November 29, 2015 - 11:53am
Starter question again
Hi,
Made two breads today following the country bread recipe from Chad. I got two flat loafs - and i'm pretty sure its the starter. The dough was rising during the bulk fermentation.
The starter was rising every time a feed it - but it did'nt double in size. How to do that ?
Every day i discard all but 75 grams og the starter and feed it with 75 grams whole grain wheat and 75 grams of white wheat and 150 grams of water.
The starter is rising but only 20-30 percent, so i need something to get it more active. The starter is pretty old and stored in the refrigerator when not used.
Thanks,
Peter
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Give it some feedings on the counter. Don't feed it until it begins to fall. Do this a few times until it is more active. If it is taking more than 12 hours to start to fall then you can feed it less next time (like 80g of starter, 40g of WG, 40g of WW, and 80g of water). It really should more than double if it is active. Mine has to be fed a lot more to last a full 12 hours and it will more than triple in size (I have to feed it 1:10:10).
The other thing to do is give it a stir several times a day to get it more active.
So what happene? Did the loaves go in the oven before they had sufficiently proved or did the bread spread after it was put in the oven.
Gerhard
So what happene? Did the loaves go in the oven before they had sufficiently proved or did the bread spread after it was put in the oven.
Gerhard
Fementation Too Long?
That would be my guess.
Before I blamed the starter I would cut the fermentation time or ferment it in a cooler area.
I don't know that the starter doubling is so critical. It's not easy to verify anyway. If it appears healthy, then I would recommend taking some measurements to determine how long it takes your starter to peak and make sure you track the temperature. Or better yet, control it.
Knowing how long until your starter peaks can give you a good idea of how long fermentation shoukd really be taking,
...or you're letting it proof too long.