The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Overnight 50% whole wheat sourdough

UpsideDan's picture
UpsideDan

Overnight 50% whole wheat sourdough

A French bread formula is mostly the process. By designing this process my goal was to make an overnight 50% whole wheat sourdough that is not too sour, that is easy to deal with at all stages and that produce a nice oven spring. I am baking at my basement, at an ambient temperature of about 21C and went through several trials until settling into this process. It takes about 24 hours, from refresh of the starter to baking.
The dough is bulk fermented for 12 hours overnight at room temperature. In order to have it firm enough and less sour by the end of the bulk, I am using a young starter that totals 5% in flour weight of the total formula. The dough is easy to pre-shape, shape and score and requires about 3 hours of proofing at room temperature.

Ingredients are given in the Excel format I use, and repeated for readability later:



Day 1, 16:00  (about 5 hours before mixing)  - refresh Starter
Prepare a 80gr starter from all purpose flour at 100% hydration. In my opinion, there is no need to aim to have it “doubled in size” or “bubbly” before bulk. If your mother starter is in good shape, it will work, just the bulk may be a little shorter or longer.

Day 1, 22:00 – Mixing
1.    mix well 376gr all purpose flour, 416gr whole wheat flour and 17gr salt.
2.    In a separate bowl, dissolve the 80gr starter in 565gr water at room temperature.
3.    Combine all together
4.    Mix with a fork then knead a bit until all the flour is wet. The dough is a bit hard and it is more convenient to work it on the counter instead of in a bowl at this stage.
5.    Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, then knead a little more on the counter
6.    Let the dough rest for additional 30 minutes, then knead a little more inside the bowl. The dough should now feel fully kneaded and form a nice domed shape

Day 2, 10:00 – Dividing, pre-shaping, shaping and proofing
1.    Take a note of the condition of the dough. If it appears weak and is very vinegary, the bulk went too far. Next time, reduce the amount of starter or bulk for a shorter time. Continue to make the assessment when shaping and scoring. If the bulk did not go too far, the dough should be very easy to handle and will not feel too wet or sticky.
2.    For 4 small batards, divide into 363gr units.
3.    Gently round and let rest for 15 minutes.
4.    Shape – I am folding the dough inward (see markcsinclair demo  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUeS2PSXtP8&feature=youtu.be )
5.    Proof for about 3 hours


Day 2, 13:30 - Scoring and baking
1.    Dust the dough with some flour and then score
2.    Bake enclosed for 20 minutes @ 480F (I am using a double roaster and spray the inside with water)
3.    Bake in the open for additional 20 minutes @ 450F
ifs201's picture
ifs201

I just posted about looking for a recipe exactly like this! Terrific! Looks like a great bake. 

HansB's picture
HansB

This is very similar, I've had excellent results with it.

 

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44111/easy-sourdough-part-1

TopBun's picture
TopBun

Great post and beautiful loaves! What ratio of starter to flour and water do you use in the final refresh prior to mixing? Have you found that the ratio makes much difference in making the final loaf more or less sour? Like you, I like a less sour loaf.

UpsideDan's picture
UpsideDan

I am not sure I understood your question, so hopefully I am answering to the point:
Same as you, I do not like sour loafs. I used to keep a whole wheat mother starter in the fridge and feed it once a week. This resulted in sour loafs with some aftertaste that I did not like. Also, the sourness fluctuated according to the age of the mother (one to seven days). I switched to a different system that results in very lovely, non-sour, tasting loafs: I keep a 100% hydration, all-purpose flour mother starter on the kitchen counter in my basement (around 21C) and never put it in the fridge. I feed it everyday (and bake everyday) about 4 hours before mixing into the final dough. So I take some from the mother and feed about the same back. I don’t try to make it accurate, just keep the hydration at 100%.

In addition, looking at the last two rows of the “starter” column, you can see that the starter is about 5% of the total weight of the dough. This is not a coincidence but a result of testing. For overnight fermentation of 12-14 hours, at my basement temperature, the dough is fully fermented and almost 3 times in size. At the same time, it is not sour and is also keeping its structure. It is not watery, is very easy to shape and score and going wild in the oven.

So I suggest you measure the temperature where you ferment the dough and increase or decrease the percentage of starter – just a little bit – to try to get the same results. I also find that for overnight fermentation you would like to go on the low side in the amount of starter simply since you may get up late and do not want the dough to over ferment.

Did I answer the question or went totally off the chart ???

TopBun's picture
TopBun

It's helpful to hear more detail about your process - thank you! I have also found that a low percentage of starter tends to produce a less sour loaf, all other variables being equal. My question was actually about how much additional flour and water you add when you refresh the mother starter. For example if there is 100g of mother starter, do you add approximately 50g water and 50g flour or do you add more water and flour? Some people refresh at a ratio of 1 part starter to 1 part water to 1 part flour (1:1:1) and others at higher ratios such as 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 and so on. I am guessing from your last post that you are doing approximately 1:1:1. 

I have always refreshed at 1:2:2 or higher because doing so reduces the overall amount of acid in the starter, but recently I have questioned if that's necessary for my aim of a less sour loaf. I think it probably depends on ambient temperature and how long the starter goes between feedings. 

UpsideDan's picture
UpsideDan

Hi TopBun

The logic is more important than a number, so let me explain (I am adding here “in my opinion” once for the rest of the paragraph…)
The way you refresh your starter is one in a chain of events that influence the taste and structure of the dough. Let’s say you would like to refresh your starter in the evening and mix it into the dough the next day. You also would like the bread not to be sour. The refreshed starter is going to sit at room temperature for 12 hours or so, giving the bacteria and yeast plenty of time to act on the flour. In the process, the starter will become more and more sour and also become more watery as its structure disintegrates. In this scenario, it makes sense to use a relatively small amount of mother starter and relatively high amount of additional flour and water. One way to go about that is the smell test. When you refresh the starter, does it still smell vinegary? It is definitely going to get more vinegary over night, so add more water and flour. And now at the morning after – does it smell too vinegary to your taste? Next time, increase the amount of feeding for the starter.
Now look at the scenario of my bread. I feed the starter and mix it into the final dough 4 hours later. It has much less time to develop sourness. So it makes sense that you can feed it with less flour and water than the 12 hours starter. And again – smell.
Another issue to consider is that someone else’s exact feeding rules cannot apply to you. The temperature, humidity, specific bacteria and yeast in your starter are just not the same. Saying that, here is my rule:

Use the minimum amount of feeding so that after you feed the starter it smells sweet, and when you mix it into the dough, it is only minimally sour and the structure is not compromised. The longer the starter will ferment and/or if the mother starter is sour to begin with – more feeding is required to keep it at that condition. Write down what works for you and ignore precise-feeding advises from others.

TopBun's picture
TopBun

Thanks so much for the additional comments. What you're saying makes a lot of sense. I will trust my eyes and nose more, and worry less about recommended feeding ratios!