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This information will help you manipulate the taste of your sourdough bread. It doesn't take any more hands on labor. It takes more planning and waiting time... Much like BBQ.😎
It's basic math and science...
Tips for Manipulating the Sourness of Your Sourdough bread, starter...
The term ‘sourdough’ refers to the process of souring or fermenting bread dough, not necessarily the flavor. Whether you prefer a tangy flavor to your sourdough bread or a more mild taste, sourdough starter and dough can be manipulated to produce a bread that tastes great to you and your family.
Making a More Sour Sourdough starter...
There are two main acids produced in a sourdough culture: lactic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid, or vinegar, is the acid that gives sourdough much of its tang. Giving acetic acid-producing organisms optimal conditions to thrive and multiply will yield a more tangy finished product.
Adjusting the starter:
Maintain your starter at a lower hydration level. Lactic acid-producing organisms seem to thrive in a wet environment whereas acetic acid (more sour) is produced more abundantly in a drier environment.
Use whole-grain flours, (50% bread flour/50% WW flour) which the acid-producing bacteria love.
Keep the hooch, or brown liquid layer that forms on a hungry sourdough starter. Retaining hooch can add acidity to your sourdough bread.
What Does Hydration Level Mean?
Hydration is the ratio of water to flour in a sourdough starter. If you feed your starter with 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water, the starter is at 100% hydration. If you feed your starter 100 grams of flour and 75 grams of water, the starter is at 75% hydration. Feeding by weight, 100% hydration would mean equal weights of flour, and water.
Note: reduce your starter to a 75% hydration starter to start trying to get a more sour, tangy flavor. Use 50 grams of bread flour, 50 grams of WW flour and 75 grams of water - 75% hydration instead of the normal 100%. Mix it and leave on the counter top for 1 hour and then put it in the fridge. Wait for it to double in mass (mark the side of the container with a felt pen) once it's doubled in mass give it the float test. Don't pour the hooch out if you get some.
Adjusting the bread dough:
While it may take a little trial and error, maybe you need to go to 66% or 50% hydration to get the flavor you want, attempt to achieve a longer, slower rise by finding a cooler spot for rising the dough. The refrigerator works great.
Punching down (degassing) the dough at least once, if not twice, before the final shaping of the loaf.
Performing the final rise for at least four hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes before baking. Although many experts recommend that the last rise be a quick one done in a warmer environment, you will have better “oven-spring†by putting a cooler loaf into a hot oven.😎 Just my own opinion.
Making a Less Sour Sourdough starter...
These adjustments will achieve the opposite effect from those mentioned above, for a more mild flavor in the finished product.
Adjust the bread dough:
Use more starter in the dough. A larger percentage of sourdough starter in the dough allows it to both rise in a cooler location and have a shorter rising time. Both of these conditions aid in taming the sourness in sourdough by lowering acetic acid production.
The amount of starter may need to be adjusted by season: more starter in the winter and less in summer.
Each sourdough starter is unique, so keep adjusting until you produce a bread that is ideally suited to your taste.
Also note: you must adjust your bread recipe to compensate for the lower hydration starter.
With a 100% hydration starter your recipe would look like this:
Example: if your sourdough bread recipe calls for:
600 grams of flour = 100% with 66.6% hydration (400 grams of water) and 2% salt. You would need...
500 grams of flour
200 grams of starter (which is half water and half flour)
300 grams of water (remember your 200 grams of starter includes 100 grams of water + 100 grams of flour).
12 grams of salt.
So now we have 600 grams of flour, 400 grams of water and 12 grams of salt. A very popular sourdough bread recipe/formula.
Now... Let's make the same exact loaf of bread with a 75% hydration start that we developed to get a more tangy, sour flavor.
The recipe would look like this:
475 grams of flour (once combined with the flour in the starter = 600 grams =100%
200 grams of starter (which is 125 grams of flour + 75 grams of water)
325 grams of water ( once combined with the water in the starter = 400 grams = 66.6% of the weight of the flour
12 grams salt = 2% of the weight of the flour
So... You now you have the EXACT same recipe after making some adjustments to allow the science to work it magic to produce more acidic acid, to give you a more sour loaf.😎
Pretty simple isn't it.😉
This information will help you manipulate the taste of your sourdough bread. It doesn't take any more hands on labor. It takes more planning and waiting time... Much like BBQ.😎
It's basic math and science...
