Wild Yeast

NPHuskerFL said:

@blind99 Most of my loaves are 1K

My recipes are 1K of flour, but that is for two loaves. Worth highlighting that some folks talk about flour weight (and I would be one) and others may refer to full recipe weight.

@blind99 - wrapping your brain around the concept of bakers' %age is key. Once you get used to that, you can scale or modify any recipe as you wish.

I bake one 500g or 650g loaf when I bake. That size fits well in the Lodge 5qt CIDO that I bake bread in, and its the right size to least a week or so before its time to bake again. 

So, I figure out what size of loaf I want to bake, in terms of total flour weight, then figure out the rest accordingly e.g. 30% WW, % hydration, etc. 

You can basically write your own recipe this way, and make whatever you want. Add-ins make it even more fun - flax seeds, citrus zest, seeds, etc.  

Edit - I just saw that SciAggie said the same thing, but more cogently:) )

caliking said:

NPHuskerFL said:

@caliking Comm yeast
JK

I know, I know. I needed a fast rise. 4yo's aint known to be patient!

@NPHuskerFL I know, right? I don't know what to think. Here's a guy that will raise a pig, slaughter it himself, gather the fat and then render his own lard just to make a tender biscuit. This same guy then goes to the store and buys instant yeast from a package... I just don't know...

Maybe I'm doing part if this wrong...the starter I've been baking with I've been,keeping out and either baking every day or 2 with it ...if I'm not baking it still gets fed twice ...but I'm just eyeballing the dump and replacing with 100 grams water/flour...I'm keeping roughly 4- 500 grams active and using 180 to 270 grams when baking.....I have not yet done the Ratio for maintenance....I do have 1 starter in the fridge I am feeding every t days or so, but I still eyeball the dump and replace with equal amounts of water flour

What is the negative side of not matching the starter to the amount of food? Ratio of bacteria to yeast? So sour to power? 

lkapigian said:

Ok Wild yeast Guru's ....how does starter fit into bakers % ....is it considered flour, water or 5050 ....? 

I suppose it depends on how wet you keep your starter. I always do equal parts (by weight) of flour and water, so the math is 50/50.

@lkapigian to prevent headaches, I do the only logical thing ... Ignore it!

For the 650g loaves I've been baking recently, I add AP 200g, WW 50g, water 200g, and starter 50g to make the levain. All of that goes into the final dough. 

For the final dough, I account for the water and flour in the levain (minus the starter), and figure out how more of each is needed. The true percentages are off by a bit, but I don't sweat it. It's splitting bread hairs IMO

When I feed the starter every week, I add an eyeballed tablespoonful of starter to AP 3/4 cup, and water 1/3 cup. Yes, by volume, and imprecise. Because I'm too lazy to get the scale out and measure by weight. 

lkapigian said:

Maybe I'm doing part if this wrong...the starter I've been baking with I've been,keeping out and either baking every day or 2 with it ...if I'm not baking it still gets fed twice ...but I'm just eyeballing the dump and replacing with 100 grams water/flour...I'm keeping roughly 4- 500 grams active and using 180 to 270 grams when baking.....I have not yet done the Ratio for maintenance....I do have 1 starter in the fridge I am feeding every t days or so, but I still eyeball the dump and replace with equal amounts of water flour

What is the negative side of not matching the starter to the amount of food? Ratio of bacteria to yeast? So sour to power? 

I understand your question to be how varying the amount of old starter used to inoculate fresh water and flour affects the outcome. As your starter grows and bubbles, the population of yeast vs bacteria changes as a percentage of the starter ecosystem. Also byproducts of fermentation such as alcohol and acid become a part of the "soup" we call starter. Their amount as a percentage varies according to the mass of the inoculation starter used.
If you use more/less mass of starter to inoculate a new food source, you bring more/less of those byproducts along. That has an effect on flavor and it also Affects the way the new bacteria and yeast grow depending on their tolerance to the environment they are in with regard to acid and alcohol. The ecosystem we call the starter can favor bacteria or yeast growth depending on its age.
All of this is to say - if you like a real sour "twang" to your dough - use older and mature starter and inoculate with a large sample from the previous batch. If you want a younger "sweeter" dough that smells "yeasty" then use a small amount of starter to inoculate the new batch.

The book "The Bread Builders" goes into this in some detail.  

caliking said:

@lkapigian to prevent headaches, I do the only logical thing ... Ignore it!

Me too. My bread at 75% hydration with the starter figured in is actually about 77% hydration. I don’t worry about it other than knowing I’m a bit higher hydration than I calculate.

How long you autolyse or the humidity can cause more difference in a batch of dough than this difference in hydration in my opinion. 

@NPHuskerFL ,I'm not much of an APP person either, I get Bakers% but did not see how to got that into a starter...there are to many variables...if one has plenty of time, you can use just a few grams of starter, up to what I see around here...best I can see, for they way I am learning from all you here, 22-30% of your flour can come from starter 

I baked my first olive loaf this morning. I’ll cut it later this evening (I have to go do this work thing ).

Ok guys, I love seeing all this great bread.  I’ve been baking quite a bit myself since first being inspired by this thread.  I’ve done baguettes, pita, pizza and most often sourdough.  My starter Jacque Couscough is doin great and has contributed to almost every dough recipe I’ve made so far.  

Unfortunately, i am having issues with my sourdough boules... 

I’m using the Tartine Country Bread recipe that basically breaks down to this ratio

200g starter (100% Hydration)
750g water
100g Whole Wheat flour (KA)
900g Bread Flour (KA)
20g salt

Process is 

Mix starter, Flour, and 700g of water
autolyse for 15min
add salt and remaining 50g of water and mix until combined
proof at room temp for 3 hours folding every half hour
preshape into boule, no flour on work surface
bench rest 15min
final shape, set in bannetons
cold proof for 16hours

My issue is that I bake the bread and it tastes great, truly awesome bread for some good butter and honey, but sometimes I get these huge holes in the center



This has been my worst loaf by far but it highlights the issue.  Very disappointing.  I have had much better loaves and one perfect loaf but of course the perfect loaf is the one I have no notes on.  Not sure if this is shaping technique, proofing times, or what.  

I found this article that might be helpful - I do not know if it is the answer. I do not know for sure either. My first thought is that 3 hours for bulk fermentation is not long enough. Sourdough does not act as quickly as commercial yeast. Most of my loaves require a 5-6 hour bulk even in warm weather. 
I also agree with @NPHuskerFL regarding the autolyse. I don’t do it nearly as long as he does, but I think 1-2 hours is a minimum for it to be effective. 

Thanks for the input guys - here is the recipe link for reference.. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016277-tartines-country-bread

For my next attempt I will look over the ratios everyone posted above and adjust to longer autolyse and bulk ferment and see what comes from it.  Who knows, the one set of perfect loaves could have been a day that I had to step away and was forced into a long bulk and I just do not remember.