Does your sourdough starter actually need pineapple juice?

In 2009, Debra Wink has posted on The Fresh Loaf (my favorite bread-related forum) about her research into the microflora in developing sourdough starter cultures. The suggestion to use pineapple juice (or other high-acid fruit juice) to create more suitably acidic environment to eliminate the early stinky phases of starter development.

Recently, other bakers have suggested that there is no need for acidification to help get a sourdough starter going. Instead, a process using whole grain flours, careful temperature control and an somewhat anerobic environment are purported to help get a starter going in a short period of time.

So what is the role of pineapple juice, or other acids, in combating the "stink" that sometimes develops in a sourdough culture?

I can only share my own (limited) experience: I had a starter that I had neglected for several months in my fridge. It had some sentimental value, as it was developed close to 5 years ago. A month or two ago, I took it out, saved 1-2 tbsp and started to feed it 1-2x per day at room temperature. Even after about 5 days, it still stank in not a pretty way. It was not an "acetone" or "nail polish" stink (which I've had, mostly related to alcoholic fermentation); it was not a pleasantly cheesy "parmesan" stink either (which I've seen in some young starters); it smelled a bit of sweaty feet, somewhere between vinegar, sulfur, and something slighty sharp, almost rotten.

My best guess was that as Debra has suggested, Leuconostoc or other stink-producing bacteria had taken a hold of my culture. So I did what Debra suggested: fed my starter with fruit juice. In my case, I fed it with the juice of a fresh squeezed lemon, and the King Arthur all-purpose wheat flour I usually feed it. I did this only twice. The starter smelled a bit "lemony" for for those 2 days, and then I returned to feeding flour and water as usual. However, after those two days, the nasty "stink" was indeed gone, and has stayed gone for weeks. (I am feeding it more regularly now, maybe weekly, but it still hangs out in the fridge most of the time).

In fact I think both Debra's and Ars Pistorica's methods will work effectively. To me, aspects of both methods are complimentary and do not contradict one another. So if you boil them both down, what are the key elements?

1. Use whole grain flour to start a starter. (I think there is little disagreement that lactic acid bacteria live on most whole grain, and at least one study that backs this up.)
2. Keep it warm but away from light: you want to keep your new starter between 86-98F (30-37C). Light will kill yeast. 
3. Be patient. It will take at least 4 days to get a starter going, under optimum conditions. In less than optimum conditions, it can take 10 days. In addition, many believe that it can take 10 days or more for the overall "flavor" of the starter to improve. 

making sourdough bread more sour; my starters

Inspired by a post on The Fresh Loaf forums about sourness, I got to thinking about how to make my sourdough more sour.

A lot of the sourness has to do with the starter, and how it's maintained. The "sourness" has to do with the bacteria in starter, which produce both acetic and lactic acid. Acetic acid is what makes vinegar sour, and is more sharp and pungent; lactic acid is the type of sour found in milk products & yogurt, and is a softer, creamier, more mellow sour. (On a side note: lactic acid is a beneficial part of the winemaking process, as part of malo-lactic fermentation in white wines, which converts green-apple flavored malic acid to creamier flavored lactic acid).

In any case, to make a sourdough bread more sour, do any one or more of the following:

1. Maintain a firm starter (50-60% hydration)
2. Keep the starter cool, around 50-65F (in fridge)
3. Use higher ash flour (like high gluten flour)
   
4. Feed the starter regularly
5. Spike it (dough and/or starter) with rye flour
6. Long and slow bulk fermentation (1st rise) (somewhere between 8 and 24 hours)
7. Cool bulk fermentation (1st rise) (such as in the fridge)
8. Lower overall hydration for the dough
9. Increase the amount of starter in the recipe (the working range is 15-40% of final dough weight, or 25-35% of the flour weight)
   

To make sourdough less sour:

1. Use a liquid starter (90-170% hydration)
2. Keep the starter at warm temp (70-85F) (such as room temperature)
3. Use lower ash flour (like all-purpose gluten flour)
   
4. Don't feed it as regularly
5. Don't use any rye flour
   
6. Bulk fermentation (initial rise) for dough for a short time (less than 8 hrs)
   
7. Bulk fermentation in a warmer place (such as room temp)
   
8. Higher hydration for the dough
9. Reduce the amount of starter in the recipe (between 5-15%)
   

DiMuzio's "Bread Baking" and the forums at The Fresh Loaf have more great info on how to make your sourdough more sour.

I keep 2 starters right now:

1. My original LBB starter, built using Nancy Silverton's organic grape-based starter recipe in the "La Brea Bakery" cookbook. I keep it at about 178% hydration (which is very liquid); I feed it as follows: 1/4c starter, 1 cup flour & 1 cup water. It stays in the fridge most of the time. If I need to bake, I take it out and feed it 2x per day for about 4-5 days to get it back up to strength.

2. A firm starter, which is just the LBB starter but it's maintained at 60% hydration as follows: 1 tbsp starter + 1 tbsp + 2 tsp water, 1/3 cup flour. This one sits in a plastic covered container on top of my fridge. I feed it maybe 1x per week. I'll feed it 2x per day for 1-2 days before baking.

I've been leaning more towards the firm starter lately, mostly because I can work in smaller quantities for maintenance, and it last longer at room temp w/o feeding, so I can bake with it more quickly.

I had a couple other starters; one was a Carl Griffin one that my friend John gave me. The other was a rye-based version that I started a few years ago. I threw them both out, just because I like the flavor of the LBB one, it's easy to maintain and works well.

sourdough starter - daily feeding

Feed your starter 3 times daily as follows:

1. Reserve 1/2 cup of your starter; pour the rest in the garbage
2. To the reserved starter, add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. Mix to just combined (lumps are OK)
3. Cover tightly and store at room temperature.

