Forum on sourdough starter and doughs

Alice Buda · 2022-04-15T08:16:46Z

I don't know if it happens to you too, but sometimes I have the feeling that the sourdough starter is doing its own thing even though my management doesn't seem to be undergoing any substantial changes. To be more precise, I often fail to notice the small changes that influence the activity of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in one way or another. Or to put it another way, I realized that it's not so easy—even knowing it—to notice what impacts the sourdough starter when we're obviously doing something different but aren't aware of it. For example, I realized that my sourdough starter tends to cyclically increase yeast activity and starts to run a bit too fast. So I have to intervene cyclically to rebalance everything, otherwise I'll have problems with the dough. But it took me a while to figure out exactly what makes my yeasts tick and make them so fast, because apparently my management method is always the same. I initially noticed that this happens when it is more often in the cold room at 18°C with more sporadic hot refreshments, because I am out of production or because I am busy with other fronts of my work. So at first I thought it was a question of acetic acidity, which inevitably increases in these cases. But then, when I had dough problems because the sourdough starter was too acetic, I also saw that the acetic component alone increases the activity of the yeast, in fact, in some cases it inhibits it. Then? I then realized that the moment we decide to take the sourdough starter and refresh it has a huge impact on their business. I mean, what makes a big difference is whether we add the yeast before or after, very early or very late, or at the so-called "ideal" moment of equilibrium. It's now clear that there's a point at which the sourdough starter can be taken too early, where the yeast and lactic acid bacteria aren't yet in sufficient numbers to ensure a good rhythm, a good fermentation activity (and we see this because the sourdough starter tends to slow down or grow less in subsequent refreshments). Likewise, there's a point at which the sourdough starter is so active that it's almost "too" active, to the point that if you refresh it at that point, especially with a low-flour refreshment, it explodes. If taken correctly, just before it reaches its maximum activity, just before it begins to slow down, then one tends to have consistency and regularity in its fermentative activity. The difficulty is understanding this point, and sometimes the difficulty is simply being present to take it at the right time, without procrastinating on the refreshments because "I have to finish sending this email first" or "I have to make this phone call first" or "I have to make dinner first." So, punctually, a sourdough starter taken "later" rather than before, and perhaps several times in a row, begins to load. Especially if managed in a way that fully supports its activity (type of refreshments, frequency of refreshments, temperature management, amount of hydration, etc.). Usually, when my sourdough starter "gets going" it gives me a rather distinctive and characteristic signal. Not only does its volume increase under the same conditions and time, but its external alveolation, the one visible from the glass jar, changes. After a night's rest, after the same number of hours at 18°C, it appears more open, more "torn". And even with a not low hydration (45%) it remains dry, cracked on the surface. When this happens, as much as I love seeing it, because it seems to explode with vitality, I understand that it's time to slow it down a bit, before it takes off and plays nasty tricks on my dough. For example, I'll show you what it looked like this morning. Have you noticed anything similar too?