Baking – Using Sourdough Breads to reduce Fructans

You might want to try a desem starter. Have a look at the desem primer, which is also linked on the Wikipedia page. Starter instructions are given toward the end. Common lore says that desem starter should never get above 65F, which sounds perfect for your situation. (It's actually fine if it gets warmer than that, though.) Traditional conditions for creating a starter are 50-65F, and I imagine you must have an area at least in that temperature range. I don't think the high altitude should be an issue in getting a starter going, and it might actually help in the case of desem starter by allowing the internal sponge to grow slightly easier.

Basically, it's a dry dough sourdough starter -- different from the typical goupy or soupy sourdough starter most people work with. You begin a starter by essentially taking a little water and kneading in about as much whole grain flour as is reasonable to make a very dry little dough ball. (Whole wheat is traditional, but you can use other grains -- rye would probably be effective, but it's not traditional "desem.") Then bury it in flour. Standard practice is to throw half away every 24 hours and then add water and flour to repeat. You can also start with a very small amount and gradually enlarge the ball.

Eventually, you'll pull the ball out one day and it will be very soft and spongy inside. This will probably happen in about a week at low temperatures, but it could take more or less. At this point, I would usually do a few feedings 12 hours apart before using it to bake bread. If you want to ensure the strongest starter, I'd also do regular feedings for a few more days to really get the culture established.

You can easily convert a desem starter to a wetter version once it is established. Just add water to get the texture you want, and feed according to whatever starter recipe you want to follow.

And, of course, you can use to bake other kinds of bread. You can also convert it to another type of flour once established.

Why does this work better at lower temperatures? I've never actually tried it at very low temperatures (I've had success with a temp of 65F or so), but lots of people have. I think you might be able to get a more standard wet sourdough culture going with at least 50F temperatures -- I only recommend the desem method because anecdotally it's what a lot of people use at lower temperatures.

If it does work better, I assume it might have something to do with the way yeast and bacteria growth rates change at lower temperatures. Both are integral to a sourdough culture, but too much of one and not enough of the other, and the starter can fail. Early on in the creation of a starter, bacteria are much more active than yeast, and they produce a lot of byproducts, including acids which provide souring. In the first few days, you often end up with an excess of acetic acid (partly from bacteria that are undesirable and ultimately die off in the starter process), whereas a mature starter should produce more lactic acid. Excess acetic acid is known to be a significant inhibitor of yeast growth. So, at lower temperatures, the yeast may grow too slow and not have a chance to get established at all if there's too much acetic acid around. The high flour proportion in the desem starter could dilute the effect of all that acetic acid early on more effectively than in a wet starter. At least, that's what I'd theorize.

Regardless of the science, lots of people have success with the desem starter technique at lower temperatures. If you don't like maintaining that type of starter (which I personally have grown to like, because it seems to stay fresh longer with fewer feedings in the fridge once established), you can add more water once the starter is established.

As for allowing your dough to rise once you start baking, there are lots of ways to make a temporary humid warm space. If you have some small enclosed space that doesn't allow a lot of air circulation outside (microwave, small oven, etc.), put the dough in there along with a cup of hot water. Refresh the hot water as necessary to keep the desired temperature. If you don't have such a space, you can even take a large wider-than-tall cardboard box, cut off the top flaps, seal the bottom with packing tape, and invert it over your dough along with the cup of hot water. I used such makeshift proofing boxes for years until I actually was given a proofing box as a gift.

Frankly, you can let sourdough bread rise at lower temperatures, too, which will increase certain flavor elements. It will just take longer, and sometimes you might need to use a different amount of starter in the recipe so as not to end up with a loaf that's too sour in the end. But that will depend on the recipe and the specific characteristics of your mature starter.

In my experience, the two things you can do to most improve the crumb of your bread are:

1. Autolyse - Basically this means that once you combine your flour and water, let the dough sit for awhile (I usually autolyse for 20-30 minutes). This allows the flour to more completely absorb the water, and results in a more extensible dough. Some say that you should wait to add salt until after you autolyse, but I have seen no difference after trying it both ways.
2. Take your time - An extended period of raising and proofing your dough almost always results in a better and more flavorful loaf. Don't hesitate to use your refrigerator during your first or second rise to delay the activity of the yeast. For sourdough, I prefer to use the fridge for my final, shaped proof. This has the additional benefit of some nice effects with the crust.

There are quite a few other factors that may be contributing to your difficulties. It sounds like your starter may not be active enough when you mix everything together. I would recommend more time feeding and preparing your starter before using it.

You might also benefit from some additional tricks and techniques. Using your list of ingredients, the method I would use to bake bread is as follows:

1. Combine your flours and water (Yes, you may be autolysing for several hours, this is a good thing).
2. Activate your sourdough starter.
3. Combine your starter, the autolysed dough, salt, oil, and honey.
4. Knead. (I use a stand mixer on medium and go until the dough pulls away from the sides. Be patient here and try to resist the temptation to add more flour at this step, unless you've kneaded for 10 minutes and seen no change, but then only add a tablespoon of so.)
5. Place your dough in an oiled container (these are awesome). Put the container in a warm place until the dough has doubled.
6. Once your dough has doubled, gently remove it from the container onto a lightly floured surface. Stretch and fold your dough (in thirds, like a letter). Then rotate and do it again. Gently return the dough to your container for a second rise.
7. Let your dough rise until doubled again (I use a crayon to mark the side of my container so I know exactly where double should be). If your dough has been pretty active so far (if your first rise took less than an hour to double), I would do the second rise in the refrigerator.
8. Gently remove the dough from your container, onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape your loaf. (One option is the batard.)
9. Place the shaped loaf on a lightly greased cookie sheet, on a SilPain (I love mine thoroughly), or on a nice layer of cornmeal on your peel, ready to slide directly onto the stone. Cover the dough. (I use either loosely tented plastic wrap, or a clean dishtowel.)
10. Turn on your oven. Set the temperature 10% higher than the recipe calls for.(I preheat my oven during all of final proofing, with my bread stone on the lowest rack so it will be nice and hot. If you haven't tried baking with a stone, I cannot recommend it too highly. The higher temperature is so your bread will have a nice initial spring in the oven.)
11. When your loaf has nearly doubled in size, mist it with water and slash it several times. (If you did your final shaped rise in the refrigerator, you don't need to let it sit at room temperature before putting it the oven.)
12. Get a cup full of ice cubes ready.
13. Open your oven, place the loaf on the stone, and drop the ice cubes on the floor of your oven (If you care about water stains in the bottom of your oven, you can place a cookie sheet or cast-iron skillet in the bottom to catch the ice cubes. If you do, put it in the oven before preheating.) Quickly, but gently close the door.
14. After 5 minutes, reduce your oven temperature to the normal baking temperature.
15. After another 10 minutes, crack the oven door briefly to release the steam.
16. A loaf like this will be done when the internal temperature reaches about 200˚F.
17. Remove the loaf to a cooling rack. Resist the temptation to immediately devour it, as the texture of the crumb and the tenderness of the crust will be adversely effected if you cut it before the loaf has cooled somewhat.

Some resources that have helped me in my bread baking:

• The Bread Bible
• King Arthur Flour
• Using a kitchen scale to measure by weight, rather than volume. (I understand the desire to throw a loaf together, eyeballing the ingredients, kneading with your hands. It seems as though something as organic as creating bread should be like that. Every time I have tried, my loaf has been inferior. I have been baking bread for 20 years and am sad to admit that if I want my bread to be amazing, I have to measure everything precisely and use a mixer.)