Concerns about levain density
I've been working with this starter for nearly a year now, 50/50 whole wheat/unbleached white bread flour at 100% hydration, and it reliably doubles over the course of about 8 hours. The build in the photo is on day four of twice-daily feedings, and was photographed right at the 8 hour mark.
But compared to other starters I've seen, this one has barely any bubbles in it! Not sure if this is something to be concerned about given the reliable rise schedule, but some of these levains seem so much more aerated compared to what I have here.
This levain gives decent oven spring and great flavor for country boules and such, but I generally find the crumb is a lot less open and more uniform than I'd like. Not sure if that's down to shaping/proofing or the lack of visible CO2 action in the levain.
I gleaned a lot from a paper by Doc.Dough.
Methods and Rationale for Sourdough Starter Maintenance and Elaboration RevF.pdf (dropbox.com)
Hope this helps.
duplicate
More details needed, please. How much starter is fed how much flour mixture?
Hey there, that's a great question and one I didn't consider carefully enough. I've been refreshing recently with a ratio of 1:3:3 starter/water/flour, but reading in multiple places that most bakers are refreshing at closer to 1:10:12 or even higher ratios on a 24 hour schedule. This morning I jumped up to 1:10:12 to gauge any change.
Also including here a photo of the loaf this levain made, so it's definitely not lacking in oven spring. Didn't grab a crumb shot unfortunately, but it was pretty satisfactory.