Starter readiness conundrum
Hi TFL! First post (and newbie baker)!! I am having some trouble coordinating "ripeness" of starter into levain.
Last weekend I attempted first levain loaf FWSY Overnight Country Blonde, the week-ish old starter was active with over 2X rise, but the bulk fermentation never took off (in warm environment). Ken says it should rise 2-3X but I never got over 1/3 and then waited too long and had to scrap it. Per FWSY I'm feeding once per day in the morning, it's going gangbusters 12 hours later and then shrinks down before the next feed (when I used it to create the levain).
Knowing that it wasn't ripe, I thought... Ken seems to like slow development, maybe it is well past peak on purpose (what do I know?!). Let's see what happens (fail).
Here's the conundrum: Do I go down this path again (spent starter tomorrow morning) or try to time it so it's at peak? And if it's the latter... then... why does Forkish make no reference to the condition of the starter (just scrape it out of the bucket and go!). Or is there is there an expectation that if you manage the starter "Ken's way", it will peak 24 hours later. Confused...
Any advise appreciated!
Jon
West Michigan
I think you have a sense of how this should work, and that you should follow what your starter is doing in your situation, rather than the book...and that is sensible.
Of course you want to use it at its peak (many prefer to do it before), so you either need to feed it more often (like twice a day), reduce the proportion of seed starter, or lower the temperature (time, temp, and proportions are your controls, go ahead and make use of them).
Personally, I feed mine twice a day, as it is pretty active. It is fully ripe after 12 hours, using a very small proportion of seed starter, and cool temps (67F or so). But again, don't do what I do, follow the behavior of your own starter.
BTW - not sure where you are, but I baked a ton of bread during the 2 years I was in Kzoo (a couple decades ago)
Sage advise - thank you. I did mange to get the starter into a rhythm to be near peak on my baking schedule. And... viola! Pain de Campagne yesterday (FWSY). Both lovely and delightful! And the fact it is hybrid dough (~1g instant yeast) couldn't have hurt the bulk fermentation and proofing success.
Thanks again!