Sourdough Like Pitta?

[JohnnyCyclops]

More a technical bread baking question re the wetness of the dough.

I've made a few sourdoughs (1lb rounds, on a baking tray) but the most recent pair did rise (bit lopsided) but when cut into had one large air pocket in each loaf, not an even rise throughout. The dough seemed quite a bit more sticky (wet) than previous tries, and I wondered what effect dough wetness has on rising and proving.

By contrast, my standard wholemeal loaf dough is very dry when kneading, almost having to coax the last of the flour on the worktop to join the party, but gives a consistent rise.

Or, with sourdough relying on natural leaven, is it more likely the leaven wasn't that perky, and I just got big air pockets in both sourdoughs baked? That said, the previous loaves I got my proportions wrong and used half as much leaven as needed, but still ended up with some respectable loaves.

TIA
JC

[todthedog]

One to try

http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index. ... 136.0.html

Hope the link works

[JohnnyCyclops]

One to try

http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index. ... 136.0.html

Hope the link works

Link worked, thank you. Dried yeast, but a very long rise, and a very long prove. It's an interesting concept, the cold slow rise, and simply sees the yeast (as with leaven in sougdough) do its business of multiplying. I'm not so sure where the lattice / gluten will come from in no-knead but possibly just forms around the carbon dioxide yeast 'pockets'.

The sourdough is an all-day rise, with seemingly Dan Lepard's 'trademark' short series of kneads: 10 seconds a time, at increasing intervals, initially 3 x 10mins, then at 30 mins, 1 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, then shape and prove 4 hours. It's an 'all-day' bread, usually for the weekend, started at 8am, out of the oven for 6pm. I suspect it's fully possible to do the prove for longer overnight in cool place, and bake the following morning.

[6Tricia]

(The sourdough is an all-day rise, with seemingly Dan Lepard's 'trademark' short series of kneads: 10 seconds a time, at increasing inatervals, initially 3 x 10mins, then at 30 mins, 1 hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, then shape and prove 4 hours. It's an 'all-day' bread, usually for the weekend, started at 8am, out of the oven for 6pm. I suspect it's fully possible to do the prove for longer overnight in cool place, and bake the following morning.)

I use the overnight method for my sourdough bread. My starter is a couple of years old, kept in the fridge and fed weekly. I take some out and feed it (usually Friday afternoon around 3pm) so that I can start making the dough about 8pm. It is then left for 30 minutes to autolese, then salt added, after which I stretch, turn and fold the dough 4 times at half-hourly intervals 4 times. Then it's bedtime and the dough is left covered on the kitchen counter until the next morning when it gets shaped, placed in its lidded pot and put in a warm place for an hour or so for its final rise. I heat the oven to 230C, slide the pot in and reduce the heat to 190C, bake for 20 minutes, remove the lid and bake for a further 40 minutes. Yes, it's a long process, but has become habit over time and I'm totally addicted to sourdough bread!

Tricia

[JohnnyCyclops]

I use the overnight method for my sourdough bread. My starter is a couple of years old, kept in the fridge and fed weekly. I take some out and feed it (usually Friday afternoon around 3pm) so that I can start making the dough about 8pm. It is then left for 30 minutes to autolese, then salt added, after which I stretch, turn and fold the dough 4 times at half-hourly intervals 4 times. Then it's bedtime and the dough is left covered on the kitchen counter until the next morning when it gets shaped, placed in its lidded pot and put in a warm place for an hour or so for its final rise. I heat the oven to 230C, slide the pot in and reduce the heat to 190C, bake for 20 minutes, remove the lid and bake for a further 40 minutes. Yes, it's a long process, but has become habit over time and I'm totally addicted to sourdough bread!

Tricia

Tricia

Many thanks. I'm tempted to try an overnight. Ultimately it's just about resting and rising. I too refresh the starter prior to using, but in my case making bread once a week on weekends it seems to need 2-3 days of daily refresh starting Weds/Thurs, but by the weekend it's sometimes so active it's overflowing the seal on the Kilner jar it's in (the starter jar lives on the kitchen countertop usually during the week, unless I know I won't need it for two-weeks or longer and then it goes in the fridge).

A couple of months ago I mixed up dough recipes and added twice the usual flour volume into the starter, but had no more starter to add, so was running at 50% of what I needed. I didn't really give the dough much more rising time but still achieved very acceptable bread, which (by accident) told me the ratios of starter to flour didn't need to be totally accurate, as the method is simply really about getting the starter to activate the flour/water bulk being added.

JC

[6Tricia]

A good way to check the readiness of the starter is to drop a small amount into a glass of cold water. It should float. Depending on the room temperature mine usually takes 4 - 5 hours. hth.

Tricia

[JohnnyCyclops]

A good way to check the readiness of the starter is to drop a small amount into a glass of cold water. It should float. Depending on the room temperature mine usually takes 4 - 5 hours. hth.

Tricia

Lovely tip. Thank you. Mine was frothing over this morning, so figure it was good to go. Working from home today, so ideal to get up from the desk every once in a while to knead the dough. Should be baked by teatime.