Tips for Manipulating the Sourness of Your Sourdough bread, starter...
The term ‘sourdough’ refers to the process of souring or fermenting bread dough, not necessarily the flavor. Whether you prefer a tangy flavor to your sourdough bread or a more mild taste, sourdough starter and dough can be manipulated to produce a bread that tastes great to you and your family.
Making a More Sour Sourdough starter...
There are two main acids produced in a sourdough culture: lactic acid and acetic acid. Acetic acid, or vinegar, is the acid that gives sourdough much of its tang. Giving acetic acid-producing organisms optimal conditions to thrive and multiply will yield a more tangy finished product.
Adjusting the starter:
Maintain your starter at a lower hydration level. Lactic acid-producing organisms seem to thrive in a wet environment whereas acetic acid (more sour) is produced more abundantly in a drier environment.
Use whole-grain flours, (50% bread flour/50% WW flour) which the acid-producing bacteria love.
Keep the hooch, or brown liquid layer that forms on a hungry sourdough starter. Retaining hooch can add acidity to your sourdough bread.
What Does Hydration Level Mean?
Hydration is the ratio of water to flour in a sourdough starter. If you feed your starter with 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water, the starter is at 100% hydration. If you feed your starter 100 grams of flour and 75 grams of water, the starter is at 75% hydration. Feeding by weight, 100% hydration would mean equal weights of flour, and water.
Note: reduce your starter to a 75% hydration starter to start trying to get a more sour, tangy flavor. Use 50 grams of bread flour, 50 grams of WW flour and 75 grams of water - 75% hydration instead of the normal 100%. Mix it and leave on the counter top for 1 hour and then put it in the fridge. Wait for it to double in mass (mark the side of the container with a felt pen) once it's doubled in mass give it the float test. Don't pour the hooch out if you get some.
Adjusting the bread dough:
While it may take a little trial and error, maybe you need to go to 66% or 50% hydration to get the flavor you want, attempt to achieve a longer, slower rise by finding a cooler spot for rising the dough. The refrigerator works great.
Punching down (degassing) the dough at least once, if not twice, before the final shaping of the loaf.
Performing the final rise for at least four hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes before baking. Although many experts recommend that the last rise be a quick one done in a warmer environment, you will have better “oven-spring†by putting a cooler loaf into a hot oven.😎 Just my own opinion.
Making a Less Sour Sourdough starter...
These adjustments will achieve the opposite effect from those mentioned above, for a more mild flavor in the finished product.
Adjust the bread dough:
Use more starter in the dough. A larger percentage of sourdough starter in the dough allows it to both rise in a cooler location and have a shorter rising time. Both of these conditions aid in taming the sourness in sourdough by lowering acetic acid production.
The amount of starter may need to be adjusted by season: more starter in the winter and less in summer.
Each sourdough starter is unique, so keep adjusting until you produce a bread that is ideally suited to your taste.
Also note: you must adjust your bread recipe to compensate for the lower hydration starter.
With a 100% hydration starter your recipe would look like this:
Example: if your sourdough bread recipe calls for:
600 grams of flour = 100% with 66.6% hydration (400 grams of water) and 2% salt. You would need...
500 grams of flour
200 grams of starter (which is half water and half flour)
300 grams of water (remember your 200 grams of starter includes 100 grams of water + 100 grams of flour).
12 grams of salt.
So now we have 600 grams of flour, 400 grams of water and 12 grams of salt. A very popular sourdough bread recipe/formula.
Now... Let's make the same exact loaf of bread with a 75% hydration start that we developed to get a more tangy, sour flavor.
The recipe would look like this:
475 grams of flour (once combined with the flour in the starter = 600 grams =100%
200 grams of starter (which is 125 grams of flour + 75 grams of water)
325 grams of water ( once combined with the water in the starter = 400 grams = 66.6% of the weight of the flour
12 grams salt = 2% of the weight of the flour
So... You now you have the EXACT same recipe after making some adjustments to allow the science to work it magic to produce more acidic acid, to give you a more sour loaf.😎
Pretty simple isn't it.😉
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