Bulk ferment in relation to starter time
Hi:
I resolved flat sourdough issues by figuring out my current pet yeast is slow - many recipes talk about allowing the bulk ferment to go 3-4 hours, which was not enough time for me, I get much better results allowing it to rise 8-12 hours - this is without any refrigeration.
At ambient temps, the 100% hydration, 2:1 fed yeast takes ~8 hours to double, and 12-14 hours to reach its peak maturity (bubbly holes on top ready to collapse).
With this in mind, relative to my pet's timeline, how long should bulk ferment take all else being equal (ambient temps, water temp, flour temp, etc)? The proportion of 100% starter to new flour ranges 15-35%, depending how much bread I want to make. Research here suggests "listening to the bread", but I'm not sure what to look/listen for. Should it be full of bubbles, should it be ready like the starter and ready to go, should it be mostly full of bubbles, etc.
I guess I could make a big batch of bread and try different bulk ferment times to see which bread produces the best results (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc), while keeping other items as consistent as possible, which I may eventually do, but I'm not sure how effective it will be because I haven't got my proofing part down yet. Thanks for reading.
Check your kitchen temperature too. My starter has slowed down after being in the refrigerator... a different mix of flours also slows it down easily but it resolves itself when its usual flours are used (I keep experimenting with different feed ratios and sometimes starve my starter, skip a feed). I also get much better results from longer bulk times, even longer autolyse has helped.
One thing I noticed that helps my starter rise higher is stirring it down once after the first rise begins. In baking that wud equate to kneading/stretching n folding at the right interval rather than extended bulk. However, I'm still experimenting and trying to find a perfect schedule that I can consistently maintain.