March 2, 2015 - 6:01am
125% Levain
Gurus, Is this ready to use? It is 125% hydration levain and I'm wanting to do Hamelman's Vermont SD. It didn't rise at all after 10+ hours but it looks happy to me. Next step is flour / water / autolyse and then salt. Can I proceed with this now?
Thanks in advance
hester
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Give it a try! The more liquid your starter, the easier it is for the gas to bubble up and escape, so it's no surprise that you don't find it rising much.
Let us know how it goes...
Cathy
Just after posting that pic I mixed my flour and water and left out the above levain and salt. Walked our dog and came back to finish the process. I might have waited too long, because when we returned (45 minutes later) there were more dark threads, so I'm guessing I should have proceeded at once. If my suspicion is right, it means there is a narrow window for using such a liquid levain.... So next time i might do 100% and add the extra water when I mix the water and flour for the autolyse. Will let you know. Thanks for posting.
hester
I've recently been using Hamelman's book and made the Vermont SD. A liquid levain won't rise, so you're just looking for bubbles to show activity. I can't see how 45 mins could have turned from alive to dead. However, even if fermentation has died, if the sour smell and flavour is still there I've found it still gives good results using a bit of instant yeast for fermentation but still utilising the sour culture for flavour. In fact a few of Hamelman's recipes use commercial yeast and SD.
I don't think the levain died, not at all. I just didn't mix at it's peak. I'm expecting a longer bulk fermentation. But I do believe it'll be okay. I'm 1/2 way into the bulk, waiting to s&f once more and it's rising fine... so I"m good (hopefully)
Thanks again for replying.
hester
The higher the hydration a starter is the quicker it peaks.
today.
Need to speed things up? Then increase hydration.
Going out and want to slow things down? Then make a more stiff starter.
You'll get slightly different end results but all part of the experience.
For me it is quite the oposite.
My 100% hydration starter rises much slower than my 59% hydration starter.
I feed them at the same time, and when the 100% hydration starter has JUST about doubled my 50% hydration starter almost tripples.
With very high hydration will ferment quicker but will not rise as much as a stiffer starter which will ferment slower but rise much more.
A 125% hydration preferment won't trap the gas as well as your starter which is essentially a dough. You'll get a better visual of it rising though.