Dough hydration and crumb texture
Hello,
After recent sourdough bakes in my wood fired oven I have a few questions that I would appreciate advice on. Does dough hydration change the characteristic's of the texture of the loaf beside an open crumb. I have made some 75% hydration white sourdough loaves and they have a very open crumb and a moist chewy creamy texture which I like but they seem more suited to eating fresh and as sandwiches as opposed to toasting. Where as my 65% hydration loaves are good for sandwiches and toast really well. I have posted some pictures in particular the crumb from my 75 % loaves. As I don't have a professional bakery locally to compare any advice would be appreciated.
Here are some 65% hydration sourdough loaves a mix of white and seeded
Has good expansion and a reasonable open crumb (sorry no photo of crumb)
This is a 75% hydration white sourdough loaf (not as good an ear as the above)
Here is a couple of crumb shots
Thanks for any advice
Mr Vegemite
Wgtn
NZ
Comments
hi mrvegemite, I am not a professional baker but I read here somewhere along that hydration of a dough does affect the crumb size. Your loaves are looking so good that they left me drooling indeed. I wasn't convinced about the hydration thingy at first as they are oh so difficult to work with but I did it with a poolish recipe from Floyd,which is from this site too and I was amazed with the texture of the bread,partly because the recipe contained a small amount of yeast too. Ingredients such as rye,whole whole,etc....tend to absorb more water. I hope some of your queries are answered.....but before I pen off, I found my breads have better crumb size when I shape them in baguette form compared to a boule. How about yours?
Thanks for your comments on the loaves, I tend to find my crumb more consistent in my boules perhaps because of my shaping technique. What I am interested in is the texture of the crumb. There seems to be more chew in the high 75% hydration dough as opposed to say a 65% hydration loaf, is this the norm or am I doing something wrong.
Thanks
Like what those experts said out there,yes,higher hydration will yield a more elastic crumb. There are a few really good bakers on this site,hopefully they will read this blog and give you a more professional answer as my own understanding and experiments....water will make the dough prove more as it feeds the yeast. Yours loaves are looking really great compared to mine,so I have nothing to comment about, only to learn from. Happy baking there....
Cheers for your advice, the good thing about this site is everyone is willing to share information which is great and happy baking to you too.
But I believe a few things affect the crumb.
1. Flour used. Wholegrain won't give an open crumb as bread flour will.
2. Hydration. Higher the hydration the more open crumb.
3. Kneading. Less kneading gives a more open crumb. But of course one needs to develop the gluten. So balance is the key. I'm not sure if stretch and folds vs. kneading will make a difference.
4. Of course oven spring helps. You might get a better oven spring with a lower hydration loaf. So therefore perhaps some of your lower hydration loaves might get a more open crumb than your higher hydration loaves if oven spring is the key.
Cheers for your advice on crumb and hydration. I may have made a bit of a confusing post because of the photos. I was wondering more about the texture of the crumb as opposed to the openness. Should I expect a higher hydration loaf to be more chewy and moist? Or should hydration only affect openness..? I use the same flour for my 65% hydration dough and the texture seems slightly lest chewy/creamy and more softer and lighter.
thanks for anymore help you can pass on
The higher hydration loaves are more chewy. Kinda gives it a rubbery texture so associated with sourdough. The lower hydration loaves tend to be more soft.
Friends call it 'rubbery' because the very texture has changed in the higher hydration loaves. One describes it as 'you can bend it and it won't crumble' like other bought loaves people now think of as bread. They tend to be unused to the texture.
I think longer fermentation also does this. So depending on a few factors with some variables at play this is my experience.
By the way. And really liking the presentation. Great bake!
I thought that was the case with higher hydration dough's when thinking about ciabatta and the like, the local bakeries seem to base their sourdough on the softer and lighter crumb textured dough's I guess to appeal to the wider bread market. It is because of this I wasn't sure what I was looking for in the final product. Thanks for providing some detail on what I should be looking for and expecting in these types of loaves.
Cheers
A couple of things just occurred to me.
A lot of high street bakeries sell sourdoughs that are actually hybrids. They add in some commercial yeast and use sourdough for flavour.
And the second thing is... when you brush the top of a loaf with water before baking you'll get a glossy shine to the crust. This is because it gels. With high hydration and long fermentation the same thing happens.
Thanks again for sharing your information/knowledge on the subject
Cheers
Nice loaves! You have obviously been practicing.
I think you understand pretty well what is going on. High hydration doughs will have an open crumb if the gluten is fully developed (or almost) but if you add too much whole grain flour or seeds it doesn't hold together well. A fully white flour loaf with an open crumb won't toast well for two reasons: 1.) the white color keeps it from absorbing as much IR energy as a dark loaf will and the open holes don't absorb any energy at all, and 2.) high hydration loaves tend to have more residual moisture than a lower hydration loaf will. Thus there is more evaporation required before the crumb can get up to the 350°F temperature required to get the Maillard reaction to do the browning. Result - a long wait for it to start browning and then a flash to black since the thermal mass of the crumb is so low that once it dries out enough to brown it overheats very quickly. You will find the same thing happening with a thin slice of a lower hydration bread where you get localized burning.
For sandwiches you want to have enough substance to the crumb to hold the filling so either cut it thick to avoid through-holes, or go with a lower hydration (and smaller holes) so you can cut it thinner and not have the mayo/mustard/butter/hot sauce leaking through.
Very informative post and all your points make absolute sense. Thanks very much