The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Long Fermented, 65% hydration NSD,

hreik's picture
hreik

Long Fermented, 65% hydration NSD,

Trevor's advice is spot on.  This past weekend I did my usual Norwich Sourdough, only I changed the timing of things and used Trevor Wilson's advice and method for 65% hydration.   Got beautiful holes, not too many, not too big. And stunning taste b/c of the very long fermentation.  This dough ended up with a total of about 36 hours between the long overnight autolyse and the long over night final rise.

I'm happy.

hester

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Lovely as always Hester and I have to try it. So you followed the NSD recipe and combined it with Trevor's 65% hydration dough. Is that right? 

hreik's picture
hreik

I prepare my levain as usual.  I take out my starter and over 2 days feed it. The night b/f bread making I made the levain which I leave out over night.  At the same time I made the Dough with flour water and salt, just as Trevor advises.  Only I refrigerate the salted dough over night (he refrigerates it for a while and then leaves it out overnight). 

The next day: I took out the dough to warm up and I refrigerated the levain to stop further activity.  About noon time I combined the 2: dough and levain.  I did this as Trevor suggested in start and stop mode.  Three times.  Waiting about 7-10 minutes between each incorporation (the longer time at first, shorter interval before last one).  Then he does 3 stretch and folds 2 hours apart.  I did as well, except the interval b/f the last (3rd) one was 90 minutes.  Then he dumps it out right after the 3rd stretch and fold and then the pre-round.  He lets that rest for 30 minutes.  Then he shapes, proofs for ~ 3-4 hours and bakes. 

In my iteration, I shaped and then immediately refrigerated overnight.  Baked this morning.

Here's his video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfbiGto4R8&t=332s  I watched it 3 or 4 times.  lol
I also went to his website and printed out the instructions.

Here's the NSD recipe: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/my-new-favorite-sourdough/

Hester

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I'm familiar with that Hester. Good method which helps one prepare everything in advance. Thanks for helping me plan this weekends bake. 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I remember reading about this but need to review it again. Thanks for the link. 

hreik's picture
hreik

 Trevor's videos are really wonderful.  I must've watched it 3 or 4 times b/f I tried this.  I do think he's right, that the dough handling is the key.  Here's what he says at the end of him post on his Breadwerx site:

http://www.breadwerx.com/how-to-get-open-crumb-from-stiff-dough-video/

Whatever you do, don’t rush to increase hydration.

That’s not the answer here. If you can’t gently coax an open crumb from a stiffer dough like this, you’re only gonna run into even more trouble when you start making the dough wetter and stickier.

Give yourself the time required to develop feel and intuition first. It may not seem like you’re progressing very fast, but in the long run you’ll find it far less frustrating. Ultimately, you’ll progress further than you would’ve had you been getting ahead of yourself in a rush to work with highly hydrated doughs.

alfanso's picture
alfanso

wise words.  Working for the past year on and off with Mr. Hamelman's breads, that is one true statement.  Many of his creations seem to be ~ 68% hydration range.  

It is all too often that someone will post a plea to help them achieve a high hydration bake, or not understand why theirs didn't work.  And all too often these are folks who are still starting out.

hreik's picture
hreik

Honestly, with this flour  combination (T65 and Rye) and the long fermentation this will be my 'go to' recipe for versatile bread that tastes really good and toasts wonderfully.  I'm very pleased that I was able to do this and get those nice (but not too big or too many) holes.

hester

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

That is some nice looking bread inside and out.  So is it mire sour than usual?  

Happy baking

hreik's picture
hreik

No, it was not more sour than usual, i don't think.... if so, barely perceptible..

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

I was looking forward to seeing this --- and am loving that you got the same fantastic result from following the spirit of Trevor's approach but tweaking to your needs as I did :-)

I've seen kendalm's fabulous results with long fermentation of the T65 flour, so I was hoping that you'd get the same thing --- and you did!

Thanks so much for sharing this one - and looking forward to seeing your next bakes!

Keep baking happy,

Laurie

hreik's picture
hreik

It was a successful experiment.  I'm so grateful to Trevor and his generosity.  I will stick with 65% - 68% for a while until my dough handling skills are up to my standards.  Then I'll go to 70%.  I'm not really interested in a lot of holes, just enough and varied.  I'm a stickler for flavor tho.
Thanks again.

hester