preferment
Hello All, I'd like to get a few points straight in my mind. Perhaps you can help? I have been reading up on preferments (not a sour dough starter). In both Rose Levy Beranbaum's the Bread Bible and Daniel T. DiMuzio's Bread Baking they talk of Homofermentive and Heterofermentive bacteria. When discussing preferments they both say that these bacteria are present in the environment, but which environment they don't say-- flour, yeast, air? Surely not the water or salt. ! And my 2nd question: they say that the kind bacteria you develop (in the preferment) is determined by A. the hydration of the preferment, B by the temp and C. by the amount of time you ferment. Ok fine. I've got that but here is the tricky part, They say that once the flour, water and tiny amount of yeast come into contact then the race is on between the yeast which propagates quickly and the bacteria which propagates MUCH MORE SLOWLY. Ok, again, I've got that but exactly how can I consistantly produce the homofermentive bacteria in sufficient amouts to make my bread taste good. So, What exactly is the formula for producing the MILDER homofermentive bacteria thus obtaining lots of lactic acid in a preferment? This is what I've been doing but I know it's not quite right. 1/4 cup water, add 1/8th tsp of dry yeast, stir and set aside. Combine 90 gr of unbleached bread flour with 10 gm of W.W. flour add 100 gm of water and only 2 tsps of the yeasted water (through the rest away). Stir well for 2 min, cover and let rest at room temp (70 F) for 18 hours. I then proceed with making my dough at a 65% hydration. So, how can I give the advantage to the bacteria and not the yeast? Thank you