Re: New to sourdough with a couple of questions

Luke Skywalker wrote:
> 
> "Mike Avery" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> > Part of the fun is that there isn't a standardized substance called
> "flour".  It's
> > not like water, where we can specify a gathering of pure molecules of
> water
> > and oxygen.  Plant genetics, growing conditions, harvesting, milling, and
> more
> > all change what's in the sack.  From year to year, from sack to sack,
> there
> > are differences beyond the differences in the amount of water in the
> flour.
> 
> This is exactly what I'm afraid of!
> Recipes like : 1 cup starter, 3 cups flour, ..etc are worrying me much more
> than the Detmolder "impossible" 3-stage process!
> What does "1 cup of starter" means?
> Is it plain grain wheat starter or is it rye flour starter? How much is it
> the hydration?
> What does "3 cups of flour" means?
> Is it plain grain milled at 1 or 8 (1=very fine, 8 big partciles, almost
> like corn flakes)?
> 
> The foundamental of the repetability lies in the clear description of the
> adopted method together with the precise quantities of ingredients.
> It seems to me that with peculiar reference to weights and volumes you have
> advantages and disadvantages, both streaming or leading to water content
> problems.
> For sure you know EXACTLY the water YOU introduce in your dough.
> In this case no disputes are possible, volume and weights are identical.
> Concerning the flour (and therefore the starter) the volume is the same but
> it can contain a lot of water, the weight viceversa is falsed by the amount
> of water trapped into the flour.
> 
> Crazy idea: is it possible to help the opposite party giving the value of
> the air humidity?
> I'm quite sure that the water trapped in the flour is directly dependent on
> this value allowing you to translate from cups to grams and back without
> appreciable losses.
> 
> Of course this is only an appendix !
> Before everything else, I like very much the use of  clear terms (home
> freshly milled plain grain rye flour 4 over 8 (= mid dimension of particles
> in a scale from 1 to 8), industrial milled hard wheat flour type 550 (in
> Germany) or "0" (in Italy), etc.
> 
> Luke

Ahhhh... the force is with you, my son.

Somewhere in the near past I posted something that mentioned the problem with
recipes being inacurate. The most inacurate part of a sourdough recipe is the
statement "1 cup of starter". What starter? Mine which is kept at a 1-1/2 cup
flour to 1 cup water? Someone else's that is kept at 1:1 ratio? And starter
when? When it is at peak activity and contains a very substantial amount of
gas? Or when it has gone flat and contains just about no gas? Either of these
variables will affect the resulting ough hydration deeply.

I hear people worrying about the percentage of incidental hydration of flour
due to humidity and shake my head when they are missing much more difficult
issues.

I don't use many recipes, maybe a couple. I have converted all of them to
weights. So, I suggest that as much information be given in recipes. Like:

Basic sourdough

264 grams of 1.5:1 flour/water starter
366 grams of KA AP flour
136 cc (or grams) bottled water, not tap water
1/2 tsp salt

Which does make a good sourdough, with the proper process.

Note that the amount of starter when stated this way does not depend on its
activity. Very active (lots of gas) or flat (no gas).

Here are the instructions on how I make this recipe.

Put all the starter, half the flour and 2/3 of the water (accuracy is not
important) in a container and mix into a somewhat sloppy mix. Cover with Saran
wrap and set aside overnight.

Next morning add the remaining flour, the remaining water and the salt. Knead
until it feels right.

Let rise until it doubles. Punch down and knead lightly.

Form. Slash (or wait until just before the bake step).

Let rise until doubled.

Bake until done.

This will give good sourdough. Not necessarily great sourdough but the recipe
is nearly guaranteed to give tasty bread.

To improve the bread above you should add a resting time in the refrigerator
and somehow control the temperature of the rises.

Want to make this and you keep your starter at some other hydration? No
problem. Take one tablespoonful of your starter, add one and a half cup of
flour, one cup of water, mix well and let it rest until it becomes very
bubbly. Now you have a 1.5:1 starter. Use the weight measure in the recipe
above.

Bert