The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Starter temperature

harum's picture
harum

Starter temperature

What temperature is the most popular for sourdough starter development and propagation?  A quick online poll would be quite interesting.  Suspicion is, though, the answer would be "room temperature". 

According to this paper, the microbiota of an established wheat starter is highly dependent on the temperature.   E.g., starters developed at 23°C(73°F) and lower contain mostly hetero-fermentative cocci like Leuconostoc citreum and not much Lactobacillus.  Different species of homo-fermentative Lactobacillus only show up in starters developed at higher temperatures.  Leuconostoc bacteria acidify the dough twice as fast compared to Lactobacillus with much higher lower "lactic-to-acetic" ratio, which might cause dramatic differences in the quality of bread.  Throw in different optimal temperatures for different species of yeast (the most frequent Saccharomyces cerevisiae -- 32°C, Candida humilis -- 27°C, Candida krusei -- 42°C) and the need for tight temperature control becomes obvious.