August 27, 2023 - 5:08am
Tang! and Salt
Just had a lightbulb moment and then checked out my idea which Brod and Taylor confirmed.
Salting a starter makes the starter less tangy. Sometime ago I made a starter and included 2% salt from the get go. The starter matured nicely but was very mellow.
So got me thinking how to transfer this into baking for a more tangy sourdough bread.
How about if you include salt from the start, or close to the start e.g. after an autolyse, of the final dough's fermentation then the levain should be a high percentage of the final dough so the acids have had chance to build up before the salt is added.
If one is going for a very low inoculation then add salt towards the end of the bulk ferment giving time for the acids to build up.
Thoughts?
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I'm back to bread baking, created new starter, 4% salt, 100% hydration, epic fail lol. Funny thing is, I used it to flavor flatbread (flatbread is always edible, no matter what lol), it browned nicely, it proofed nicely, but the starter was highly proteolytic. It was very deceiving, it wouldn't double during feeding, but very active during bulk. I tried triple stage levain, satisfied with the mild flavor, but the schedule is just something I can't keep up with. So I made peace with the less-than-desired overnight levain. 50% hydration starter, no salt.
4% salt? That's very high. Are you talking about using 4% salt when making a starter or in the final dough?
Why would an overnight levain be less than desired?
As for salt, I tried his method
https://artisaniaeth.com/index.php/en/2018/08/27/salting-sourdough-secret-stimulant-or-salt-in-the-wound/
But ultimately keep the total salt 2.4% to my taste.
I found overnight levain is too sour for my liking (even at 1:10:5, 8 hours). I tried triple stage levain, I love it (1:2:1 each stage, 4 hours each). But too much to fit in my schedule.
Sorry for messy reply, I am not used to platforms like this, just lurking around to recall every missing memories about bread baking lol. It's been 10 years
Try an off-shoot starter but salt at 2%
Give it a few feeds this way over a day or two. Just to change it's flavour profile from a non salted starter.
Then for your final dough use a small-ish amount of starter and 2% salt. E.g.
This way your starter has been salted, and fed a few times this way, to keep the acid down. The final dough has salt added from the beginning.
If this works then perhaps you can keep this as your "new" starter.
With both triple stage levain and newly adapted overnight levain I use my 50% hydration starter, no salt, as she advised for reducing sourness
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2022/02/22/how-to-make-your-sourdough-bread-more-or-less-sour-part-3
And I figured out, from final mixing to popping to the oven, can't go longer than 6 hours, otherwise too sour (actually not that sour, it's just that I live somewhere in Southeast Asia. You get the idea, lol). Last time I tried 2 hours bulk, 4 hours proof, it tastes close to my liking. So I'm keeping it. And because of short bulk, I have to be a bit more aggresive with mixing. Time is my enemy lol
My levain
10g starter
100g bread flour (13% protein)
50g water
Final dough (68% hydration, 2.4% salt)
160g levain
187g bread flour
186g cake flour (I have too much cake flour at home. So, yeah. Why not lol) (8% protein)
273g water
11g salt
During bulk, I do bowl folds, then coil folds, then lamination fold. 20 minutes interval