Sourdough chocolate cruffin - recipe Sourdough&Olives (2024)

FAQs

How to make sourdough more airy? ›

Accurate Fermentation

Fermentation really is the key to a more open crumb sourdough bread. You need to ensure that it isn't under fermented, nor over fermented as each of these issues will result in a more closed crumb. Ideally, you want your dough to double during bulk fermentation.

As with any sourdough recipe, before you start baking bread, you want to make sure that your sourdough starter is as strong as possible. My basic sourdough recipe uses just 50g of starter for 500g of flour (so just 10% of starter).

The only difference is a the long ferment time in between making and laminating the dough (though many yeasted croissant recipes also call for an overnight rise).

You might also see the term “levain bread” or “pain au levain,” which are other names for sourdough bread. Because the term levain is French for leaven, which is almost always taken to mean naturally fermented bread, the term levain is often used synonymously with sourdough.

Most likely when this happens, it's not you - it's your starter. If your loaf is dense, has uneven holes and a gummy texture, most likely there wasn't enough active wild yeast in your starter to make the bread develop and rise during baking. This can be the case even if your starter seems really happy and bubbly.

One of the most common mistakes is having a dough temperature that's too low for the starter to feed on all the flour in the dough, resulting in a crumb that's dense, with fewer openings. "Starter is happiest and most active at around 75 degrees. If it's a lot colder, the process will be much slower.

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.

Many no-wait recipes that call for discard will have no problem at all using a starter straight from the fridge. But for other recipes, like bread, for best results I suggest taking it out of the fridge, feeding it, and allowing it to be nice and active before using it. This usually takes about 4-12 hours.

Sourdough bread is a great alternative to conventional bread. It's richer in nutrients, less likely to spike your blood sugar, and generally easier to digest. Just remember that sourdough fermentation doesn't degrade gluten completely.

Is sourdough healthier than yeast bread? ›

Some of the many health benefits from using a Sourdough Starter include: Less likely to spike blood sugar & has a lower glycemic index. Feeds good gut bacteria for easier digestion. Keeps you fuller for longer.!

Sourdough bread tends to be healthier than French bread. The slower fermentation process of sourdough bread provides additional nutrients and antioxidants that aren't found in other kinds of bread, like French bread, that are made with commercial yeast.

Not enough scientific research has been carried out into the daily consumption of sourdough bread instead of yeast-risen bread. We only have epidemiological evidence, as the vast majority of the French population eat sourdough bread daily in the form of the baguette.

Pain de campagne ("country bread" in French), also called "French sourdough", is typically a large round loaf ("miche") made from either natural leavening or baker's yeast.

Vollkornbrot is often made with a sourdough starter, which helps to give the bread its characteristic tangy taste. It is also typically baked for a longer period of time than other breads, which gives it a dark brown crust and a chewy, dense interior.

Whole wheat flour is an excellent choice for creating a sourdough starter due to its nutrient-rich composition and potential for fostering a robust microbial community. However, it's important to note that the quality of whole wheat flour can vary between brands.

Some sourdough breads can be denser in texture, but they should not be wet or gummy. A sourdough loaf made with 500g of good quality bread flour, 50g to 100g of sourdough starter, left to ferment for adequate time, will produce a light, airy loaf with a lacy, open crumb that is not wet or dense in any way.

Note: As loaves begin to overproof they lose their height and shape. The crumb becomes more dense. The holes become more ragged and irregular in shape. The crust begins to thin and separate from the crumb.

Excess yeast causes extra air bubbles to form, creating holes in the baked bread. You prepared the recipe correctly. The interaction of the various ingredients and the preparation method used for French bread and sourdough bread are intended to create a bread which has a coarse texture and uneven holes.