March 24, 2010 - 6:34pm
Is my sour dough starter, sour dough starter?
I've had my starter for 3 months now, and it makes bread rise nicely. It will double after a feeding in 4 hours, but the smell is slightly acidic, but not really. I just wanted to know if i had the right sort of beasties inside my starter. (it's a white starter) I am afraid i have a lot of leuconostoc bascteria in it.
SndBrian
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I doubt that your bacteria worries are valid.
At what temperature do you keep your starter? How often do you feed it? How much do you feed it? What flour are you using? All these questions need to be answered along with any other pertinent information in order to give a truly informed opinion.
Jeff
Mini
about 72*F, i feed it every 12 hours about, im using KA bread flour. I just added vitamin C to it to see if it might kill off any beasties I do not want. It made the starter rise faster. The starter is quite mild and smooth.
Sndbrian
believe your starter may be harbouring leuconostoc bascteria? Just wondering what you think is amiss with your starter since your description in the first post doesn't indicate anything wrong.
Haha, im a worry-wort, but if you want the truth it is because of the lack of sourness. I asume if my starter it pumping out lactic acid and bunch of co2 it is leuconostoc. I've made bread with it before, the bread is not sour but it rises nicely. Maybe i need to have some faith in the ole' starter and make bread right?
-SndBrian
What you could try is after mixing up your dough, let it sit in a warmer place above 75°F or better, stretch and fold and about 4 hours after you started; shape, cover and tuck into the refrigerator for a retardation. Letting the dough drop in temperature to the 50's°F might add the sour you're looking for. Eight (6 to 12) hours later, warm up the dough by patting it out with your warm hands, waiting and rolling it up and let rest. Give it another gentle set of folds if you need to. Shape and let rise some more before baking.
Mini