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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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 Posted - Oct 07 2020 : 3:43:30 PM
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Oh my gosh is all i can say. After working with white ap flour from simple truth organic, for five weeks, i ended up discarding the mother. Started over with jovial einkorn flour. Today its two weeks old and I wasn’t sure if i should try bread. Actually i thought it might not be ready but I’m not a big fan of pancakes or waffles so decided to try making one loaf.
Wow, the rise, right up to the top of the bowl in about 5 hours. It’s just out of the oven and looking absolutely beautiful. Amen.
Next step is to work toward getting it ready for the refrigerator but I’m in no hurry.
One question, the nights are getting colder here in Wisconsin and the furnace sometimes runs at night although its turned down to about 66 degrees. I’m thinking that might be too cold for my mother. Was thinking of putting my mother in the proofer overnight set at a temp of 70. Do you think thats necessary?
Kathy |
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Ashley
656 Posts
Ashley
MOSCOW
Idaho
USA
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Posted - Oct 08 2020 : 09:26:00 AM
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That's amazing, I'm so happy this time around your mother is successful! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you make it to the Refrigerator Mother phase without a hitch. 
Regarding your question, I think if you have a proofer, it would be good to keep your mother in it at night. The big concern with the cooler nighttime temp is that lacto bacteria would start to outcompete the wild yeasts, resulting in an overly sour mother with less rise. |
Ashley Ogle |
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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Oct 15 2020 : 06:48:45 AM
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| Yesterday was bake day, week three for my einkorn mother. The bread didn’t rise as much as it did the week before when it rose right up to the edge of the bowl. I let it rise for seven hours and after not seeing any rise for over an hour, went ahead and baked it. The bread has a strong sour taste. Now, this morning my mother has a stronger sour smell than usual. If I’ve been reading right it means the bacteria is stronger than the yeast? I cant seem to find anywhere on the forum if i should be doing something for my mother. |
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Ashley
656 Posts
Ashley
MOSCOW
Idaho
USA
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Posted - Oct 15 2020 : 09:35:03 AM
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Yes, the strong sour flavor combined with less rise is a sign of too much lacto-bacteria. Something to keep in mind is that the breads in the Beginner Section do have a strong sour flavor since a lot of mother goes into the breads. But since your bread last week had a stellar rise, and this week is wasn't as good, it points to something being askew.
I was re-reading a previous thread where we were discussing your mother made with Simple Truth flour (http://wildbread.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=380), and the strong sour flavor was an issue here too, despite spending extra time stirring to aerate your mother. Last week, you were mulling putting your mother in the proofer at night to keep it warm. Did you decide to do this? |
Ashley Ogle |
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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Oct 15 2020 : 12:53:11 PM
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Yes, my mother goes in the proofer at night with the temp set at 70. I am currently using jovial einkorn flour. Anything else i can do to help balance out my mother?
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Ashley
656 Posts
Ashley
MOSCOW
Idaho
USA
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Posted - Oct 16 2020 : 09:02:58 AM
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It really sounds like everything you're doing is right for your mother's development. I think the only thing we haven't talked about is the towel. Are you keeping it moist and washing it will mild detergent often?
I have another thought—when you peel the towel back to feed your mother, does it look active, with lots of bubbles on the surface? If not, could you check on it about an hour or so after feeding to see if it has bubbles? My thinking here is that your mother might be "consuming" the flour at each feeding well before the next feeding. This would explain the overly sour smell, because the lacto-bacteria are simply hardier. If there are no bubbles when you go to feed your mother, but it bubbles shortly after feeding, and they die down in the hours between feedings you could give your mother a little mid-day snack and see if that helps to rebalance it.
This isn't something you'd want to do long-term, but you'd know within two days if your mother just has a larger appetite. If this is the case, I have a couple ideas about how to proceed besides feeding it 3x/day (that's a lot!) that we can talk about. |
Ashley Ogle |
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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Oct 22 2020 : 5:20:54 PM
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Okay week four was a disaster. Very little rise to the bread. I didn’t even bake it. I cant believe i had such a good rise in week two and now have nothing. The mother was back to smelling like beer and had loads of bubbles but again, no rise. Am i not mixing to the correct consistency? I had about five cups of mother and used a scant three cups of additional flower in addition to the rest of the ingredients for einkorn flour.
Today the mother from the 1/2 cup saved smells sour and seems to have less bubbles. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Oct 22 2020 : 5:25:47 PM
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| The towel stays very nicely moist and the mother does spend the night in the proofer with the temp set at 70. |
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Ashley
656 Posts
Ashley
MOSCOW
Idaho
USA
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Posted - Oct 23 2020 : 12:09:32 PM
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It sounds like your mother has active bubbles when you peel back the towel, then? Regarding the consistency, even if the consistency is slightly off, you should see some rise to your bread, especially if your mother is active and bubbly at feeding times.
You could run into problems if your batter is really thin. If your batter is too thin, it would be really easy for the gasses (responsible for air pockets in breads) to rise through the surface of the batter during rising time. You would see evidence of this in the form of a lot of popped bubbles on the surface of the batter. On the flip side, if your batter in very thick, you would likely not see any rise or action on the surface at all. It would just sit there.
The consistency can be a trick. In the book, we describe the ideal batter as being the "consistency of softened cream cheese". Basically, you want to be able to stir your batter by hand with minimal elbow grease. You should feel resistance when stirring, but it shouldn't be a struggle. |
Ashley Ogle |
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Gummy
12 Posts
Kathy
Plover
Wisconsin
USA
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Posted - Oct 26 2020 : 6:17:29 PM
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Ashley, thank you for all your help. I think i have been putting in too much flour as its had to stir the batter. The consistency of softened cream cheese wasn’t helping me as i dont use it.
I switched to keeping my mother in the proofer all day long and it is very happy with that. Loads of bubbles and a good almos beer smell. Looking forward to Wednesday bake day
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Ashley
656 Posts
Ashley
MOSCOW
Idaho
USA
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Posted - Oct 27 2020 : 10:28:02 AM
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| I'm happy that your mother seems happy and is bubbling away! I'm hoping for a good Bake Day for you tomorrow as well. |
Ashley Ogle |
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Einkorn mother
