February 5, 2018 - 10:50am
Final fermentation
Have made sourdough bread of varying types for 5 yrs, don't get much if any volume increase on final rise but I get oven spring! Kitchen temp about 70-75 deg, dough temp 72-80deg. Problem?
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Have made sourdough bread of varying types for 5 yrs, don't get much if any volume increase on final rise but I get oven spring! Kitchen temp about 70-75 deg, dough temp 72-80deg. Problem?
My experience has been much like yours. My loaves turn out well, but if not for oven spring they’d be pitiful. This has been a constant for me. As far as I can tell me starter is very active. It is fed twice a day at room temp. It tripled every time.
I just baked a Champlain SD along side a friend and she talked about “poofy” dough, but I had none. Both of our loaves rose really well. The post is here, but be forewarned, it is a long one. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/55123/overproofing-underproofing-sourdough-or-just-bad-shapingwhat-does-it-look
I’m watching this one...
Dan
Thank you for ur reply, my starter is also strong! WTH
Thoughts:
1) If you don't deflate your dough very much before final proof, it may not have a lot of room to expand.
2) A slack dough may do more expanding outward than upward, so it may be harder to detect a volume increase.
This is what my dough looked like after a 6 hr bench @ room temp. It was S&F every hr.. There is no “poofiness” at all.
That same dough grew very little during proof in the banneton. Here is how that loaf baked out.
I’d love to know why my dough doesn’t grow like others experience.
A thought. I do recall my dough doubling during the bulk ferment, but the growth took place once I stopped th S&F. It sat for a few hours and doubled.
But I know others get growth while doing the S&F. Why not me?
Dan
Personally, I don't do an S&F unless there is some poofyness, except for the first one. I confess that I cheat a bit with my sourdough and add a small amount of commercial yeast to speed things along. Even with my cheat, it usually takes at least an hour to get some poofyness. I would think that without cheating, it would take a lot longer than that.
Dan,
That's a very pretty loaf. I have the opposite problem, decent rise during bulk but the loaf I did today completely over proofed after shaping. I expected it to go three hours and hadn't started the oven until I checked the dough at 2 hours and the dough was ready to go NOW. Forty minutes later when the oven was ready the loaf jiggled like a bowl of jello. Not good. Needless to say I got almost no oven spring. If your room temp is in the 60s maybe a small increase in the starter would bring the times into line. I normally have a ambient temp of 73-75 deg. but today it hit 78 and I missed it. Mixed up another loaf to try again.
Al
Hey Al,
Next time your bread is proofing faster than your oven is preheating you can try putting the dough back into the refrigerator to slow down the rise. It’s not the best option, but it may save the day.
The bottom shelf is always the coldest. You could consider the freezer for a very short time. You don’t want to freeze it, though.
Dan
Dabrownman using a nice formula to determine the Levain builds. You might be interested.
Lucy’s Rule of 15
Use Lucy's Rule of 15 to know exactly how to do it If you need 150 g of finished levain at 100% hydration and want to do a 3 stage levain build of 4 hours each just divide 150 by 15, The answer is 10.
Use 10 g of starter and 10 g each for flour and water for the first build. 4 hours later double the amount of flour and water for the 2nd feeding - add 20 g each for flour and water to the first build. 4 hours later double the flour and water for the 3rd feeding by adding 40 g each of flour and water to 2nd build. In 4 hours it should have doubled and be at peak performance for any bread you are making that requires 150 g of levain.
Danny
Dan, what is the advantage of a multiple feed build? I think I've been doing it wrong. When I need 150g I just use 50g starter, add 50g each of water and flour, in about 4-6 hours I make my dough.
The multiple stage build is best used when you want to build up the activity of your starter. Dabrownman completes all 3 builds in 12 hours or less by keeping the starter at 82 degrees. It only takes 4 hours or less per build. But remember, his starter is coming out of the refrigerator and has been mostly dormant.
If you haven’t seen this, take a look. The man is ingenious!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40918/no-muss-no-fuss-starter
Dan
I have seen that and the next time I need to use the starter straight out of the refrigerator I'll try that 3 build levain. That will make things go quicker as I usually take it out a few days ahead of time to get it going. Beautiful loaf above, by the way! Thanks again!
I've found that the temperature in my kitchen has an enormous impact on proofing times. When it is around 60-65 degrees it can take hours longer than when it is at 70+ degrees.