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Sourdough (rec.food.sourdough) Discussing the hobby or craft of baking with sourdough. We are not just a recipe group, Our charter is to discuss the care, feeding, and breeding of yeasts and lactobacilli that make up sourdough cultures. |
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Bread vs. AP flour for starter maintenance
I've been baking whole-grain sourdough bread for years, but due to
requests by friends I have recently been playing with 100% white flour sourdough. I started by converting my whole-wheat starter to white flour, using bread flour to feed it because I intended to use bread flour (KA brand) to make the actual dough, and I figure I ought to feed the starter with the same stuff I intend it to feed on in the dough. Plus, I figured the diastatic barley flour would help the critters break down the starches. Well, the starter was pretty limp for a few days, but after several refreshments it seemed to adapt to the new environment and became quite active. Now, after a couple of weeks of regular feeding it is very, very active: When I refresh the starter, I quintuple it (by weight: 10g starter + 20g water + 20g flour), and within 3 hours at room temperature (about 75F/24C) it has more than doubled, assuming the inoculum was reasonably fresh and active already at the time of feeding (I've been feeding every 12 hours). Bread made with this starter has great volume but the dough rises so quickly that there's hardly any time for acid formation and the bread has only the slightest hint of sourness. I suppose that might be the holy grail for some sourdough bakers, but when I want that kind of bread (and I often do!) I just use commercial yeast. I'm wondering if it might make sense to maintain the starter with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, so that the starter doesn't have the assistance of the barley malt and is therefore perhaps a bit less active. On the other hand, perhaps the starter is so active because I feed it so often, and quintuple at each feeding. Perhaps just letting the starter go for 24 hours between feedings would calm the critters down. This might matter more than the type of flour. Any opinions? What kind of flour do you feed your white starter? -- Randall |
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On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:59:55 GMT, Randall Nortman
> wrote: >I'm wondering if it might make sense to maintain the starter with >all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, Howdy, Is not KA-AP flour "bread" flour by most standards? Most folks seem to use the term "bread" flour to mean a high-protein white. All the best, -- Kenneth If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS." |
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On 2005-08-14, Kenneth > wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:59:55 GMT, Randall Nortman > wrote: > >>I'm wondering if it might make sense to maintain the starter with >>all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, > > Howdy, > > Is not KA-AP flour "bread" flour by most standards? > > Most folks seem to use the term "bread" flour to mean a > high-protein white. I think that with respect to the current question (starter feeding), the critical difference between them is not protein content but the fact that KA bread flour has added malted barley flour, which provides enzymes that break down the starches into sugars more easily digested by yeast (and lactobacilli). Unfortunately, I can't check the ingredient list of the KA AP flour since I put the flour in airtight containers and throw the bags away, but my recollection is that it does not have malted barley flour. If that is the case, then the organisms should have a harder time extracting the sugars and so fermentation should be slowed. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that you'd even end up with a slightly different mix of yeast and lactobacilli strains after many generations, having selected for organisms which produce more of their own enzymes. -- Randall |
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On 2005-08-14, Randall Nortman > wrote:
> On 2005-08-14, Kenneth > wrote: >> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:59:55 GMT, Randall Nortman > wrote: >> >>>I'm wondering if it might make sense to maintain the starter with >>>all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, >> >> Howdy, >> >> Is not KA-AP flour "bread" flour by most standards? >> >> Most folks seem to use the term "bread" flour to mean a >> high-protein white. > > I think that with respect to the current question (starter feeding), > the critical difference between them is not protein content but the > fact that KA bread flour has added malted barley flour, which provides > enzymes that break down the starches into sugars more easily digested > by yeast (and lactobacilli). Unfortunately, I can't check the > ingredient list of the KA AP flour since I put the flour in airtight > containers and throw the bags away, but my recollection is that it > does not have malted barley flour. Nevermind, I found the ingredient list online (not on the King Arthur site, but at http://www.mannaharvest.net/product_...oducts_id/3331), and there is malted barley flour even in the all-purpose flour. So, I stand corrected, and this entire thread is probably a waste of time, unless somebody else knows of another reason to prefer bread vs. AP flour (aside from the fact that AP flour is often cheaper). -- Randall |
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Randall Nortman wrote:
> I've been baking whole-grain sourdough bread for years, but due to > requests by friends I have recently been playing with 100% white flour > sourdough. I started by converting my whole-wheat starter to white > flour, using bread flour to feed it because I intended to use bread > flour (KA brand) to make the actual dough, and I figure I ought to > feed the starter with the same stuff I intend it to feed on in the > dough. Not really - depending how you grow your starter (in a sense, how much whole graininess you can tolerate in your final bread - 0.1, 1 or 2 %) you should be able to maintain one kind of starter - the whole grain type - and use this to grow what you need for your other breads. > Plus, I figured the diastatic barley flour would help the > critters break down the starches. > > Well, the starter was pretty limp for a few days, but after several > refreshments it seemed to adapt to the new environment and became > quite active. This probably depends on your conditions. I had no problem making white bread from a small inoculum of a full grain rye starter without going through extra stages to get the starter going in a new environment. Now, if I want white bread, I do it in that manner. It works very well. I currently maintain one FG rye starter by always keeping a small amount (10 - 20 g) in a small container in the fridge and use that for growing the next starter. The containers with leftovers I keep for maybe 1/2 year and once and while, I clean up and use their content to make "chaos bread" - seeing what comes out of it. > Now, after a couple of weeks of regular feeding it is > very, very active: When I refresh the starter, I quintuple it (by > weight: 10g starter + 20g water + 20g flour), and within 3 hours at > room temperature (about 75F/24C) it has more than doubled, assuming > the inoculum was reasonably fresh and active already at the time of > feeding (I've