Enriched Sourdough Breads
I'm curious since I've not seen a whole lot of sourdough recipes that use ingredients such as milk, eggs, butter etc. Having recently experimented with these ingredients in sourdough I've had results which are less than satisfactory flavour-wise - the sour flavour always seems to dominate even more so than lean sourdough breads which have been proofed for a similar time. I thought one explanation might be the lactose in dairy products feeding the lactobacillus...but I'm not so sure that the typical sourdough lactobacillus (eg sanfranciscensis) can metabolise such sugars...it makes no sense, having evolved around grains/starches to prefer a lactose food source.
That said, would oil or shortening be a more appropriate fat to use with sourdough?
Also, I've followed the procedure for making so-called italian 'sweet starter' for use in an all-wild-yeast panettone but with little success - the same uber-sour issue crops up again. Using the same starter in a lean sourdough recipe gives me a mild flavoured bread...so I can only assume that there is something going on with regards to added sweeteners / fats etc. that increases the sour (favouring the lactobacillus).
Thoughts most welcome...
Thanks,
FP
Let me first say that I seem to have a well mannered and fairly mild levain culture going - I never really aspire to, nor do I ever get a very sour bread.
I have made Pain de Mie - enriched sandwich bread made with butter (my home churned - which is cultured with a mesophillic culture) and sugar. I have even made croissants with levain leavened doughs. Both are acceptable to me (I always feel that I can do better).
My bread taster inhales the Pain de Mie, so that tells me that it is pretty good.
I make a build of the levain the night before. I preferment about 12% of the flour and use 12-25% by weight of my starter depending on the season.
This works out for me. I'm not sure I would try a really sweet bread with levain. I don't often make sweet breads, but they remain my sole use for commercial yeast.
I hope this is helpful.
Thanks Proth5!
I've been slowly learning how to get a mild flavour with sourdough (typically involving large %age of levain over a shorter period at room temperature) but never had success with adding either sugar or butter.
Could you possibly share the recipe for your sourdough Pain de Mie - it sounds like just the thing for me to further explore enriched sourdoughs.
Thanks,
FP
If I knew how to do it, I would post my spreadsheet for my bakes. I will try to give you a formula. I'm a long, long, long time baker so my instuctions aren't aways so good, but here goes:
I use King Arthur All Purpose flour - which I don't think you have available to you, but any good flour will do.
This makes 45 oz of dough, which fits nicely in a pullman pan.
Levain build
1.56 oz 100% hydration starter
2.34 oz flour
2.34 oz water
Mix and allow to ripen (overnight)
Bread
22.89 oz flour
all of the levain build (6.24 oz)
.39 oz salt
15.87 oz water
1.98 oz butter
1oz dry milk
1 oz sugar
Mix as per your favorite method.
Bulk ferment about 3-4 hours - one fold during bulk ferment.
Shape into cylindrical loaf. Proof - 1- 2 hours until the top nearly reaches the top of the pan. Put on the top of the pan and proof an additional 15 mins.
Bake at 425F for about 30 mins. Carefully remove the top of the pan and bake until done. Remove from pan and cool on a rack.
The King Arthur Flour website has better directions - you might want to look those up.
Happy Baking!
Thanks for that recipe.
I would still approach it with great trepidation as I have *never* had any success with such low ratio of starter to build or levain to final dough. Without fail, applying such ratios involves 8 hour (or more) ferments with sour soup as the inevitable result.
Nonetheless I shall certainly give this a go.
Thanks again!
FP
All I can say is that with my starter this ratio is very reliable. As I delve into it more and more, my particular starter - which is at least 4 years old - seems to be a resilient batch of beasties.
You can always change the amount of the preferment and how much starter you use. If you have preferred percentages, I can redo the formula to use those.
Hope this helps.
I make brioche with sourdough but to help it be light and not at all sour, I add a small percentage of yeast. The dough rises longer than a normal yeasted bread, but not as long and a real sourdough. I like the flavour and texture that the sourdough gives. It gives it really nice over spring as well.
Jane
I've just mixed up and set to rise a sourdough with some additions like milk powder, corn oil, sugar, and 1/4 tsp. baking soda, never used the latter before and am curious to see what it does, if anything. There's no commercial or dry yeast involved in this little experiment, and it better work because I'm running out of flour.
First time I've used the white starter, I don't know if it's the additions or what, but it took its merry time rising in the bowl, didn't completely rise in the pans, and so far, there's been no oven spring at all. Maybe it was the powdered milk after all.
They may be small-ish loaves, but they taste very good and not sour at all. The texture is very good, a little crispier than the buttermilk sourdough, it makes great toast. So far, all my experiments have been successful, but today it's back to the buttermilk bread using mostly ww flour as I seem to be terribly low on unbleached a-p and payday's still a few days away. It's so good to be able to talk bread and bread-baking with such knowledgeable people!