advice on sourdough rising

snowscrooge

i was hoping to get some advice on sourdough. i have good starter that i feed about every 4 days by doubling the quantity w/ all purpose flour. it seems to have good action and gets quite bubbly. my recipe for the bread is to take 1 cup of starter and 3 cups of all purpose flour and salt, mix and let it rise. the first rise is slow- about 6 hours and the final proof is even slower with not much rising during baking either. the bread tastes great but doesnt have much volume. any suggestions?

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shasta's picture
shasta 2012 December 22

Where are you storing your starter between feedings? If you are leaving it on the counter you should be feeding more often. I would suggest once a day. Otherwise, you could be over fermenting your loaves. Just some thoughts.

snowscrooge 2012 December 22

ok, thanks. i guess i should start putting my starter in the fridge? i was under the impression that the starter was fine at room temp for 4-7 days until the yeast breaks down all the gluten and then it needed to be refreshed.

Moohie 2012 December 22

I have always popped my starter in the fridge between uses, even if it's only there for a day or two.

Maree :)

shasta's picture
shasta 2012 December 22

When my starter is on the counter at about 70F, I feed it twice a day. My starter is kept at  100% and I feed un-bleached AP flour. Many only feed once a day but mine does best when fed twice. I typically keep my starter in the refridgerator and feed it two or three cycles every 7 days.

patmcgovern 2012 December 28

I feed my starter everyday and get a good oven spring with a nice wet dough in a cast iron pot and lid. I bake about 3 times a week . The biggest thing I've learned so far is give it the time it needs for 3 sessions of rise time. Keep your dough wet so that it can get a nice texture but dry enough to keep it together and then to let it cool overnight.  Now I do all the bread for my home and my daughter's...big fun

SlackerJohn 2012 December 28

Help me out here, Pat.  If you feed every day, but bake 3 times per week, don't you have lots of excess starter?

If so, what do you do with it?

Cheers, John

 

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