June 19, 2014 - 1:10pm
Humidity and Height
Hi ! I love recipes of buns and rolls and I'm developing some, I have had some success so far but sometimes I find one contradiction, that perhaps someone could explain. I've read that to achieve a bread full of holes (as a ciabatta), the recipe must be high in moisture but I also want a roll with good height and, apparently, a lot of liquid cause a certain spread of the dough. How can I balance this ?
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Proper dough development and steam in the oven will allow a very high hydration dough to achieve great volume with large holes. I have had great success with 85% hydration for a white sourdough and 105% for a whole wheat sourdough. Both pieces are essential. You can get good rise without steam, but it's nothing compared to what steam can do.
I achieve this in my Dutch Oven.
The Dough will also not spread out more than the Dutch Oven is wide, I bake my boules and batards in my Dutch Ovens and they get great height.