February 11, 2008 - 11:22am
dough not rising
I made my first dough from my sourdough starter this am. It has sat for a little over 2 hours and I see very little to no rise.
My started is very bubbly, smells great, and doubles each day when I feed it.
Should I add more starter to the dough, add yeast to the dough or what to save it. I tripled the recipes because I wanted 3 loaves so I really hate to start all over, and I only have about 2 small end pieces of bread left, we have sleet and freezing rain falling here in Kentucky today. So freah bread with the homemake vegatalbe soup will be great tonight,
I hope.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
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I'm a sourdough novice but my starter behaves like you described; doubling daily after feedings. One thing you didn't mention is how much starter you added to how much flour. The ONE loaf of sourdough I have cranked out thusfar doesn't make me an expert but it turned out well so here goes my $.02.
I used a cup of starter to a pound of AP flour. I let it rise for 6 hours folding the dough every 90 minutes or so to build gluten. I'm guessing if I added more starter I'd have gotten a faster rise but I was going for flavor and texture more than speed at this point so I took my time.
You could move your dough to a warmer spot. I've read tips from a bowl/pan of hot tap water and put it in the oven (without the burners turned on) to running your dishwasher on a short clean cycle and putting your bowl of dough in there to give the yeasty-beasties a little encouragement.
Hope any of this helps. Good luck to you!
What I would suggest at this time is to leave it alone. Sourdough do not nessessary rise fast in the beginning (I also don't know how much starter you used, but either way, if it was active when you added it it will work) and it would benefit from a warmer climate. Trying putting in your oven with the oven light on. As well you could add a large bowl of hot water on the floor of the oven to add warmth and moisture.
It will come around, just needs time. Just like a watched pot never boils, sourdough bread doesn't rise. Can't say you'll have bread for supper, but you will have bread.
Sourodugh takes much longer to rise than commercial yeast doughs. It WILL rise! The larger your batch the longer it is going to take, unless you used a lot of starter. On the other hand, the longer it takes the better your resulting bread is going to be. It is worth the wait. Cooler, longer rises develop more flavor. You will find that after the initial period of sitting there doing nothing and it finally starts to grow, it will grow quite steadily.
patience is a virture I do have trouble with at times. My kitchen is quite warm today as I have been cooking soup and husband has the gas fireplace on, so I will just be patient. Should have started bread before soup, learn for next time.
Thanks for your help.
I will let you know how it turns out.
Well, I must have done something really wrong, because I still have no rise. I must have mismeausred something. Oh well tomorrow is another day.
Tell us what you did when you made the dough. I'm curious.
How mature is the starter? What I mean is, how long since it was created? I am thinking that you just overwhelmed the starter with such a large batch of dough. How much starter did you use in the dough? Did you feed and proof the starter before adding it to the dough? Don't throw the dough out. I'll bet it will still rise. Cover it and leave it overnight if you have to, in a not-too-warm place.
This is the recipe that I used. I copied it off of sourdoughladys blog It is from Teresa_in_nc.
to make one 9" x 5" loaf:
3/4 c. warm water
3 TB dried potato flakes
4 TB sugar
1 t. salt (heaped)
1/2 c. sourdough starter
4 TB vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups bread flour
To make using an electric mixer: put water, potato flakes, sugar, salt, and starter into large bowl of electric mixer. Whisk to combine. Add in 1 1/2 cups flour, whisking well. Add in oil, stirring in well. Add in rest of flour and beat well to combine. Change to dough hook and knead 5 minutes adding flour by tablespoons if needed to form a cohesive, soft dough. Shape by hand a few minutes, then put into a greased bowl to rise.
Let rise until double - 4-6 hours. Gently fold to de-gas, shape into a large loaf and place in greased loaf pan. Let rise again until dough crests the edge of the pan, about 3 hours. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Cool on a rack.
This is similar to a batter bread recipe my mom used to make, but now I make it with my sourdough starter instead of the water/sugar/potato flakes starter that she used. It is still delicious, and less trouble this way.
I tripled everything, I must have measured something wrong.
MY starter is 10days old so maybe it is just too young to work well for such a large batch of dough.
I will go feed it now and try again with only one batch.
I did leave it out all night, no rise. I have just a very heavy mess.
Sourdoughlady,
When you say white whole wheat in your Deluxe Whole Wheat do you mean flour milled from hard white wheat? I have never seen white whole wheat in our grocery stores but I do have mill and can get some wheat when I go to Paducah on Thursday. I will not be able to bake this bread until next week because we are setting up a booth at the Home and Garden Show for my embroidery and screen printing business, Stitch by Design, if anyone has any embroidery needs you can reach me through my website
www.customstitching.com
I need to bake somekind of bread today as we have none since yesterdays flopped. I think I will just use yeast this time as it will be quicker and I think maybe my starter needs a little more time.
Paula
Yes, it is hard white wheat. I really like it because the flavor is milder and, of course, the color is lighter. I almost always put 1/2 cup of it in any white bread dough. It adds a lot of flavor.
If your starter is only 10 days old, it would benefit from some more feedings. I would recommend that you feed it morning and evening. Always discard at least half of it before feeding (I usually only save 1/4 cup). Keep it in a cozy, warmish place until the yeast become more established. After another week it should be much stronger. You aren't using chlorinated water, are you?
Hi Paula, I'm hoping Sourdoughlady will reply as she is more an expert on sourdough, but I'm just thinking that from the recipe the only thing I can see that may have been problem is that you mixed the salt and starter together before the flour. My understanding is that salt will kill the yeast if it comes in contact with it. Now salt is needed to help in controlling the yeast in the dough but salt in the starter is a no-no. I mix salt in with the floor so its not so conscentrated with the yeast. That is about the only thing that I can think would have caused a problem.
My very basic sourdough recipe is: 2 cups starter, 1/4 cup'ish of oil, 1 tsp salt, sometimes some sugar or honey, and somewhere between 2-3 cups flour depending on the flour I use. (my starter is a liquid starter) I swish the salt through the floor or add the salt near the end and work it in. I do this by hand or mixer or bread machine... whatever I feel like at the time.
HTH, Sylvia
Thanks Sylvia,
I think I will try your recipe, I fed my started this morning, am I correct in thinking that before I use it I should feed it and wait til it is bubbling well before I use? If I need more starter can I just increase the amount I feed or should I feed twice that day? I am new and seem to get confused easily with this due to the seeming endless diffrent ways diffrent people post. I did get 2 very nice loves of white snadwitch bread baked today so we can have toast and sandwiches now yea.
I think I will start your recipe tonight and bake in am.
Thanks,
Paula
You got it. If you want to increase the starter, let that first feed do it's charm and just as it has risen and peeked, feed it again by mixing in some more water and flour at a (1:1:1) or(1:2:2) (starter:water:flour) ratios. This will peek sooner because it is more concentrated. (Don't forget to save a tablespoon of this, feeding it, for the next starter.)
Mini O
Agree... starter is just water and flour, never add anything else to the starter. Dough is different. Abuse dough if you must but starter is precious like the birth of a new baby (hee, hee... ok, I know I'm taking it far but you get the point.... and yes I am a sourdough puriest. If you are going to do sourdough and do it the right way but that's just IMHO).
No I do not use clorinated water. Just good old well water. My boys would always talk about not liking "city water" when we would go out to eat hehe, waitress always gave us very funny looks. I am feeding twice a day and will be more patient, so hard for me.
This time next week I will be baking my first sourdough, I hope!
Paula