Building Water for your Starter?
Ok, among other "issues" that I'm working through with my starters, NOW I find that my WATER might be an issue...?!
Maybe I'm looking too far into this thing. Wait, no; I definitely AM looking too far into this thing! I'm actually considering building my own water for my sourdough starters and bread. Why not? It works for brewing beer - I never just use water from the source - bottled or otherwise - for making beer, I build it from scratch. I have to where I live now as the water is way off course.
My tap water has 532 ppm Total Dissolved Solids - palpable. 8.3 pH, Sodium coming in at 140 ppm...! I wouldn't even THINK of using it for brewing, so why exactly am I using it in my starters?
I was thinking of switching to bottled drinking water, brand doesn't matter too much as long as it's on sale and tastes good. I have the salts necessary to build whatever water profile I want from RO, like controlling the Calcium to promote yeast health - does anyone actually get that deep with their water for bread making?
I would suggest using unsweetened pineapple juice to get started.
Site search: Wink pineapple juice solution #2 and also part #1
so getting one going is not a problem, it's that I'm concerned that the conditions of my present tap water may not be the best possible for yeast health and for baking bread in general.
What is the water you are using like, Mini? Tap, or bottled, and have you ever had a problem due to your water?
I too am aware of the effect of salts in brewing water and the practice of salts addition (eg gypsum) to produce suitable water. It used to be known as "Burtonisation" - ie making the water like Burton-on-Trent's where the best pale ales were brewed at the time.
However, I've never really considered the composition of the water in terms of breadmaking, apart from chlorine content, which some people are concerned about. I've decided it's not an issue for me.
Your water certainly seems to have a very high TDS and quite high sodium, though the limit for sodium in the UK/EU is 200ppm, so you are below that.
A quick google for "water hardness dough processing" suggests that medium hard water is best for dough mixing. Apparently high hardness levels can slow down fermentation and overtighten gluten. Very low levels can supposedly give a soft sticky mix. Click Here for the article
Perhaps a trial is the answer. I guess you could always blend your water with soft bottled water as a possible solution.
My water is very soft. You've got me thinking now; would my bread be better if the water was harder ;)
Lance
I had run in to a temporary starter issue a while back that was due to extra high chlorination and extra hard water (thanks to a rather abrupt spring runoff), but otherwise haven't really paid much attention to the water quality. Our municipal water source is also used as a source for a few different commercial "bottled" waters, so I had just assumed that it was usually "good enough" for baking. I do only use filtered water that has sat out for 12-24 hours minimum for drinking or starters or baking - but that's because I'm allergic to chlorine, and not because I was concerned on the effect on the yeast!
Your post had me double checking our water quality reports, which confirmed that our local tap water is quite hard with an average 223 mg/L CaCO3, average pH at 7.6, average sodium at 7.62 mg/L, and average total dissolved solids at 271 mg/L. The article posted by albacore stating that harder water (above 150 mg/L CaCO3) could slow down fermentation actually confirmed something that I had been noticing with my bakes, but had never suspected the water as being a possible cause.
It is definitely something that I'll keep in mind - especially in the spring when our water quality can be somewhat "erratic" (to be nice about it)...
Thanks for the push to check in to this!
If one started with RO water, and wanted to build a water profile from scratch, what minerals would one want to add and in what amounts to ensure a healthy ferment and a tasty loaf? What "needs" to be there, and what can you add to boost this or that?
For example, if I were brewing an IPA, I'd shoot for a Sulfate/Chloride ratio of 2:1 keeping Sulfates to around 100ppm or so to accentuate the hop's bitterness, and ensuring my Calcium is around 50ppm or so to promote yeast health during fermentation. I formulate my salts also to ensure a specific pH during the mash to ensure good conversion.
If I were going for a nice sour loaf, and I knew I had sufficient LABs in my NMNF starter to get there, and given certain types of flour; what could I do to RO to add value to the loaf in terms of flavor, texture, or aesthetics?
I realize I may be stepping into relatively uncharted territory, but I'd like to know - has anyone here done this?
researched the water quality that deeply for their bakes, but my understanding is that at least the Italian guidelines are very restrictive on the qualities of the water used for specific "named" breads. I'm not sure about the standards in other countries, but that might be a place for you to start...
I've tracked down a group of products supplied to commercial bakers called mineral yeast foods. The main ingredient contained therein related to water composition and water pH is calcium carbonate.
I had a look on the website of Warburtons Bakery (a big UK commercial baker but with a traditional family image) and their white loaf contains 140mg/100g calcium, or 0.14%. Doing a bit of rough maths, I reckon that this is equivalent to approx 0.56% calcium carbonate in the flour.
Fortification of flour in the UK is mandatory (ie addition of certain key nutrients). This began at the start of WW2 and has never been repealed. One of the additions to all UK flour except wholemeal is calcium carbonate at 0.3%. So it looks like Warburtons are putting a little more in.
This mandatory addition of calcium carbonate might be why my very soft water does not appear to be an issue!
So this should give you an idea of one possible addition to RO water. As regards calcium sulphate and chloride, I think you might be on your own. Let us know how you get on!
Lance