Wholewheat experiments

This is a follow-up of the recently concluded rye experiments, where it was established that:

1) A straight starter loaf gave a softer texture compared to a levain loaf (PFF 40%, all rye), fermentation time (16 hours) and dough components held constant, but

2) A straight starter loaf had less oven spring and was harder to shape than the levain loaf, though the straight starter loaf had an airier, less tight crumb.

3) The difference in taste was not that discernible. 

I wanted to confirm if the above held true, but this time with a 30% wholewheat loaf, 70% hydration, and lengthening the fermentation time to 19 hours - would the straight starter loaf hold up?

The straight starter loaf used 7g of starter for 240g of flour. BF and final proof 19 hours at DT 19 degrees.

The levain loaf had 30% wholewheat and 15% bread flour in the levain. Levain took 13 hours to mature, BF and final proof 6 hours at DT 19 degrees.

I also added a third loaf that used an overripe levain to see if that would increase the sourness of the loaf without compromising on dough strength, oven spring and crumb. Levain with 30% wholewheat and 15% bread flour; it peaked in 11 hours, and I left it for another two hours to collapse. The pH of this levain was 3.9 whereas that for the ripe levain loaf was 4.15. BF and final proof took the same time - dough strength was not affected. 

Results:

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Here you can see that the straight starter loaf had an equally good oven spring as the others. Like the previous experiment, the straight starter loaf yields an airier crumb.

Notes on taste, sourness, crust and crumb

This time I invited 3 other friends to do a blind tasting.

Straight starter loaf: Clearly softer texture. One taster said it was "mushier, drier, less bite". Flavour-wise: I thought it had a slightly more well-rounded flavour compared to the other two loaves, but not all tasters agreed on this. However, all tasters did place this loaf in the last place. (what!)

Ripe levain loaf: More bite and bounce than the straight starter loaf, but "weaker flavour" compared to the overripe levain loaf.

Overripe levain loaf: Slightly more sour than the other two loaves. Same bite as the ripe levain loaf. One taster had a strong preference for this loaf. 

So it seems the difference in bite and texture is pretty significant, and with my small sample group, more of them prefer bread with more bite. They did agree that the flavour was rather similar, though all discerned more sour notes with the overripe levain loaf. 

An interesting conclusion - a more elastic bite can clearly be controlled with the use of a levain, but the levain also at the same time retains complex flavours of long fermentation. Sourness can perhaps be manipulated by using an overripe levain (I do not know how far this can be pushed) without compromising on dough strength.

My next experiment would involve adding IDY to see if my results would agree with Rob's.