Make a Stiff Dough levain from a liquid levain
Hi from Johannesburg South Africa!
Just love this site.
I would like to make a Stiff Dough Levain using a portion of my Rye Liquid Levain (100% Hydration.) My month old Liquid Levain is a dream performer after 5 previous failed attempts. (All others developed like steroid bunnies for 3 days and then died after 4 days... :( Maybe the daily temp here in Johannesburg during our current summer - 82 - 84 F? ) Also struggling with white flour starter. Tried pineapple juice, tried grapes, tried Evian water -all nix. If anyone has a fail-safe, invincible "never-say-die"white bread flour starter method or site link???
Can someone out there suggest to me percentage proportions of raw rye flour and water required to mix with my 100% liquid levain that will make it a stiff dough levain of approx 65-70% hydration??? (In SA we use the weight system (cf to volume) for baking and use metric - much more accurate.)
Paul Z
Hi, in order to make a stiff white starter you can use 20 gr of your starter, 30 gr of water and 80 gr of bread flour, or as much as necessary to get a very stiff dough. Notice that after several hours it will almost melt, it will take a glue-like consistence. Add a touch of bakind soda or of salt to prevent this melt-down (less than 1 gr).
What???
and you will be surprised. I suspected that the Na+ ion could interfere with some proteolytic enzyme and a friend chemist confirmed it.
My current starter was begun in ZA, Pretoria to be precise. I've since moved back to the States in October of last year when my 2-year assignment there was complete. As I recall, I made mine using the Pineapple Juice method. (Note that I had a failed first attempt using bottled pineapple juice--it was only when I read the small print carefully that I noticed the presence of preservatives. When I used the juice of a fresh pineapple, everything worked great. ) I think I used predominantly white flour with a bit of whole rye flour (Eureka Mills brand).
Nico's directions will get you to a very stiff levain. A 10 or 12 grams of water will produce the hydration level you requested.
Paul
Thanks Paul
(See you picked up the local SA greeting of Howzit!)
Yup, you're right. I used bottled juice (from Sir Juice Company) and this probably has some form of preservative in it. Will try squeezing a fresh pineapple tomorrow. Also using Eureka Flour exclusively because all the others (Sasko, Golden Cloud etc all have chemicals and are bleached.)
Will feed back upon the results!
Totsiens
p
Hi Paul,
I am happy to learn this info, re. using fresh, as opposed to the processed pineapple juice. Is it common knowledge among the folks out there, who have gone the pineaple juice route? Are there any successes using the other if preservatives are not present? Apparently no problems arising from enzymes present in fresh, that would otherwise be "cooked out" of the processed juice?
Thanks, Ray
but there were no problems that I observed when using fresh juice for the starter, Ray. I was accustomed to pineapple juice in the States, which is generally canned and free of preservatives. What I was able to locate in South Africa was in a smallish bottle, very similar to how I see lemon juice packaged here in the U.S. For whatever reasons, the producer had introduced preservatives. Had I noticed that prior to purchasing it, I wouldn't have bought it.
Paul
Thanks Paul, for clearing that up. I jumped to the conclusion that preservatives were prevalent in pineapple juice here in the U.S. as well. Thanks for your reply and patience. My un-scientific mind ran away with me again.
Ray