Starter - just curious.
Could some obliging starter expert explain this starter behaviour for me, please? I made two separate small levains (same ingredients) with differing amounts of water. The first was fed as follows: 25 seed: 50 flour ( equal parts dark rye and ww atta) and 84 water. The second had only 75 water. There is a huge difference in the behaviour of the two The first produced a surface layer of very frothy bubbles which seem very superficial, though there are bubbles lower down in the mix. The second produced fewer, large "bubble gum" type bubbles, some of which were bursting spontaneously. Both smell divine. My seed starter is productive and has been working for a considerable time. Which of the two levains would be likely to produce the better bread? Just curious! Sorry I haven't been capable of cracking the code on how to send photos. Valerie
Absolute guesswork from me: If they both started out with exactly the same amount and quality of seed starter, and they are both quite new, then there probably won't be a major difference in their ability to raise the same batch of dough, just because there hasn't been time for much divergence to happen. But if you keep feeding each of them differently for several cycles, THEN I'd expect significant differences in results.
Your guesswork sounds entirely reasonable, David. I suppose I am being influenced by entirely cosmetic considerations, as the lower hydration, bigger-bubbles levain more closely resembles the examples I see posted on TFL. Who would have thought that there was so much to learn? Many thanks for your response. Valerie
More guessing: Lower hydration may simply lead to bubbles that have thicker walls and don't pop as easily, so they get bigger instead of popping.
But the most obvious difference is hydration. The higher the hydration the smaller the bubbles and more froth. Let's work out the hydration difference...
Levain One:
Total water = 96.5g
Total flour = 62.5g
So levain one has a hydration of 154.4%
Levain Two:
Total water = 87.5g
Total flour = 62.5g
So levain two has a hydration of 140%
Both! very high hydration but a difference of 14.4% which is high in "dough" terms.