So that it is not sourA source:
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Elena ZheleznyakAlmost everyone who started to bake with sourdough was faced with the fact that they get sour bread. If in the case of rye it is quite acceptable, even desirable, then no one likes the distinctly sour wheat bread.
The famous and talented American baker Chad Robertson claims that the ideal sourdough wheat bread does not have acid in either taste or aroma, while the bread should be perfectly loosened and smell of wheat. I note that this baker became famous all over the world and his bakery in San Francisco is rightfully considered a unique local landmark, in which people line up for fresh bread, so amazing and wonderful it is baked there. The secret of such bread is not even in the sourdough itself, but in how and to what extent Chad ferments the dough. He uses wheat sourdough, on white bread flour or the one that we classify as the second grade, rather liquid, in which the amounts of flour and water are equal (100% moisture). The fact is that acid accumulates more slowly in liquid sourdoughs than in thick ones, it is believed that this is appropriately reflected in taste and aroma: wheat bread with liquid sourdough has a thick wheat aroma with milky-creamy notes, but without a hint of acid. I wrote "it is considered" because the mere presence of liquid leaven does not guarantee you non-acidic bread, so that the bread turns out to be non-acidic, its taste will have to be built like brick by brick. By using liquid sourdough, you have a better chance of baking non-sour bread, provided that you ferment the sourdough / dough not until it is fully ripe or completely falls off. Chad ferments its own to a slight swelling, when a certain amount of carbon dioxide has already accumulated in it, but strong acid is not yet felt. Despite the immaturity of such a leaven, if poured into water, it will not drown, it will float on the surface due to the accumulated gas, and it will perfectly raise the bread dough.
Nevertheless, today we will not withdraw the starter culture according to Chad Robertson (we will do it next time). By and large, all starter cultures have a similar principle of action - lactic acid bacteria and yeast work together in them, which means that we have homemade wheat or even rye sourdough, you can try to apply the precepts of our Chad Robertson to bake the perfect sourdough bread.
I have already talked about what needs to be done so that the bread does not have a sour taste and smell.
This time we will dwell in more detail and more clearly. I will explain point by point what is important to know and what to look for.1) Quantity... Initially use a small amount of starter - 5, maximum 15 grams. This is one of the basic rules. The more you use a mature sourdough in your recipe, the sour the bread will be. If you meet a proposal in the recipe to take 200 gr. sourdough, I mean not a mature sour sourdough that you regularly feed, but what we often call a sourdough, but in fact, it is the same sourdough.
2) Multi-stage. If the recipe assumes a large amount of dough, for example, 200-250 grams, then it is better to withdraw it in two stages. Take 5-6 grams. sourdough and mix with a small amount of flour and water in the proportions of the future dough to get about 50-60 gr. young sourdough. This is especially true if you are baking with rye sourdough.This additional step may seem like an unnecessary complication, but in fact, it fits perfectly into the work schedule (mixed in the morning or afternoon, and in the evening, when you need to dough for the dough, the sourdough is already ready), and brings a lot of benefits to bread. Firstly, it allows you to make the bread less sour, and secondly, it will reduce the maturation time of the dough. For example, to 200 gr. dough from 100 gr. flour, 100 gr. water and 15 gr. the starter is ripe (I didn't count 15 grams of the starter, I rounded it up), it will take about 14-15 hours at room temperature. If you knead this dough for 40-60 gr. the young sourdough set the day before will ripen in 6-8 hours.
3) Flour. For whole grain bread, acidity is even more relevant than for white wheat bread, especially if it is a bread made from 100% whole grain flour. However, whole grain bread baked in several stages may very well not be acidic at all. For example, this one has no sourness either in taste or in aroma. The dough for this bread is made in four stages: first, the leaven is refreshed three times, then the dough is kneaded on it. If you use only two stages, the bread will still turn out to be noticeably sour.
and here is the whole grain dough for this bread, refreshed and ripe for the third time. It can be seen that it has risen, but there are no bubbles on the surface yet.
Therefore, by the way, in the dough, I most often use white flour (therefore, the photo of the dough in the article is mainly on white flour) - it does not have such an amount of nutrients and sours more slowly, respectively, with such a dough, less acid goes into the dough. And if you still ferment it not until it is fully ripe, but until it swells slightly, then it will taste rather sweet than sour.
4) Temperature. The higher the temperature, the better the lactic acid bacteria and the worse the yeast. A high temperature, close to 40 degrees, inhibits the yeast and creates ideal conditions for the development of lactic acid bacteria, so the dough or sourdough that was fermented in such heat will smell pleasantly sour, have a sour taste, but will not be able to "raise" , loosen the dough. By the way, that is why all yoghurts are fermented at 38-42 degrees. Even if the fermentation temperature is not so high (30-35 degrees), this can provoke the appearance of excessive acidity, because, again, this temperature regime is more conducive to the development of lactic acid bacteria, and not yeast. A very convenient, but not ideal temperature for yeast is in the middle, when it is not yet 35-30 degrees, but already not 20. Convenient because the dough at this temperature regime will come up relatively quickly - in a couple of hours, and at the same time, if not overexpose, it will not be noticeably sour. Imperfect - because at the rate of lactic acid fermentation is still quite active, but at the same time, it does not have time to "overtake" the yeast, because yeast is also good and it also grows quickly.