been feeding every 12 hours). Bread made with this > starter has great volume but the dough rises so quickly that there's > hardly any time for acid formation and the bread has only the > slightest hint of sourness. Punching down should fix that - if you do it often enough, you'll get sour bricks i. e. over fermented dough. Another method would be to let your starter get more sour or grow it warmer to promote LB's. There are growth curves around for hydration and temperature showing optimal growth for LB's or yeasts for a defined starter. You (and nobody else here, so it seems) has that. But it's a basis. > I suppose that might be the holy grail > for some sourdough bakers, but when I want that kind of bread (and I > often do!) I just use commercial yeast. I can't imagine a hard core sourhead having yeast as a holey grail. > I'm wondering if it might make sense to maintain the starter with > all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, so that the starter doesn't > have the assistance of the barley malt and is therefore perhaps a bit > less active. There are many ways to go about it. To maintain a starter has a certain overhead. If that does not matter one may enjoy maintaining a variety of starters and make a variety of breads. Another way is to use less variety in starters and vary the starter growing procedures and bread recipes to get variety if so desired. The number of possible variations is immense. > On the other hand, perhaps the starter is so active because I feed it > so often, and quintuple at each feeding. Perhaps just letting the > starter go for 24 hours between feedings would calm the critters down. > This might matter more than the type of flour. Another possibility is that you may have promoted one organism over the other with your treatments and that gives you the result you see. Yet another possibility is that something completely new was introduced. > Any opinions? What kind of flour do you feed your white starter? Do what you enjoy most and I fed whatever I used for having around making white bread, mostly white bread flours (KA, local brand - the KS contained malted barley, the local brand did not and I didn't add it). I think the malted barley or not does not matter much with growing a starter. There are so many factors involved. If you get what you like, you are fine, if not, you vary some things you think matter and go from there. And yes, you may be right, probably a waste of time.... Samartha |
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On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:59:55 GMT, Randall Nortman
> spewed forth : >I've been baking whole-grain sourdough bread for years, but due to >requests by friends I have recently been playing with 100% white flour >sourdough. I started by converting my whole-wheat starter to white >flour, using bread flour to feed it because I intended to use bread >flour (KA brand) to make the actual dough, and I figure I ought to >feed the starter with the same stuff I intend it to feed on in the >dough. Plus, I figured the diastatic barley flour would help the >critters break down the starches. I'm using King Arthur AP to feed my starter, tho I do bake with 100% freshly ground wheat flour. I've tried other brands of AP for maintenance with disappointing results. +++++++++++++ Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account... |
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Randall Nortman wrote:
> So, I stand corrected, and this entire thread is probably a waste of > time, unless somebody else knows of another reason to prefer bread > vs. AP flour (aside from the fact that AP flour is often cheaper). I use AP to feed the starter, and Stonebuhr Bread flour to make dough. B/ |
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On 2005-08-14, Samartha Deva > wrote:
> Randall Nortman wrote: >> I've been baking whole-grain sourdough bread for years, but due to >> requests by friends I have recently been playing with 100% white flour >> sourdough. I started by converting my whole-wheat starter to white >> flour, using bread flour to feed it because I intended to use bread >> flour (KA brand) to make the actual dough, and I figure I ought to >> feed the starter with the same stuff I intend it to feed on in the >> dough. [...] >> Well, the starter was pretty limp for a few days, but after several >> refreshments it seemed to adapt to the new environment and became >> quite active. > > This probably depends on your conditions. I had no problem making white > bread from a small inoculum of a full grain rye starter without going > through extra stages to get the starter going in a new environment. [...] It may have been that the whole-wheat starter I began with was a bit stale (i.e., not enough live organisms) from sitting in the fridge without refreshments for too long. (I recently got married, and so was kept too busy to bake for several months.) I'll try converting a fresher whole-wheat starter to white flour and see if there's any noticable adjustment period. > Another method would be to let your starter get more sour or grow it > warmer to promote LB's. There are growth curves around for hydration and > temperature showing optimal growth for LB's or yeasts for a defined > starter. You (and nobody else here, so it seems) has that. But it's a basis. Yes, I've seen the curves, and I've played around with different temperatures. I came to the conclusion that it's too much of a pain to bother, and so now I do everything either at whatever room temperature happens to be or in the refrigerator. It's less consistent, which can be inconvenient, but also means I get built-in variety. (I actually came very close to building a proofing "aquarium" such as you describe on your website, but never quite got that far, perhaps because I made the project too complicated by planning a microprocessor controlled system so that I could program in temperature-vs-time curves.) >> I suppose that might be the holy grail >> for some sourdough bakers, but when I want that kind of bread (and I >> often do!) I just use commercial yeast. > > I can't imagine a hard core sourhead having yeast as a holey grail. [...] It's my understanding that many Old World bakers (at least those of French heritage) try rather hard to reduce sour flavors in their naturally leavened bread. I suspect this is a holdover from before there was commercial yeast, and so sourdough bread without the sour flavor was a mark of a skilled baker. People always want whatever is least common or hardest to come by -- these days bland bread is most common, so gourmets want flavorful bread. (And bread snobs want flavorful bread made only with flour, salt, and water.) On another note, the white bread I made yesterday with my new bread-flour starter, which did not taste sour to me when still warm (about 45 minutes after coming out of the oven), developed a stronger sourness once it had cooled completely. This is an effect I've noticed with whole wheat bread, too. Any idea what causes this phenomenon? Is it just that I don't taste the sourness due to the warmth or other masking flavors which evaporate away as the bread cools, or is more acid still being produced? I would think that if anything is still evaporating away, it would be acetic acid, which is what's supposed to have the more sour flavor. Of course, it could just be a quirk of my taste buds, since my wife thought the bread tasted sour even when it was still warm. -- Randall |
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