So what is happening when kefir deteriorates a dough?
I am putting this in Sourdough because I think it is a lactobacillus issue and I think this audience may have a good understanding of what is happening.
Whenever I use kefir in making bread (any bread-WW,AP,Bread Flour), I find I am rescuing the loaf as the gluten strands are breaking as it rises for the final proof. I have come to expect that a long rising (as in an overnight retard) WW will experience this consistently so I no longer use kefir for that loaf. Having an abundance of kefir last week, I thought I'd put together a quick, single loaf sandwich bread using a sourdough preferment (1 c flour-1 c water-2 tbsp starter set overnight), 1 tsp instant yeast and using 1 c kefir for the liquid in the final dough (not the preferment). No measurements were precise in this loaf-quick throw together-flour,water,milk,salt,oil,preferment,yeast. Nice soft dough with goodfeeling qualities.Set it to rise and the bulk fermentation was less than 2 hours and already there were some tear marks on the dough as it rose to double. It shaped nicely. I did not overhandle it but the dough had started to feel a little fragile. As the loaves rose for the final proof, there was noticeably more tearing. I let them proof as long as I dared (prob could have gone 10 more minutes) and baked them. The loaves were just ok-a little underproved.
I use standard,brand name AP flour (unbleached-prob Pillsbury or Gold Medal), homemade kefir, SAF instant yeast,homegrown starter,table salt and vegetable oil. Loaves with the same ingredients but NO kefir do just fine. I have narrowed it down to this over time.
So what is actually happening when this happens? Is there any way to counteract it?
Ideas?