Add troubleshooting: Too sour starter

I was asked on YouTube regarding this. I figured I add another
chapter on the topic in the troubleshooting section.
This commit is contained in:
Hendrik Kleinwaechter
2022-08-11 11:45:37 +01:00
parent b725aed593
commit f078095cb6
2 changed files with 38 additions and 1 deletions

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@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ drain the liquid part on your starter and use it. I have used it numerous
times to make lactofermented hot sauces.
\section{Stiff starter}
\label{section:stiff-starter}
\begin{figure}[!htb]
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{sourdough-starter-stiff.jpg}

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@@ -458,3 +458,39 @@ To fix this try to make sure that your sourdough starter is lively
and active. Simply apply a couple of more feedings in advance before
making your dough. This way your dough becomes ready to shape
before it has completely broken down.
\section{My sourdough starter is too sour}
A too sour sourdough starter will cause problems during
the fermentation. Your fermentation will be more on the
bacterial side, rather than the yeast side. This means
you will likely create a more tangy dough which isn't
as fluffy as it could be. The goal is to reach the right
balance: Fluffy consistency from the yeast and a great
not too strong tang from the bacteria. This depends
of course on what you are looking for in terms of taste
in your bread. When making rye bread I prefer to be more
on the tangy side for instance. When the described balance
is off. the first thing to check is your sourdough starter.
Note the smell of your starter. Does it smell very sour?
Taste a bit of your starter too. How sour does it taste?
Over time every starter becomes more and more sour the longer
you wait. But sometimes your starter becomes sour too fast.
In this case apply daily feedings to your starter. Reduce
the amount of old starter that you use to feed. A ratio
of 1:5:5 or 1:10:10 can do wonders. In this case you would
take 1 part of starter (10g) and feed it with 50g of flour
and 50g of water. This way the microorganisms start
the fermentation in a green field environment. This is
similar to the 10 percent starter of 20 percent starter
ratio that you use to make a dough. These days I almost
never use a 1:1:1 ratio. This only makes sense when you
are initially creating your starter. You want a sour
environment so that your microorganisms outcompete
potential pathogens. The acidic environment is toxic
to most pathogens that you do not want in your starter.
Another approach that can help is to convert your
sourdough starter into a stiff starter as
described in section \ref{section:stiff-starter}.