Hi guys,
I have been baking sourdough for almost 5 years and I always struggle a bit with bulk fermentation.
This is typical Tartine bread, 950g manitoba bread flour, 50g whole wheat, 740g water, 200g active starter and 23g of salt.
30 min fermentolyse, 6x coil folds with 30 min between and bulk fermantation after that, 5 hrs and 55 mins at 24-25°C. About 45% rise. Preshape, benchrest for 30 mins and then classic final shape. Cold retard at 3° for 20hrs. Baked in preheated oven at 230°C with 2 icecubes for 6 min. Scored again and the lid on with 2 more icecubes for 23 min. Lid off and finished baking at 245° for 15 min.
It feels kind of weird, bit sluggish, tastes good though but not how I like it.
What do you guys think? Is it overproofed? Underproofed or is it a starter problem? 😮💨
by ValgerdurG
12 Comments
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Your bread looks perfect from here. But if texture is gummy probably the starter is too acidic.
Ah, that is perfect. You’re kidding yes?
To me, this is underproofed. It’s a gorgeous loaf, but the gaping holes and small tunnels tell me it needed more time.
The easiest way to figure out if your starter is weak is by doing a 1:1:1 feed and seeing how long it takes to double- not in a proofing box or oven, just at reasonable room temp. 18-20 degrees C. If it takes longer than 5 hours, then the starter needs work.
I don’t temp my dough, but I did buy a cambro and it has taken all the guess work out of it for me. I keep it simple and go for 30% rise, which is also what the Tartine book says to go for regardless, and then I fridge proof until an adequate rise has occurred in the banneton in the fridge. It has taken me until the summer to realize that the second rise will tell me when to bake it, and I don’t necessarily decide ahead of time how long it will be in the fridge. Making bagels helped to educate me on that point, as they have to pass a float test before baking. Not that we can do that with bread dough, but it helped my eye to understand that we need the bread to rise well before baking.
Hopefully something in this ramble helps!
A poster yesterday put up a spelt/whole wheat/white mixed loaf yesterday with a gorgeous crumb and they noted that whenever they use spelt, the crumb is looser and more wild. It’s useful to note that the more whole wheat you have, the quicker your loaf will ferment. Also, I believe the tartine country loaf does call for more whole wheat than you used here. If your starter is white flour, change it on over to whole wheat, it will populate more yeast that way and it will have more to eat when fed.
I baked a Tartine style loaf this week too, and had a similar issue. My starter was fed 1-1-1 and I used it after 5 hours, didn’t smell acidic. I used a proofing box at 78 degrees for 3 hours, shaped and refrigerated overnight, baked straight from fridge. Almost identical to the steps I took last week. But this one is very so slightly gummy.
Differences this time: last week I used all bread flour, this week I included the usual whole wheat flour. The dough felt a bit stickier after bulk fermentation, so I wonder if I added too much water with the salt? (I do a single loaf, so I may have forgotten to “halve” the 50g.) And last, I had a morning appointment, so the dough spent two extra hours in the fridge.
It has the nice bunny profiles, looks awesome !
I’m also doing tartine recipe. I’m waiting for the starter to mature. Been almost 1.5 weeks . How long did you wait for the starter to mature before using ? I also live in colder climate so that might defer from your climate right now
None of the above?! That looks great! Beautiful spring and color.
Very good, but highly likely slightly under. A tad longer would have given you a more even crumb not sacrificing on the large alveoles.
I just learned about “bunny” profile this week, and this is the cutest “bunny” I’ve seen in bread. No comment on the actual rise or bake since I’m still learning, but it’s adorable. 🙂
Im still a youngling when it comes to bread but I’d say the problem lies in the amount of manitoba flour, look into a mix of a lighter flour and manitoba and you should have a less chewy product! Other than that the bread looks beautiful.
What is your normal starter ratio? 1:1:1?
I’ve found much more success when I feed using at least a 1:3:3 but preferably a 1:5:5.
It seems slightly under proofed due to the large channels, the gumminess could be from cutting into it too soon.