Does Himalayan Salt kill Sourdough Starters?

[bonniethomas06]

I ask because I had a absolute sourdough DISASTER at the weekend. I had started a new sourdough my starter for two weeks, feeding regularly and getting it to that lovely beery smelling stage.

I mixed the sponge, which after an overnight stint next to a radiator, was bubbling away nicely.

However, once I added more flour, salt and oil, kneaded and left it to rise - nothing, even after a whole night to do its thing.

We have recently switched to pink Himalayan salt (it was a present) which apparently has more minerals in it than the processed white stuff.

Could it be this which killed off my sourdough?

Weird.

[Green Aura]

No Himalayan salt won't but the oil might. Oil is totally unnecessary and if you add it too early it can coat all the flour grains and essentially starve the sourdough - remember sourdough is much less vigorous than commercial yeast. If you really want to add oil, leave to the last knead before shaping. By that time it should be fine.

[Odsox]

Does that apply to conventional yeast GA ?
I ask because every kilo loaf mix that I make has about 30g of sunflower oil in it, but with the Focaccia it had more than double that of olive oil.
It all goes in at the beginning with the water and I use fresh (or frozen) baker's yeast.

[bonniethomas06]

Hmm, interesting. I will try without oil next time and see if that makes a difference.

[Green Aura]

Does that apply to conventional yeast GA ?

It does but much less so because commercial yeast is so much quicker acting and more robust.

Fats and/or milk are added to make a softer, enriched dough (eggs too). For most breads all you need is flour, water, salt and yeast (or starter). Altering the proportions of these and baking temperatures/steam etc are all that's needed to make many different types of bread.

Why am I torturing myself! All I want now is a slice of bread.

[Odsox]

I've arrived at those amounts by trial and error over the years.
Bread with no fats at all are fine for dunking in soup and OK'ish for sandwiches, but 30g of oil per Kilo makes for lovely toast. With oil it's nice and crisp, without oil it's hard rather than crisp.

The other thing I've adjusted by trial and error is doing away with proving, totally unnecessary.

[yellowhammer]

I would look towards your starter first - two weeks isn't very old and it may just not be man enough for the job. If the radiator was on it may have been too hot and killed off the yeast in your sponge.

At this time of year an overnight sponge at room temperature (say twelve hours or so) for a sponge is about right in our flat.

[diggernotdreamer]

The other thing I've adjusted by trial and error is doing away with proving, totally unnecessary.

I think Doris Grant did away with that years ago too, the busy womans loaf was just made risen in the tin and baked. I have my fridge method which I rather like, I can make dough in the basin, cover with a wet cloth and rise in the fridge, you can leave it in there for about 3 days and get it out when you like to bake off, quite handy if you want some fresh bread early to take to a friend

[Odsox]

the busy womans loaf was just made risen in the tin and baked

Yep, that's me ... except I'm not sure I'm a busy woman.
I make bread every Sunday for the week. Mix flour, water, yeast, oil & salt in our Kenwood, and allow it to knead for 5 minutes, plonk into 2 tins, wait until it's the correct height above the tin rim and then bake. Job done for the week.

Another thing I modified years ago is the method of covering the dough while it rises.
I tried the conventional methods, covering with oiled polythene (messy and makes the top of the loaf look weird) and damp floured tea towels (ALWAYS sticks to the dough)
Now I use one of those "umbrella" thingies that you can get for covering food to keep flies off. Just plonk that over the tins and cover with 2 damp tea towels. Nothing touches the dough and it all stays moist.

[diggernotdreamer]

Thats a good idea with the umbrellas thingies, I just have two massive Mason Cash mixing bowls so the bread never gets to the top does make a mess of the cloth if it gets on there.

[fruitfly]

Getting a loaf of bread out of very few ingredients and little effort is easier than I thought. I had started by putting flour and yeast in a bowl, something came up and the bowl was left covered for a few days as I still hadn't got around to it. Then I couldn't be bothered with it all so I added water, mixed it up with the trusty wooden spoon and left it until a convenient time the following morning when I stirred it up again, tipped it into the terracotta tin and left it until later in the day when I got home and it was nicely risen again. Popped it in the oven and a perfectly acceptable loaf came out! Nothing else in it other than the flour, yeast and water, spongy and sliceable.

[bonniethomas06]

Well I skipped the oil and am pleased to say it was a much more successful rise.

Only thing is after the loaf had been left out for about 8 hours, I tried to cut it with a knife and ended up slicing my finger to a degree much worse than a paper cut - not on the knife but on a sharp bit of the crust!!!

It is possible that I made the dough too wet as it was very crusty. Next time, less water.

[Odsox]

I think you will find that the lack of oil causes harder/crisper crust, or to put it another way, oil or fat in bread makes a softer crust.
So it looks like a "no win" situation for you.

[bonniethomas06]

Ahh first world problems... I can cope with the lacerations in return for an otherwise rather beautiful loaf

[Green Aura]

That may be due to your oven temps. High - 230C+ for 15 mins then down to 200 until done - 45 mins total for 100% wholemeal, not much more than 30 for white. Steam every 5 mins for the first 15 with a spray bottle. That will give you a thin, crispy crust. If you want it softer cover with a cloth while it cools.

Usually long baking at a lower temp gives a thicker, hard crust.