Lesson 9.21 • Troubleshooting
Glue (Solvent)
Ethyl acetate is out of control. The firm sourdough was baked extremely starved.
Diagnosis & Fix: Ethyl acetate is a balancing act. In traces, it is wonderfully fruity, but if it tips, the sourdough smells extremely biting like UHU glue (solvent). Fix: The firm sourdough was probably starved too much and needs to be refreshed!
Molecular Behavior: [PATHOLOGICAL ESTERIFICATION] An acid accident due to acute nutrient deficiency ("starved dough"). In chronically overripe sourdoughs, bacteria massively accumulate acetic acid. Under extreme cellular stress, yeasts panic-esterify their free ethanol with this acid. What still smells fruity like pear in microdoses mutates in overconcentration into a toxic stinging UHU glue aerosol.
Avoid This Defect in These Recipes: