Sourdough Flashcards
What are sourdough’s 5 main ingredients?
Flour, water, salt, lactic acid and wild yeasts
What is a starter (sourdough)
A colony of symbiotic microbes in a pot of flour and water.
What flour is preferred for sourdoughs
Organic flour due to higher wild yeast activity
What protein content do you want in the flour? (sourdough)
10-13% protein content if possible.
The 2 proteins in flour are called what? (sourdough)
Glutenin and gliadin
If it was a very warm day, would you increase the water temp or decrease it? Sourdough
Decrease the water temp, and on winter days you may want to make it a little warmer.
What do you understand by hydration level %? Sourdough
It is the % of water to the total amount of flour in the recipe, most breads they will have
contact with are about 65%-85%
What is autolyse? (sourdough)
This is a stage where you leave the flour and water for at least 30minutes to 2 hours.
Starches in the flour start to absorb liquid and the amylese enzymes start to break down
carbs, producing sugars for the wild yeasts.
The flour has a chance to develop the gluten and allow the glutenin and gliadin to bond.
It should therefore look smoother by the end.
Name 1 factor that autolyse will contribute to in the finished loaf?
Easier to shape finished dough as the extensiblity has increased
More volume
Better structure
Better crust
Better crumb
What is bassinage?
This is a process whereby you add the water in incriments, they will have seen this with
ciabatta. It allows for the dough to be able to absorb more water if added slowly. This in turn
will allow for a more open textured bread
When are more folds and stretches required in a dough?
When higher hydration levels are being used.
What does slashing alleviate in the dough?
It allows for movement because if it isn’t done it will naturally do it anyway as sourdoughs
tend to have a large amount of growth in the oven. So by doing it you are controlling where
you want the dough to break open.
