilled again to shape, proof at room temp, and bake. It didn't taste any different than loaves I bake when it's warmer with no retardation.
One difference I've noticed with YW loaves is underproofing can make the crumb a bit rubbery. SD crumb feels more forgiving if slightly underproofed.
Good luck, and happy baking!
now shaped and in the fridge after half an hour on bench.
Thanks Elodie, its all a little different and a bit scary in a good way and the tips are so helpful! I wasn't game to do an overnight bulk ferment but next time I might do that given how long the bulk ferment took.
So now, I will assess how it looks when I get up tomorrow then decide if I bake straight from fridge or warm up first.
I am really quite excited and cant wait to see how both loaves turn out.
Leslie
Look forward to some great oven spring.
thanks Abe, will be baking shortly
Leslie
in a warm kitchen! It is much slower than SD but especially so when young. There is no sour component with YW so it is perfect to replace the yeast in sweet breads and other baking.
Happy baking the YW way and welcome to really slow food
but that's what its all about - new things, new techniques.
thanks dabrownman
Leslie
How did you use your yeast water? Did you just replace the water with yeast water or did you make a preferment with the yeast water?
with 50% yeast water and 50 % flour. The flour was 20% of the total flour.
To use more YW I would need to bulk up it up quite a lot so I don't know. You have me thinking now.......
Leslie
The water with YW is fine but your way is my chosen method. I find that once the yw starter is active it pretty much works the same as sourdough starter. However I haven't done a side to side comparison under test conditions keeping everything else equal. Experiment and see what you find.
so there is a bit more yeast ready to go rather than replacing all the water. then maybe it will be a bit quicker? we'll see ....
Leslie
will make YW quicker just like a sourdough starter. I don't always keep YW on hand; it's more of a seasonal thing for me. I do try to give it a month or more before I need it to perform predictably for the holidays though. If your kitchen gets cold at night this time of year, it could take longer.