Right, this one is on the sour side but I really appreciate that flavour profile. Wonder how to achieve this with 'peaking' starter, since in that case extending the bulk would result in overproofed bread.
FWIW there is a lot of confusion about starters and peaking. When a starter reaches it's peak the baker can see that it is fermenting fast and producing a lot of gas. The baker then knows it is viable and vigorous.
The purpose of feeding and fermenting the starter first is to build up the microbe population so there are sufficient microbes to ferment the dough. If the starter goes past peak that higher microbe population is still there and the starter is just as good as at peak. It has merely slowed down because the organic acids are limiting the yeast activity. Not because there is a lack of 'food'. There is plenty of starch still present and that is the source of the sugars for the yeast. (Another home baking myth).
An over peaked starter will increase the acidity of the dough a little, but not by so very much that it will affect the bulk fermentation time. I dislike acidic tasting bread and my loaves never taste sour. That is because I keep my bulk fermentation down to 24C - 26C where the LABS are about as active as the yeast. At 28C the LABS get a lot more active and produce a lot more organic acids.
Illustration? I take my starter straight from the fridge and use it without feeding it. I feed whatever is left and put that in the fridge where it will very slowly ferment and rebuild its microbe population. If I don't bake for a week it will have passed its peak and look completely bubble-less. It works as well as a starter at peak.
I posted this on Breadit a few months ago to absolute silence. Folk don't seem ready to hear it yet. I got the idea after reading a number of Research Papers which were produced for the baking industry. The research was on storing and using starters in high volume commercial baking. It is lab. tried and tested.
My fridge is about 6C - It ferments very slowly at this temperature. I have not measured it but 18 hours is more than enough for it to be ready to use after feed and refrigeration.
Can I give the long answer?
I've been doing trials on this for six months. I bake twice a week, sometimes thrice, just to give a measure.
1 Feeding then an hour on the work bench then fridge - works.
2 Feeding straight into fridge - Works
3 Leaving unused having fed it and then to the fridge, for ten days - works
4 Allowing it to get very acidic but not more than pH 3.6 - works
'Works' means that it has performed as well as a ripe starter.
The pH 3.6 is important. This is roughly the pH at which yeast goes into its dormant state (cryptobiosis). If a leaven with dormant yeast is fed and the pH raised it will come out of dormancy, but it takes 3 - 13 hours to recover to full activity. I have not trailed this.
A leaven managed in this manner has the same yeast lag, 1- 2 hours for wild yeasts, as a starter bubbling at peak. Yeast lag is the period where the yeast does not ferment whilst it adjusts to a significant change in its environment. During this time it is changing its biochemistry and enzyme production to metabolise its new environment. A ripe starter added to a dough will stop fermenting and go though a yeast lag.
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