How can I get airier sourdough in a cold climate?
Cold kitchens are the usual reason loaves come out tight, because fermentation slows right down and it is easy to stop the bulk too early. The fix is to judge by growth, not the clock: let the dough expand by about half its volume, using a small sample in a straight-sided jar to read it precisely. A stiff starter at 50 to 60 percent hydration boosts the yeast and gives a fluffier, airier crumb, which is exactly what a cool climate like Denver calls for.
Answered by Hendrik, The Bread Code
From the book
To shift the tides even further, a real game changer for me has been to create a stiff sourdough starter. The stiff sourdough starter is at a hydration of around 50 %. By doing so your sourdough starter will favor yeast activity a lot more. Your doughs will be more fluffy and less sour for a given volume increase. I tested this by putting balloons over different glass jars. I used the same amount of flour for each of the samples. I tested a regular starter, a liquid starter and a stiff starter. The stiff starter by far created the most CO 2 compared to the other starters. As a consequence, the stiff starter balloon was inflated the most [ 37 ]. You can read more about the topic of stiff starters in Section 4.4 (Stiff starter) .
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