Wlad, Vlad, if you're experimenting, read about cold fermentation. I have, however, not with rye, but with V. from. and c. h. rises very well. I, of course, only recently began to use this method, but I always bake one bread with a composition that I like (with cold fer-tions).
During fermentation, the temperature factor plays an important role. The yeast becomes active at m. Between 33 and 130 F. The fermentation process itself also produces heat. When fermentation occurs at very high temperatures (over 90 F), the bread tastes unpleasant. Cooled yeast hibernates and releases more alcohol. This delayed activity gives bacteria the ability to feed on sugar, grow and produce acetic acid. Temperatures between 40 and 55 F are ideal for the formation of acetic acid. Temperatures from 55 to 90 are responsible for the formation of lactic acid. Acetic acid gives bread a much more acidic flavor than lactic acid. It also strengthens the structure of the dough, but too much has the opposite effect. This is why many bakers prefer the slower, cold proofing of the dough.
Proofing time is another important factor that decides both the taste and color of the bread. If the dough ferments for too long, yeast and bacteria use up all the sugar in the flour and the bread will have a pale crust and an uninteresting taste. For taste and color, sugar residues in the dough are simply necessary.
Longer fermentation allows the dough to further isolate gluten, adds depth and complexity to the flavor with a longer coating and ultimately increases shelf life. It also makes it possible to put in less yeast, which in turn allows the wheat flavor to emerge. In short, the longer the fermentation, the less yeast we need.
Too much leaven will make the bread too sour and weaken the gluten structure. However, almost all types of bread will only benefit if you add sourdough to them, because the sourdough allows you to maximize the potential taste of the given bread.
When you put a starter in the refrigerator, it takes several hours to cool down to 50 F. However, it will never be as cold as your refrigerator, since fermentation, even slowed down, produces heat. It is important to know that when you use a tool for kneading, such as a stationary or a hand mixer, the temperature of the dough increases by 1-3 F each minute of mixing. Therefore, it is so important not to get carried away and not to kill the dough. You can add starter culture that was stored in the refrigerator to compensate for the energy created by the mixer. Therefore, many bakers add a thick leaven (bigo, or old dough) to the already kneaded dough. They reckon that this starter has already had 3-5 minutes of kneading and if added to the dough at the beginning, the dough can overheat.
Most starter cultures use commercial yeast (as opposed to wild yeast). The exception is the so-called. sourdough or levain, that is, in our opinion, homemade sourdough. There are several types of ferments: barm, biga, chef, desem, levain, madre bianca, mother, pâte fermentée, poolish, sponge, starter, or sourdough starter.
