Starter,Levain, Maturity and Percentage
Hi there folks, im fairly new in the sourdough baking. Im baking for roughly one year now. And i have became very upset with my result at baking with sourdough. My starter is one years old. I saw some people use levain and some just throw the starter in the mix(TrevorJay) but i know that a well and freshly feed starter is a kind of levain.
My first question is: IF i am making a levain do i use a well feed and risen starter or just grab the starter from the fridge cold and throw it in the mix? Because i dont know what is better. A well feed starter used to make levain or a fairly fresh but 3-4 days old starter from the fridge?
My second question is: In the past days i use levain in the baking process and i gave it a 4 hour fermentation and it passed the float test. BUT. The whole levain was so weak that i made and underfermented loaf with a 5 hour bulk, and a 3 hour proof. How much starter should i throw in the levain? 1:2:2? 1:3:3 (starter:flour:water)?
My third question is: Im kind of pissed about that bakers percentage. Sorry for the word. Every body says different, and how much levain, or starter i should use. I want a fairly universal number. I know if i use more starter/levain my fermentation will be much faster BUT very ACETIC. If i use less stareter/levain my dough will ferment much slower or not at all. And here is the problem, my last bread i used more starter and proofed nothing at all. And before that i used half the starter/levain and proofed well. I keep them fairly warm 28C. So how much sould i use to get a mildly acid taste with a middle range fermentation time. Some bakes say that 20% of the flower weight is the best, but. 20% of THAT flour pre fermented or not THAT flours but addition that 20% flours?
sorry fot that much question but that gathered around in me for one years. Ive read so much article, watched so much video, so many profesional bakers, I feel like i know so much at same time i fail so many times so hard.
I feel so devastated and sad about that :( Please someone could help me out about that? Thank you very much.
Sorry for my english and grammar.