September 6, 2010 - 6:30am
No Taste Sourdough
Yesterday I baked the basic san fran sourdough that is in the handbook. Looked absolutely amazing coming out of the oven. Crust was cracking and smelled great. Only problem i that t had zero taste. Crust, crumb, moisture etc were all good...but no taste. Is that because my starter has no flavor or maybe because I retarded it too long?
Thanks,
John
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Just a thought -- you didn't, by accident, omit the salt -- did you? No salt, no taste. I know -- I did that once.
Ford
i imcluded 10 g of salt.
Hi John,
How old is your sourdough culture? Have you ever baked with it before?
first time i used it.
Is your culture at least a couple weeks old and has it been fed regularly (like every 12 hours)?
If not, then that could be the source of the lack of taste - it simply hasn't matured sufficiently to develop much of a flavor.
If your starter was made from scratch v. using an already-developed starter you obtained from a friend or a commercial source, it needs time to develop its character over time.
When you next feed it, take a whiff. You'll notice a lovely "sour-y" smell. Over time that perfume gets bolder until it reaches its peak.
The pleasure in that smell equals the pleasure in smelling freshly ground coffee beans. It's indescribable.
Just pulled the starter out of the referigerator and took a whiff. Less of a smell than she used to have? If I want to really get it going for this weekend, would the best plan be a 1:1:1 to get it going increasing the quantity toward Saturday?
W & Th: 100g s + 100g f + 100g w
F: 225g s + 225g f + 225g w = 675 g (600 for bake day plus 75 left over for storage)
Maybe I can kick a little extra salt in there for good measure?
Your plan sounds like the perfect plan, to me. Don't worry about the hooch, just stir in in with the rest.
That starter should be raring to go. When my starter has been in the refrigerator for several weeks to a month, the routine you discribed would have it ready on the second feeding: 8 hours then10 hours and go.
The reduced aroma may be due to its being cold.
Ford
Your bacterial flora are clearly not well developed yet. A new starter will evolve for months as the beasties come to a happy balance. But many sourdoughs aren't sour and unless you live in SF you are unlikely to create a starter that will produce SF Sourdough (SOUR!) bread. My starter is very mild. Most people don't even suspect it is sourdough but it is quite flavorful - and yours should be too once it gets more mature.