Wild Yeast

TEXASBGE2018 said:

I made my 1st starter about 2 weeks ago. I fed it daily for 5 days until nice and bubbly then because it was going to be a week or so before I was going to use it, I put it in the fridge. I took it out of the fridge the day before I created my levain so it sat out on the counter overnight before I made the levain. So after speaking with @caliking I decided to try my hand at baking a loaf this past weekend. While the taste was great the loaf just didn't rise. I had lots of air pockets but no rise. Great color also. Any ideas? I'm thinking I may have something going on with my starter since it was only out a day before I made the levain. I noticed when I went to proof it in my banneton for 4 hours on the counter after my initial rise it hardly changed size. I would have taken a picture but I was too ashamed. Any thoughts?

Do you have a picture of it? I have found ( when it comes to poor oven spring) if the starter is good, paases the float Test then it , in my case, not been shaped properly, over proofed or both. But I am way new to this...when I thought I was shaping well. I wasn't ...now I do a presale and final 

lkapigian said:

TEXASBGE2018 said:

I made my 1st starter about 2 weeks ago. I fed it daily for 5 days until nice and bubbly then because it was going to be a week or so before I was going to use it, I put it in the fridge. I took it out of the fridge the day before I created my levain so it sat out on the counter overnight before I made the levain. So after speaking with @caliking I decided to try my hand at baking a loaf this past weekend. While the taste was great the loaf just didn't rise. I had lots of air pockets but no rise. Great color also. Any ideas? I'm thinking I may have something going on with my starter since it was only out a day before I made the levain. I noticed when I went to proof it in my banneton for 4 hours on the counter after my initial rise it hardly changed size. I would have taken a picture but I was too ashamed. Any thoughts?

Do you have a picture of it? I have found ( when it comes to poor oven spring) if the starter is good, paases the float Test then it , in my case, not been shaped properly, over proofed or both.

I didn't take a picture, I was too embarrassed. I sat the starter on the counter and fed it and let it sit overnight. Then the next morning I made the levain. I let the levain sit for 4 hours on the counter. Then I made the loaf and folded it 4 times over a period of 2 hours. I shaped the dough and put it in the banneton for 4 hours then went to bake that night.

I have found my starter takes 2 feedings out of the fridge, and it's ready about 4 to 6 hours after the second feeding ..try taking a little of the starter and see if it will float, this helped me ...

theyolksonyou said:

lkapigian said:

I have found my starter takes 2 feedings out of the fridge, and it's ready about 4 to 6 hours after the second feeding ..try taking a little of the starter and see if it will float, this helped me ...

I leave my levian out 12 hrs.  Not that I’m an expert by any means.  The first loaves I made I rushed it and had results similar to yours. 

Agreed, mine probably a bit longer out of the fridge ...i start at least a day ahead

lkapigian said:

TEXASBGE2018 said:

This is the closest picture I can find to my result.

I've had that result ... not bad looking loaf , just make sure it's active and shaped will...make sure it has no place to go but up...congrats !

Ya taste was perfect. Just didn't get the rise like I had hoped. Keep on trying I guess.

caliking said:

Your first loaf sounds like it turned out better than mine, so don't despair!

How much did the dough rise after the bulk rise? Its not expected to rise as much as yeast dough, especially if you have it in the fridge. 

Also, proofing for 4hrs is too long in my kitchen, but my house is warmer than most (76-78°F). Use the finger poke to check how your dough is proofing - poke the dough and note how the indentation fills back. If it springs back rapidly, its underproofed. If it doesn't really spring back to fill the indentation back, its overproofed. If it springs back in a relaxed way, and almost fills the indentation back - Goldilocks!

Shaping makes a big difference too, and I have only recently started to appreciate this. My shaping game needs work. Watching vids on YouTube will help. 

It didn't seem to rise much after the bulk rise at all. Even the bulk rise didn't seem to be drastic. I'll try the poke test. I'm making another loaf Sunday so I took my starter out last night and fed it. Hoping by Saturday I'm sitting pretty.

Ok same result as last time. It was way better in the bulk rise this time. Almost doubled in size. So not sure what’s going on. My levain was nice and bubbly this time. Took out the starter 2 days before I made the levain and fed it each day. I will say that this time instead of Unbleached flour I used bread flour. Could that have made the difference this time? Only got about 2.5” rise

my starter was smelling like ripe, dirty socks last weekend.  Ugh.  multiple refreshes, it still smelled nasty - not like something i'd want to cook with.  i finally changed the container it was in, and one or two more refreshes and it's awesome again.  

was it the container, harboring grossness?  or can the starter itself change that much from time to time?

^^^^^^That Is Awesome Spring^^^^^^ All WildYeast???

Adapted from a FWSY recipe to include Rob the Blob. Got this down to less than 20 minutes of hands on time. Mmmmmm bread:

Clutch227 said:

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 don’t know if you’ve already figured this problem out yet?  Your problem is how you’re handling the dough after bulk fermentation. 

During bulk fermentation your dough rises because the yeast in your starter is manufacturing lots Co2. The problem is during that process the Co2 is not evenly distributed thoughout your dough. It tends to create some big pockets. Those pockets must be redistributed in your dough during pre-shaping and final shaping, or those large pockets will continue getting larger during final proofing and during the Oven spring process... giving you those big Mouse size holes you see in your crumb. This problem is so prevalent to beginners it has its own descriptive name Mouse holes... big enough holes for mice to climb through. 

Biginners often hesitate to to degas, also known as redistributing the Co2 evenly in their dough after the bulk fermentation process because it took them a long time to get that nice rise.

Don’t worry about the degassing step it’s a step that can’t be eliminated. Besides... that’s exactly why you have the final proofing step. Final proofing is intended to be the final rise - to reinflate your dough after the aggressive handling it suffered during the final shaping step. 

Here’s a great video that will demonstrate these steps nicely... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RgqPli_sLLM

Need some help, trying to make my first wild yeast. Have been following the basic King Arthur flour recipe, been working for 6-7 days. The started has gone from a sticky paste to more of a very heavy cake batter. Very little growth and lack of bubbles, has a pretty good aroma to it. 
Am I pushing it as time goes or is this just a dead batch that hasn't found it's wild side?

Thanks NPH been tossing all but a heavy 1/2 cup and replacing with 1 cup of flour but been the same for days. Will give it a try in the morning.

Winner Blake !! Finally under the 100's here, ready to bake some more 

Nice work with the stencil @NPHuskerFL!