December 24, 2021 - 12:05am
Starter dome visible, but not yet double in size
I’m preparing some levain for a loaf. My levain is 50% bread flour and 50% whole grain at 1:1:1 ratio. Two and a half hours into the feeding there is a visible dome in the levain, but it hasn’t quite doubled in volume.
Has it peaked or should I wait longer?
EDIT: Answering my own question: I left it for one more hour (actually I got busy with something else) and I saw that it doubled in size. The dome was slightly smaller.
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What would you estimate the room temperature? You can’t judge duration of fermentation (time) without temp.
The temperature was a steady 24.9° C.
Tripling, dome, peaking, falling etc... These are all guidelines.
If you used your starter as it looks in the photo above (nice and bubbly) it'll still leaven your bread no problem if the dough is given the time it needs. Might have a slightly different taste profile but not that much as there are many factors involved.
I recently read that seeing a dome at the top of the starter indicates that it has reached peak activity and that's why I was wondering what to do.
The dome will appear fairly early on during the rise of the levain. Peak to me means that the dome is just starting to flatten. If you just go by the dome, you could use the levain before peak maximal leavening ability. Yes you can use it early, but it just means that the fermentation of your dough will take longer.
Merry Christmas
Benny
Much more important to be consistent - as in use/feed at the same level of rise. Enjoy!
Doming for me usually means that it is still growing, so I use my starter once the dome barely begins to fall because then I know it is done growing. I also try to smell it and once it stops smelling like flour and smells fragrant (sort of pleasently vinegary) I know it is done. It takes some time and experimentation to know when your starter is ready because each starter is unique, but after a while you learn what to look for.