Crispy and chewy - do not want
Heya. How's everyone?
I have a problem - I am curious what to do with my currently batches of bread. The crusts come out thick and chewy while the inside is - although nicely holed - still gummy.
I'm experimenting with Flo's 1'2'3 recipe - and the last batch I made I thought it was the addition of the KA wholewheat flour, so I omitted it and just did it with equal parts of KA bread flour and all purpose. Still the same thing - although I have to say that unlike the last batch (which I could easily knead by hand no worries) this one was more liquidy and needed to be bowl-kneaded. Still, let it rise for two hours before sticking it in the fridge overnight. Morning came and I formed the bread and placed it in a large, greased Corningwear loaf pan; let it sit for an hour or so before baking it in a 400F oven for 40 minutes [20 min covered loosely with foil, 20 without]. Took it out and let it cool for three or so hours before noticing it was this way.
Any advice or suggestions?
KAF bread flour is a strong flour. You'll get a thinner crust and softer crumb with all AP. Also try baking at 440F.
What's the total weight of the dough before baking? Do you have a baking stone? Are you using steam?
Hm, didn't know that. I'll try it with AP next time. Or should I add some whole-wheat just to liven things up - say a sixth of the weight?
The weight? I don't know, sorry to say. And no, I don't have a stone nor did I use steam. I know both could help with that, but seeing I didn't have either...well...
Without knowing the weight of the flour, kind of hard to figure out what "a sixth" of the weight is.
A digital scale is a terrific tool to have. If you plan to continue baking, you realy should get a scale. Volume measurements are inaccurate.
Anyway, you could try using 10 percent whole wheat (or rye) or even 15 percent WW or rye.
Arrowhead Mill makes a very nice organic whole rye.
Gotcha.
And I do have a scale, but since Flo's formula asks for triple the wieght of the starter in flour, the 'sixth of the weight' is indeed vague. I'll try your percentages instead.