The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Oh man!! It's good to be back!!

Dave's picture
Dave

Oh man!! It's good to be back!!

Hey everybody. It's been way too long since I baked. Had a super busy summer so it's been over 3 months since I last baked a loaf of bread. That's definitely 3 months too long.

But I'm back and can't wait to get involved with you lovely people on the forum. One of my favorite places to be!!

Here is my first loaf in over 3 months. Simple 20% stone ground whole grain spelt, 80% Bread flour recipe.

I actually changed my starter (Bubbles) (No trailer park boys reference!!) back to 100% bread flour set at 100% hydration. Bubbles had seen many different lives from 50% Red Fife/50% Bread Flour, 50% Rye/50% Bread flour, to 100% Rye. Believe it or not I have not yet had the chance to actually try a 100% Bread Flour starter. Well...I love it!!

It didn't take much for Bubbles to catch on to what I was doing to him. Only a couple of days later and he was happy with his new digs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a tad bit over-proofed. I'm a little out of practice.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Doesn't look over proofed at ll to me,  Well done, welcome back and

Happy Baking 

Dave's picture
Dave

It's great to be back!!

Cheers!

Thanshin's picture
Thanshin

I need to learn to do crusts like that. I don't even care about the four corners, My ideal bread would be a deep crumb under the central "+" crust.

Dave's picture
Dave

So what I do is bake in a dutch oven at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, then take the lid off and bake an additional 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Or until I achieve the desired crust I want. Which is usually what you see here, and even darker on the bottom. It's the dark crust that really brings out some amazing flavor!!

Heat your dutch oven first, for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Cheers!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Take a couple more practice swings like that one, and you'll be totally back in the zone!

I'm with dbm. I would suspect over-proofing if I only saw the crumb shot, but the great bloom you got argues against that. My hypothesis would be a long, cool fermentation with generation of excessive protease causing those too-big holes. Did you cold retard that loaf?

Anyway, welcome back! 

David

Dave's picture
Dave

Yes I did cold retard the dough after my mixing and stretch and folds. I think it was around 20 hours. And then about a 1 hour 20 minute proof out of the fridge.

The more I'm on this forum, the more I learn. I love it. I am not familiar yet with protease. I will have to read up on that.

Thanks so much!

Cheers!

Dave's picture
Dave

Hey David. So I just read up on the enzyme protease. Looks like too much protease activity would break up the gluten, and destroy the network that forms during kneading. Which would cause the too-big holes over a long fermentation. Does this sound right?

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Yup. That's the sad story in a nutshell.

Now, there is often a bright side. The longer fermentation may also generate products that make more interesting and complex flavors. It's all about balance. Kind of like life.

David