Sourdough is bubbling, floating but not rising.
Hello Everyone!
I am new to the blog so I am not sure if I’m posting in the right place. I apologise in advance if I’m not.
My question is Regarding my sourdough starter.
I have created my Starter about a month ago. It is 50%Rye and 50% All purpose. It was behaving beautifully and I made some great bread with it in the beginning.
A week ago, or so, I decided to toss it in the fridge. It was a very active starter that required 3 feedings a day so, I decided to slow it down.
This week I wanted to make some pizza so I followed the normal procedure. Let it come up to room temperature and feed it 2-3 times before using. Except, after 3 Feedings it wouldn’t pass the float test so I decided to give it a couple more days and document it’s progress.
Yesterday before making the dough I did the Float Test and checked if it had doubled in size and it had stopped rising. (I attached pictures of it’s development)
Everything seemed to be right so, I made the dough. Unfortunately, this morning upon checking my fridge I realised the dough hadn’t risen at all. I was a bit heart broken and don’t really know what could have gone wrong.
The Recipe calls for 2.5h bulk fermentation at room temp and overnight in the fridge. I accidentally put the dough for 20 min in the fridge in the beginning of bulk fermentation but took it out promptly when I realised and let it come up to room temp before attempting to stretch and fold and starting fermentation again.
I am not sure if that could’ve ruined my batch or not but everything else seemed perfect.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The starter in your picture is fine. I can tell just by looking.
Float test is fine for telling you when your starter is no longer underfermented, but a rye starter can be too fermented to pass a float test, and still be healthy enough to produce a great loaf.
My dough never grows much once I put it in the fridge. Did you try to bake the loaf? If it came out underfermented, then I bet that chill in the begining of bulk is the reason.
I never ever use the float test. If there are bubbles and it's raising your dough, you should be good to go. Oh and putting it in the fridge for the first 20 minutes is fine. The beauty of sourdough is that if you are called away, just tuck the dough in the fridge till you are back and continue ................ with some time adjustments.
This all looks great to me.
hester
Except for one time out of curiosity. It failed. Made a great loaf though. If your starter rises then so should your bread. Bread is starter, at a low(er) hydration, with salt and gluten fully formed.
Don’t worry, if your loaves are rising and turning out fine then your starter is good to go!
My starter never floats but has incredible rising action! Also, the float test is subjective - depends on whether you are using a stiff starter or a more liquidy one