Repeat steps 1-3 above 3 times a day: 8am, noon, and about 5pm.

3x per day is optimal, but if you can't manage that, then do 2x: once in the morning, and once in the evening.

After 3 days of feedings, starter will be ready to use in bread recipes. Best time to use starter (i.e., start your bread recipe) is in the morning, assuming you have been feeding it for at least 3 days, and fed it the night before. Starting in the evening will work fine too, just adjust your schedule as necessary.

If you can't feed it for a few days, put it in the fridge. You can keep it there, without feeding, for up to 2 weeks. When ready to bake again, take it out of the fridge, feed it for 3 days, and you're ready to bake again.

sourdough starter - how to begin

Here's a very quick and easy way to make your own sourdough starter. The idea of a starter is that it is an acidic environment in which natural yeasts from the air can thrive and multiply. It's a fun "science experiment" to watch it bubble and grow.

The process will take 4 days or so.

To begin:

1. In a large, non-metallic bowl or container, stir together:
   1.5 cups of white flour
   1/2 cup rye flour
   2 cups water
   
2. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it sit at room temp (70-72deg F) for 3 days. Take a quick look at it once a day, then re-cover tightly. It will start to smell funky, get bubbly, and might even separate liquid from solid. Don't worry, as long as you don't see any black/green/fuzzy mold on the surface, you're in good shape. If you see mold/fuzz, scoop it off immediately; as long as it doesn't keep coming back, you should be fine. If it does, throw your starter out and start again.
   
3. On day 4, pour off all but 1/2 cup of the "starter" into the garbage, or give it to a friend.
   

Now you are ready to start feeding your starter on a regular schedule (next blog post)

I've seen other recipes for using pineapple juice instead of water; also, the LBB sourdough starter recipe uses organic grapes. This should work just fine; the rye flour creates a nice sour environment for yeasts to live in at the beginning.

Next post: care & feeding of your starter.

LBB sourdough recipe

Here's the "Country White" recipe I've been using. If you like it, buy the book!

2lb 2oz unbleached white flour
1/2c wheat germ
12oz LBB starter
1lb 2oz cool water (70 deg)
4.5 tsp sea salt

Add flour + wheat germ to mixing bowl. Then add starter and water. Knead on lowest setting on mixer using dough hook for 5 minutes. It will be a bit sticky, but pliable.

Cover with plastic wrap + towel and let rest for 20 mintues.

NOW ADD THE SALT. Knead on lowest setting on mixer for 5 more minutes. You may need to clear the dough hook every 30 seconds or so, if it gets clogged up over the top; however, dough will clear the sides of the mixing bowl.

Knead using pinch opposite/flip/slap technique described in the book. Form into ball and place in lightly oiled ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap + towel, and let rise 3.5-4 hours. You'll know when it's ready when you place your hand on surface, "should feel cool and slightly flabby on the surface, center core should still feel firm." Press your fingertip into the dough, slight indentation should linger.

Turn dough out, cut it in two (should be about 1lb14oz each). Slap to deflate. Tuck all edges under, rough-shaping into a ball. Let rest for 15 min.

Shape into ball into floured basket. Let rise for 1 hr.

Cover boules with plastic wrap, and put in fridge for about 8-12 hours, no more than 24 hours.

Remove from fridge, cover with floured towel, and let rise for ~3 hours. Dough should be doubled in size and at ~62F.

Heat oven to 500.

Slash the loaf with a backwards C shape, shallow, like a flap.

Put loaf in, add water to broiling pan (or spritz oven), and bake for 5 minutes at 500, then turn down to 450 and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate boule after 20 min (total of 45 min). Should hit 210F when fully baked, and sound a bit hollow.

Let bread cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting in!

projects

Been working on several food projects:

Slow roasted pork: Tresierras had a good deal on some mystery pork roast at 99c per pound, so I bought it, rubbed it with spices per my Wolfgang Puck rub recipe, and roasted it @ 300 degrees in the oven. The meat was almost 3 pounds, which makes me estimate that at that temperature, 3 lbs will take about 3-4 hours to roast to "falling apart" status. Turned out delicious! Nice to use those aluminum roasting pans for convenience.

Vinegar: I've been reading about making homemade vinegar, so I went out and bought some unpasteurized, unfiltered vinegar from the local health foods store. I chose Bragg's brand, although there were several others, but all as apple cider vinegar. Anyway, the idea is to combine the vinegar with leftover wine to make wine vinegar, both red and white wine. We'll see how it goes.

Sourdough starter: so I'm trying to make some sourdough bread. I started with my grandma's bread recipe, and have let the mixture ferment for over a week, feeding it flour & water 2x daily. I ended up taking a cup off that mixture, starting another batch to make it less sour. Then I took a cup of that and added it to a regular bread recipe. We'll see how it turns out. The "batter" tastes sour, but I wonder if the yeast in it is active enough to give it sufficient lift (I somehow doubt it). Flour makes for cheap food experiments, nonetheless.

Greek salad: my friends Dale and Leah were recounting their trip to Greece yesterday and telling me about their "Greek salad" experience. Unlike in the U.S., that salad has no lettuce in it. It contains: chopped cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, a thick piece of feta cheese doused in olive oil and oregano. Sounds pretty damn good to me. I've always thought American "greek salad", including the kind my mom makes, as somewhat insipid.

Caramelized onions: made a nice caramelized onion "jam" last week by slow cooking 3 onions in olive oil with salt & pepper until meltingly soft, then adding a tablespoon or two of good balsamic vinegar and cooking that down. Deee-licious.

Well, enough foodie ramblings for today.