September 9, 2014 - 7:27pm
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro!
Just got onto the sourdough bandwagon a few weeks back and have been trying ever since to raise a nice firm levain. Not having much luck though, it gets a fair amount of bubbles but i can't get it to pass the "float test". The white flour available locally is bleached and "enriched" with iron and folic acid. The wholewheat flour seems very course, dry and stiff. So much for the flours! Doing a 100% hidration gives me runny and very strong smelling (acidic) ferments, which usually end up in the trash. Not giving up though. Am feeding them at regular 12/24 hr intervals (give or take an hour) and reading up on the subject in the meantime.
All suggestions are welcome.
BB
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1. Don't use bleached flour.
2. How do you measure your flour and water? By weight or volume? Can you run us through your method?
1. unfortunately I can only use what's available, since that's what others are using my guess is it works, maybe with more hardship involved.
2. I measure it out by weight, equal amounts of water and flour mix (50/50 wholewheat/white). Once the mixture doubles in size and seems to be reducing in volume, I remove half of the mass and add in an equivalent amount of flour/water. If it seems to be too watery, I reduce the amt of water a bit, so it's a little bit harder to mix but the consistency/texture seems right.
Still trying to develop a method but mostly following my nose and eyes.
BB
Do you use water straight from the tap, bottled or boiled and cooled down?
The water here although chlorinated with added fluor is filtered using a natural charcoal filter and stored in an earthern/ceramic jar. Before using this water, I normally keep it exposed in a large cup overnight.
How long has your sourdough been doubling for?
What I've noticed is... not flours are all the same. Some rise more with larger bubbles. Others have smaller bubbles. Hydration can effect this to. If you have been feeding it for quite some time and it always doubles then that could just be the nature of your starter and it is viable to use. Perhaps send us some pictures.
When you stir it down can you describe what it looks like? Has it gone all, what I call, "mousse" like?
If you feed your starter less than 1:1:1 then it won't rise much.
If you have, let's say, 50g and you feed it 25g flour and 25g water [2:1:1] it isn't going to rise as much as if you feed it 50g flour and 50g water [1:1:1]. And of course that won't rise as much as if you feed it 100g flour and 100g water [1:2:2].
I'm just guessing here that if your starter is bubbling and doubling EVERYTIME you feed it then it could be ready to use and you just aren't giving it a good enough feed to get the rise others are experiencing.
Starters benefit from good feed. Keeps them healthy.
When you say * firm * starter, what hydration are we talking about?
I have a 50% hydration Starter which I feed 1:2:1 1part Starter, 2 parts flour and 1 part Water and it works wonderful.
I never do the float test with my firm Starter, I go by the look of the Starter, once the Dome starts to collapse on itself it is ready to bake:)
Last night I fed my firm starter with a 50/50 mix of wheat flour * I always use bleached but not enriched and have no problem with it at all * and whole wheat flour and it smells more sour already, that is what I was after.
My firm 50% hydration Starter will not bubble, but Dome.
Maybe a higher hydration firm Starter will still bubble, but I would not know about this.
My 100% hydration Starter is fed, when out on the counter, once it has peaked and starts to fall again.
Hi Petra.
Hope you're settling in nicely in your new home. Forgive me but I have been meaning to ask about the bleached flour you are using... I am curious because in the UK bleached flour is banned and by law all white flour must be enriched (or fortified as we say over here) and this includes organic white flour too. Can you clarify please..?
Michael
Sorry to the OP for going off-topic.
You are right !!!
I have unbleached flour.
There was me thinking it was bleached because it looks so white.
I get the strong white Flour from Sainsbury, the one in the light green pack.
Sorry for the confusion.
live on the flour and if the flour is bleached they are basically killed off?
BTW I followed your advice on cornflour for the banneton and the dough came out no problem. Thank you.
@mwilson I haven't ever even sought out bleached flour, I live in the UK, as never even liked the idea.
I try and use 100% hidration but only if it seems like it's absorbing all the liquid. If it seems runny and I lessen the qty. of water in the mix.
Watching videos online of the refresh process I notice how the ferment sticks together and has to be almost "pinched" to stop the flow. In my case, it just pour out like a batter and lacks the firmness of the onlive version. Make sense?
BB
Welcome baconbake. I reside in the UK. I've never been to your part of the world but hope to someday... I sure in time your issues with sourdough will alleviate and you will soon be adept at making fine sourdough loaves. The more information you can provide the more we can help. Good luck.
Michael
Welcome baconbake. I reside in the UK. I've never been to your part of the world but hope to someday... I sure in time your issues with sourdough will alleviate and you will soon be adept at making fine sourdough loaves. The more information you can provide the more we can help. Good luck.
Michael
If that's all that's available to you, then go ahead and use it. I couldn't get the unbleached stuff at first, but managed to bake bread with what I could buy, with no problems at all.
And so I finally got it done. The guilty party was the cooler weather we were having in an uncommonly warm winter. This time the culture cup literally runneth over, the rye flour, I'd introduced in the morning seemed to hurry the process. Was seeing some big bubbles. The crust was heavenly although the crumb was a bit dense, it was still pretty well aerated. Here's some pics.