April 10, 2010 - 1:00pm
Starter tempuratures
I noticed an interesting behaviour with a couple jars of my starters within the past week or so. About a week ago, I had started two new jars of starter because I had accidentally mis-weighed starter for a bread recipe and had to use all of it. Throughout the week, I had noticed that the starter never went through this "dormant" period people seem to encounter, but along with that, it seems to take on the flavour of the environment rather quickly, (todays flavour of the day? Mango!) and that after feedings it also gets quite warm. This was only observed because it's quite a cold day and my hands felt much warmer after holding the jars only briefly. Is this unusual?
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But it seems to be more noticeable in vat quantities. In small jars, it might be your concentration that is warming your hands. Starters do change aromas as they mature, many times as fruit or nuts or cheese depending on your own memory catalog of smells.
It is good to know your starter. I hope you are taking notes. Also note textural changes, while stirring. Note the feeding times, temp, and peaking times.
Mini
Mini mentioned that starters may vary in aromas...a couple of times, two of my loaves were smelling like honey although in the recipe there was not one gr of it!! Did it happen to you too? Paolo from Quito
I haven't had a chance to bake yet!! I'm going to make the dough tonight with the fruit smelling starter and see what the flavour is like.
I mixed the dough with the No Knead Sourdough bread recipe on www.breadtopia.com and it doesn't look right.
Unfortunately, the bread does not have the lovely fruity smell either.