Help! The bread smells and tastes good but is far too heavy. What am I doing wrong? It seems to take a long time to proof but still doesn't rise nearly as much as conventional bread. I am using about 200 gm of starter to 500 gm of lfour plus 240ml water.
Category:
Replies
Hi drovers wife.
People may be able to better assist if you give us more details.
eg: type of flour(s) you're using
hydration of starter
how you feed starter up to get it ripe and ready
bulk and final proof duration
whether you're retarding in the fridge as part of the proof
how you're developing the gluten (eg: kneading, stretch and folding, slap kneading)
baking temperature and time
your current ambient temperature
Looking at the info you've given, assuming a starter hydration of 100%, I calculate your dough hydration as 57%. That's rather low. You might try bringing it up to, say, 65% and see how your bread turns out.
Your starter component quantity may be adjusted to good effect, also, but let's have a look at your complete recipe and go from there.
Cheers
Ross
Thanks rossnroller,
Not sure what you mean by hydration of starter..
The flour I am using is Australian hard wheat bread flour which I bake conventional bread out of with great success.
I am feeding the starter every day with equal amounts of flour and water and when using it take it out of the fridge (it is currently 36degrees C or more) feed it and leave for about six hours or until it really rises up in the jar and you can see bubbles through it although it doesn't appear to get foamy. I then use 200g of starter to 500g of flour and 245mls water and 1 teas salt. Knead it for about 10 minutes. It is seeming to take a long time to rise though. And then knocking it back, forming loaves and proof again...once again it seems to take a long time.
Before you use your starter, drop a table spoon of it into a cup of water in room temprature. If the starter floats - it's ready. If not, wait another 30 minutes (keep it in a warm place (80 F) and try again about half an hour later. If it still doesn't work, place 1 Tablespoon of the starter in a clean jar and feed it 100 grams water and 100 grams flour (70 grams white Bread Flour and 30 grams Rye do the best job).
Good Luck
Giora
Hydration of starter = proportion of water to flour as a baker's percentage. In your case, your starter is 100%, since you're adding equal quantities of flour to water. Anyway, no issue there.
Now that you've mentioned your room temperature, I strongly suspect you're overproofing, which would explain why your bread is dense and not rising as it should. Try reducing your proof times (see below).
Your proportion of starter to total dough weight is relatively low @ 21%. I'd try bringing it up to, say, around 30% (ie: 285g). Sounds like your starter is ripe and ready to rock when you're using it. At your high current ambient temps, 6 hours after a feed sounds right.
I'd raise the hydration of your dough to 65% and see how that goes (ie: increase water to 290gm).
I'll suggest a tried and true procedure that I find is reliable, but you might like to just go ahead in the way you've been doing first, to assess the effect of these dough composition changes.
Many of us here like to autolyse for 30mins or more prior to beginning the bulk proof period. That is, roughly mix your dough except for the salt, then cover and let it sit. Add salt after this rest period, then start your bulk proof period with some form of kneading. Like many here, I prefer stretching and folding to kneading when making sourdough bread. I find it gentler on the dough, easier and quicker. Here's a demo of the technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1timJlCT3PM
If you decide to try S&Fing, do it once per hour during your bulk proof, or in your high room temps, you might find it works better doing two S&Fs initially, 30 mins apart, then 1 more an hour later if necessary. I find that the bulk proof takes as little as 1.5 hours - or even less - when the room temperature is as hot as yours. You'll need to assess the dough from about the 1 hour point and watch it carefully from there on. These very high ambient temps are not great for bread, but we have to adapt...
When the BP is over, pre-shape, rest 5-10 mins, and shape. I retard the shaped dough in the fridge overnight for the final proof, and bake straight out of the fridge next day, but if you prefer to do it all on the same day, you'll follow up the shaping with a final proof (cover dough) before baking. Again, in your high current room temps, the FP shouldn't take all that long - probably less than an hour. Do a poke test.
Hope some of that helps. Let us know how you go.
Cheers
Ross
PS: Why not try some other recipes? There are a lot of good ones here - have a look through the site. The Norwich Rye is a reliable favourite, and Shiao-Ping's recipes are always excellent. There's a start...
I agree with rossnroller. You need more water. This was the one simple thing I found out I was "doing wrong" when I started baking with sourdough. If you are after those gorgeous loaves with the huge holes in them your dough needs to be wet. Alot wetter than what you would expect. I have never had a scale in my kitchen, so I could never use the recepies on this website. But if you watch a few videos, like the one posted by rossnroller above, you will see just how wet your dough needs to be. Watch as he "pours" that dough out onto his surface. Does your dough pour?
BTW, when you said "knock it back" a little alarm went off. Punching dough or knocking it back isn't what you want to do. Part of the point of proving your dough is to create networks of gas pockets throughout the dough. If your are punching it or knocking it back, then you are removing and closing those pockets. That will make things more dense. Instead, once you have started the bulk proof, be a little gentle with your dough. Instead of punching or knocking it back, just fold it gently... or better yet, leave it alone until it is time to shape.
Finally, I'd suggest watching a few videos like the one above on shaping your loaves. Again, the key is to be gentle.