Baking in a 15-degree kitchen
The kitchen thermometer has read 15 °C most mornings this month. The house is old, the kitchen is on the north side, and the heating thermostat lives in the hall. At 15 °C a sourdough bulk ferment that takes five hours in May takes ten, and I do not always have ten.
I have been here before, with last March's brick, and this time I am trying to act before the loaf tells me. Three things that help:
- Warm water, calculated. I aim for a dough at about 25 °C after mixing. With flour and kitchen both at 15 °C, that means water at around 35 °C. A thermometer in the jug, not a finger.
- The oven with only the light on. Mine sits at 26 to 28 °C like that. I leave a note on the door so nobody preheats it with a bowl of dough inside. I have learnt this one personally.
- More starter. Going from 20% to 30% of the flour weight takes an hour or two off the bulk without changing much else.
The thing I have not fixed is the starter itself. Morris came out of the fridge in September and went back to his shelf by the kettle, where he gets fed once a week. At this temperature he barely rises between feeds, and he smells sharper than he should. I keep meaning to give him a few warm, frequent feeds to perk him up. I keep not doing it.