If someone has the opportunity to ferment and let the dough stand in relative coolness (18-20 degrees), then this is a great success. The dough at this temperature will come up rather slowly (about 4.5-5 hours), but at the same time there will be no active lactic acid fermentation in it, and the yeast will "play". If you remember, we said that lactic acid bacteria most of all "love" a rather high temperature of 38-42 degrees Celsius, and yeast practically stops working in such a heat. This, by the way, is a very common reason for complaints that "the dough came up, but the dough does not want to." Often, the dough is fermented just at room temperature without an additional heat source, and the dough is fermented in a heated bread maker (often up to 40 degrees), in the oven right under the lamp, next to the oven turned on, or on the battery. Often, the fermentation temperature is not controlled, which means it can easily be too high for the yeast. Chad Robertson ferments his non-acidic sourdough at 18-20 degrees and then bakes his ideal non-acidic bread and pastries on it.
Considering that not everyone has the opportunity and conditions to ferment the sourdough and dough exactly at this temperature (for example, it’s hot for me now), it is still important to carefully approach the fermentation of the dough and avoid overoxidation.
Proofing dough in the refrigerator often produces non-acidic bread with a thick wheat flavor and a beautiful lacy crumb. It is believed that in the cold, acetic acid accumulates in the sourdough, however, if the bread is allowed to stand in the refrigerator, the opposite effect is observed - the bread is completely non-acidic and very perfumed. Apparently, usic acid does not have time to accumulate in sufficient quantity to be felt, at the same time, lactic acid fermentation is slightly inhibited by temperature (we remember that lactic acid bacteria love heat), and yeast can successfully reproduce and multiply. Proofing in the refrigerator takes longer than at room temperature, I will indicate the approximate numbers, because refrigerators, like ovens, are different for everyone and refrigerate in different ways, but this may already be a starting point for new attempts and experiments. So the dough, which matures at 25 degrees on average in 2-2.5 hours, will grow up in the refrigerator at 10 degrees in about 8 hours (you can safely put it overnight). The dough after the refrigerator must be warmed up to a temperature as close to room temperature as possible, so that during baking it opens up as much as possible, grows and no hardening is formed.
It is quite easy to check how suitable the temperature regime is with the help of an immersion electronic or "analog" thermometer: if flour, water and sourdough were used at room temperature, then the dough will be at the same temperature soon after kneading. In any case, it is best to check the temperature of the dough by sticking a thermometer into it.
And there is also such a special folding proofing cabinet for fermenting dough, in it you can set a certain temperature and it will stably hold the entire period of fermentation or proofing. After work, such a cabinet can be easily folded so as not to take up much space, a very functional piece.
5) Degree of fermentation. In a fully ripened dough on the verge of falling off, or in an overripe, already fallen dough, there is much more acid than in a young one that has not yet reached its peak. The young one is not yet ripe, but, at the same time, the yeast in it has already multiplied and saturated the dough with gas and it does not sink in water (and this, as you know, is one of the signs of a "workable" dough).
I talked about this at the very beginning, when I talked about Chad Robertson and how he ferments his leavens / doughs. He does not wait for them to ripen, but uses them when they have not even risen to their peak, but are already slightly swollen. You can experiment for yourself and see for yourself: unripe dough has a pleasant lactic-sour, kefir-yoghurt aroma and is practically non-acidic in taste, rather sweet. And the bread on this one turns out to be non-acidic and smells good of yogurt and wheat.
How can you determine by appearance when you can knead the dough on the dough, and when else to wait? Here you need to take into account that the dough of different moisture and consistency looks different and, accordingly, slightly differently "shows" signs of readiness fermentation. In any case, it should definitely increase in volume, but there should not be a lot of bubbles on the surface. The aroma should be soft, sour-milk, pleasant, in water such a dough must be kept on the surface and not sink.
Here, for example, is a thick dough that has risen well and is at its peak, but is still ready to fall, this can be used, it is not very sour.
But this one (fermented in the refrigerator) generally has a rather bland taste with a barely noticeable sourness. It is not as thick as the previous one, slightly more moist.
This is what a thick overripe dough looks like. It can be seen that there are a bunch of bubbles on the surface, it has settled a little, its dome is rather flat than rounded, and the gluten has already lost its elasticity and has become sluggish.
This is how the liquid pouring dough looks like, the consistency of the dough is approximately like on pancakes.The liquid sponge does not greatly increase in volume, but in appearance it becomes noticeably airy, as if carbonated due to the many gas bubbles inside. There are also many bubbles on the surface.
Here is a ripened and slightly winding in the middle, but not fallen, pulish, dough, in which an equal amount of flour and water.
But this is the most "tasty" dough - it is still very young (in consistency - also pulish, it contains 30 grams of water and 30 grams of flour), I have already mentioned it here. It smells like yogurt and tastes sweet, it still grows and grows to its peak, but you can already notice a lot of bubbles inside. It floats on the water and lifts bread perfectly - tested!
And a couple more important points... While the degree of readiness of the dough is not understandable and unusual for you, while you cannot determine by eye whether it has moved from its place or is lying like that, put it to ripen in a transparent container, where it would not spread along the bottom, but grow up. A glass jar, clear beaker, or similar will work well. And you can also mark its initial volume and time with a felt-tip pen to make it easier to determine how much it has grown and how quickly.
Good luck!
