February 24, 2012 - 7:32am
refusing to rise
Last night I started a batch of WW sourdough using the recipe from Peter Reinharts artisans book. My mother is plenty active and I have made this same bread several times with great success. This time however it has failed to rise at all after resting in the fridge overnight. The only thing I am doing differently is I am using KA's so called white whole wheat flour. Is there any chance that this could be what is causing my problems?
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my starter, which is usually stored in the refrigerator and is slightly lower hydration than your bread, takes about a week to peak at those temperatures. It isn't completely stalled, but darn close. I suspect that your bread is doing the same.
For an overnight retard of sourdough, you really only need cool, not cold, temperatures. Something in the low to mid 60F range will work very nicely.
Paul
Did it become more active after warming up a bit? Sometimes my dough rises in the refrig and sometimes it like to warm up first. I suspect your mother/sourdough may have been a little sleepy,too.
If it won't rise despite warming up, don't waste the ingredients-add some instant yeast and proceed from there.
Thanks for the replies. I have the dough divided into thirds so I am going to take one third out and see if it does anything. Like I said though, I have made this bread before using the same mother and it has risen just fine in the fridge, but maybe you're right and my mother is a little sleepy. If all else fails I'll do as you suggested and add yeast. I knew that the idea of the white WW being the culprit was a bit of a stretch ( is that a pun ?).