For Faster Sourdough, Add Yeast | Cook's Illustrated (2024)

FAQs

For Faster Sourdough, Add Yeast | Cook's Illustrated? ›

Sourdough bread baking is a slow process, and even a small amount of yeast can speed it up significantly. An assist from yeast is especially helpful in the winter, when temperatures in the kitchen can dip below 70 degrees and warmth-loving sourdoughs can be especially sluggish.

I've found adding 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast per cup of flour in your recipe will produce dough that doubles in size within an hour or two in the bowl, and within about an hour once the loaf is shaped. Use less yeast, and that timeline lengthens — all the while building the bread's flavor.

Proper fermentation of bread dough requires robust yeast activity, especially if you want good oven spring and an open crumb. Adding small amounts of instant yeast to a sourdough is an easy and effective way to get there, and a practice any baker might want to add to their bread baking toolkit.

If you do want to add a pinch of yeast to your sourdough starter, I highly recommend just using a tiny pinch. This will be plenty. I also recommend keeping your starter on the stiffer side. The increased activity that comes from the commercial yeast will tend to make your sourdough starter too runny.

The more yeast in a recipe initially, the quicker it produces CO2, alcohol, and organic acids. Alcohol, being acidic, weakens the gluten in the dough, and eventually the dough becomes “porous,” and won't rise; or won't rise very well.

You can also put hot water in a heat-safe dish and place it on the floor of a cold oven (or on a lower shelf). The steam and heat from the water will help the temperature rise just enough that the yeast is active. The steam will also assist in keeping the surface of the dough moist so it will stretch as it rises.

Dough temperature is the regulating factor when it comes to bulk fermentation speed. To speed up bulk fermentation, keep your dough warmer (though I would not exceed 85°F/29°C). Conversely, to slow bulk fermentation, keep your bread dough cooler (I would not cool lower than 39°F/4°C).

Real sourdough bread is made without the use of commercial yeast or any other commercially available leavening agent. Leavening agents make bread rise when it is baked. The leavening agent or preferment used in real sourdough bread is a natural starter.

Because of the way commercial yeast has been honed, it rises bread very quickly. In comparison, the wild yeast contained in sourdough starter can take many hours, even days, to rise bread.

Sourdough starter is both yeast and bacteria. In fact, a sourdough starter can be referred to as a SCOBY - a symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria. The yeast and bacteria are a little living community in your jar. They do not compete with each other for food which is what allows them to live together.

Can you add too much starter to sourdough recipe? ›

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.

The easiest ways to increase the wild yeast colonies in your jar are to feed regularly and consistently, use whole grain flour, adjust the feeding ratio to slightly thicker, keep your sourdough starter warm and use unchlorinated water.

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.

This can affect the bread by adding a "yeasty" taste if you put too much into the dough. General amounts of yeast are around 1 - 2 % of the flour, by weight. Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand.

Leader says breads made with less yeast develop a “bubblier” crumb. That doesn't mean you'll see bigger holes.

Perfect Your Yeast Levels

Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

You can also speed up fermentation with temperature, by allowing your dough or batter to rise in a warmer environment (near the pre-heating oven, for example); the closer the temperature is to 95° F, the more efficiently the yeast is feeding and producing carbon dioxide.

To activate your starter, feed it with fresh flour and water, and then wait for it to bubble and double in size. Feeding a starter is not a once off activation process (like a new cell phone).