lactic acid development

It is a derivitive of dairy products. I believe whole milk yougurt a good source  . And you can buy it dry as you can lactose which is milk or dairy sugar.  Careful, many people are alergic to this.

OK, I am, by absolutely no means, an expert or even profess to be knowledgeable concerning lactic acid fermentation but from what I can find, it deals with fermentation of dairy or vegetable products rather than wheat.

Take a look at http://www.tempeh.info/fermentation/lactic-acid-fermentation.php

We are cooks, bakers and restaurant or food service people not chemist . I would suggest you consult a site that deals  more in detail with what you are looking for. Good Luck

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricwhiting 

Perhaps I misled folks. I am interested in lactic acid not acetic acid. Unless I'm mistaken yogurt and sour cream both have high concentrations of the latter...

Wrong.  Acetic acid is the stuff of vinegar, especially white vinegar whereas lactic acid is the stuff of sour milk and muscle aches.

YOU ARE CORRECT kOKOPUFFS.

Try reading http://www.nyx.net/~dgreenw/howdolacticbacteriaaffects.html

or this: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10375/lactic-acid-fermentation-sourdough

or this: http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c10/e5-08-06-04.pdf
 

from what I can deduce from a quick glance, you must introduce some bacteria to achieve the results you are after.

I'm not a professional baker nor chemist nor microbiologist but I have baked a few sourdoughs and have my rye starter going. As you can learn in the articles, LAB produce mostly lactic acid and these are by far the most prevalent. However, trust me, lactic acid can be, just like any acid, very sharp in sufficient concentrations. And a sourdough starter IS sour. However, that doesn't mean that the bread will be sour too. I've baked breads that were very sour and breads that were hardly sour at all, with just a hint. It all depends on how long you ferment the bread and how much starter you use.

To create an environment favourable to homo-LAB, you need temperature in the vicinity of 30°C-32°C, but not more than 35°C. Though keep in mind that it may take time to start a starter and more time for it to mature. I did it like this: mixed 50g organic whole rye flour with 50g dechlorinated water, let it stand covered overnight, stirred, covered and then kept tasting every 12 hours or so until it was sour, then added the flour and the water again, 24 hours again and so on for a few days until I got reliable rises. A stable starter should smell like beer/wine mixed with fresh yeast (sometimes the yeast element is barely perceptible). What it should NOT smell like is cheese, or any other totally unpleasant smells.

For future reference:

LACTIC ACID = DAIRY, also fermented vegetables, bread, sore muscles and other stuff - think lactose intolerance, lactation

ACETIC ACID = VINEGAR and also other stuff - think aceto balsamico

What has proved to be a tasty bread that is hardly sour at all was a Czech-style light rye. I used 210g white rye flour, 210g 100% hydration starter made exclusively with organic whole rye flour, 280g bread flour (I'm not sure if the American bread flour is the same as the Czech or Slovak flour I used, so you may use instead the all-purpose flour I guess? I'll leave it to you.), about 2% salt (makes it around 10g if I'm not mistaken) and 1/2 teaspoon whole caraway fruits. I'm not sure about the amount of water but it was around 300g. I mixed it all together except the salt, left it for 30 minutes to autolyze, then added salt, kneaded it all, and left to ferment until doubled. I actually skipped shaping and proofing and it worked. It produced a nice loaf with a very pronounced rye flour that I loved, only a hint of sour, and it was stunning with butter and strawberry jam.

That amount of starter seems to have worked. A smaller amount would probably need more time to rise and thus more time for the LAB to do their work, that means more sour taste. A larger amount maybe wouldn't dilute the starter enough. Also, I didn't ferment it too long, maybe 4 hours, not more than 5 (that's actually not too much for a sourdough). The ideal temperature to ferment the dough is 26°C, that's what yeasts like best and it's not that great for LAB, so yeasts will be relatively most numerous. A lower temperature would result in longer fermentation time and more hetero-LAB action it seems. A higher temperature seems to produce bread that is more sour, too (more homo-LAB action?).

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Slayertplsko 

What has proved to be a tasty bread that is hardly sour at all was a Czech-style light rye. I used 210g white rye flour, 210g 100% hydration starter made exclusively with organic whole rye flour, 280g bread flour (I'm not sure if the American bread flour is the same as the Czech or Slovak flour I used, so you may use instead the all-purpose flour I guess? I'll leave it to you.), about 2% salt (makes it around 10g if I'm not mistaken) and 1/2 teaspoon whole caraway fruits. I'm not sure about the amount of water but it was around 300g. I mixed it all together except the salt, left it for 30 minutes to autolyze, then added salt, kneaded it all, and left to ferment until doubled. I actually skipped shaping and proofing and it worked. It produced a nice loaf with a very pronounced rye flour that I loved, only a hint of sour, and it was stunning with butter and strawberry jam.

 

That amount of starter seems to have worked. A smaller amount would probably need more time to rise and thus more time for the LAB to do their work, that means more sour taste. A larger amount maybe wouldn't dilute the starter enough. Also, I didn't ferment it too long, maybe 4 hours, not more than 5 (that's actually not too much for a sourdough). The ideal temperature to ferment the dough is 26°C, that's what yeasts like best and it's not that great for LAB, so yeasts will be relatively most numerous. A lower temperature would result in longer fermentation time and more hetero-LAB action it seems. A higher temperature seems to produce bread that is more sour, too (more homo-LAB action?).

Based on starter formulas I've read here in the states, it takes around a week or so for a starter to develop properly and NOT the time it takes to simply to knead, autolyse and rise over short period of time.

EDIT: should your autolyse be allowed to develop 8 hours or so, overnight, then it would be labeled as a pre-ferment.  But starters themselves take at least a week to develop from the very getgo, slav.

Of course, it takes about a week for a starter to develop and then, with proper care, it lasts forever. I used a mature starter in the bread, of course.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slayertplsko  ...(I'm not sure if the American bread flour is the same as the Czech or Slovak flour I used, so you may use instead the all-purpose flour I guess? I'll leave it to you.), ...

It's like wine grapes, they all differ by region and sometimes within the same plot for subsequent crops.