Is kneading killing my sourdough?
After a couple of successes in sourdough baking I have returned to the oh so familiar slump (3 failed bakes in a row - one raisin bread, one WW sandwich bread and a basic pizza dough).
There is virtually nothing in common between the 3 different doughs (either in build or ingredients) but all three exhibited the same problem. A problem that has been almost a constant throughout my sourdough baking and which up until now I assumed to be just a 'quirk of sourdough based breads'.
My starter is very healthy (at least it's very active) and when I refresh it, it has no problems springing into action. Similarly, after mixing an intermediate build, I get plenty of gas action. The problems occur when I mix the final dough. At first I thought it was a problem with gluten development or maybe the addition of salt...and yet even with lowered salt levels and excellent windowpane results I get a painfully slow rise on bulk ferment. This inevitably forces me to make the decision of: leave the dough longer and get an overly-sour bread or go straight into shaping and second proof (which usually has very poor rise too).
I've tried increasing the amount of starter/build that I mix into the final dough (up to 100% (baker's percentage) compared to the weight of final added flour) but I feel this is the wrong way to approach the problem and has only yielded limited success. The flavour is also usually a little 'off' when I do this (at least not to my taste).
So what is causing this problem with final dough rise times? The only difference other than salt (and I use this very sparingly) between how I mix starter/builds and final dough is is the process of kneading. Am I somehow killing my sourdough by kneading? It's really disheartening to get such inconsistent results with sourdough...I'm not doing anything radically different between successful baking days and poor ones. I really don't understand how store-bought sourdough (even from local artisan bakeries) can taste so mild (sometimes completely undetectable) and yet get such amazing volume/crumb. I've tried proofing at different temperatures, times different starter inoculation ratios etc. etc. etc.
As a side note, and something which continues to bother me although several people here have told me that it shouldn't be a problem:
There is a strange smell that I get from my starter in the early stages of it's fermentation. It usually smells quite 'off' (a little like sour, decomposing vegetable matter)...but always gives way to more pleasant fruity, yeasty smells. The same smell is also present in 'final' dough and intermediate builds. Why does this happen? What is causing this? I've tried adding vinegar to kill off any unwanted bacteria, but I don't think it's a viable long-term solution (vinegar pizza anyone?)
As per usual: HELP!
--FP