Sourdough Questions

[Dawgluver]

Originally Posted by kowkl

I've finally got my sour dough to work. I think it's because earlier my dough is not matured enough and that's why it's not rising. While I was mixing the dough last night, the sour smell from the dough is strong and this morning it has already rised 2 x it's original size. I'll bake it tonight and will upload the pic once it's done.

TQ

Yay!!!

[kowkl]

I've made the bread but found it to be too sour even after adding in 2 tea spoon of sugar. Any advice how can I reduce the sourness in the bread before I start on my next one ?

TQ

[FrankZ]

Ironically you can use more starter during the raising of your bread. The sour is from the dough fermenting. If you use more starter the dough raises quicker and ferments less.

[kowkl]

Could it be that I've left it to ferment for 2 times. How I did it was after mixing it for the first time I kneed it to be a ball and let it rise for 20 hrs. After that I've punch it down and kneed again and added flour and sugar with cinnamon and made it into a roll and let it rise again for 12 hrs before baking. Could this be the reason why it's so sour ?

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Originally Posted by kowkl

Could it be that I've left it to ferment for 2 times. How I did it was after mixing it for the first time I kneed it to be a ball and let it rise for 20 hrs. After that I've punch it down and kneed again and added flour and sugar with cinnamon and made it into a roll and let it rise again for 12 hrs before baking. Could this be the reason why it's so sour ?

The most popular sourdough bread I've made was a whole grain sour dough, where equal parts of sourdough, and comercial yeast risen dough were needed together. The dough made with the store-purchased yeast was naturally sweeter (no extra sugar required), and diluted the sourness of the sourdough. I used the dough to make pigs in the blanket, where I wrapped the raw dough around full sized hot dogs, let it do its final rise, then baked until golden brown. It was a huge hit at a pot luck. And the left-over dough was made into a loaf of bread, that my family loved.

FrankZ gave you excellent advise. He knows his breads, probably better than I do. So now you have two methods for controlling the amount of sourness in your sourdough bread.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

[FrankZ]

Egads! 20 hours on the first rise? Wow.. I bet that is tangy. My whole operation from the initial mixing to going in the oven is about 12ish hours.

That includes the first and second rise.

[kowkl]

I'll try what frankZ proposed and feed back on the outcome.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by kowkl

I'll try what frankZ proposed and feed back on the outcome.

This will only work i your starter is strong (robust). It may not if your starter is just slow. A robust starter can double itself within about 6-8 hours after a feed.