The Fresh Loaf

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Warm spot levain no split

LevaiNation's picture
LevaiNation

Warm spot levain no split

Here I am again. Posting pics and trying to find some answers. Made some truly delicious warm spot white levain bread from the Forkish book. It turned delicious. The crumb is exactly what I was looking for; a proper balance between holes and body, light but with proper weight. The flavour is super light and sweet. Very mellow on the sour notes. The crust is fantastic! The kind that leaves behind lots of bread crumbs in the cutting board, with an awesome sound as the knife cuts it. Stoked about it.... except, again, the seam side up splits didn't happen! I believe that had it cracked a little it would have helped release the little extra moisture that stayed trapped inside. Even the two loaves that I scored failed to really pop at the seams. (I'm kind of lame with the lame. ha!)

Convection oven with steam function. I went pretty light this time. Baked at 230c for 10 minutes and lowered to 200 for another 25. I believe it was almost over fermented last night before I preshaped and then shaped the boules, making sure to not tighten them too much, even leaving behind a little dry flour to help it not seal excessively. It felt really nice. Today in the morning it went straight to the oven and it seemed perfectly proofed and happy. And yes, gorgeous loaves, I'm thankful; but I really miss the lovely cracks I used to get inside the dutch ovens on my old crappy oven... What to do?

Next batch I'm gonna try doing a loaf in the DO and another in the convex oven to hone in on the source of my "problem". More steam? Or less? Temp? Should i underproof a little? Sharpen my scoring skills? 

 

Bread is a trip.

Anyway, I truly recommend trying this recipe if you have the book or can find it. It delivers a lovely loaf and a happy bite.

Bryan

 

LevaiNation's picture
LevaiNation

Ok so, speaking to myself here but here are the results of the last experiment. 

Baked two loaves in my convection oven, one in a dutch oven with a lid, the other one in a baking sheet, both seam side up, no score, a la FWSY. A simple poolish recipe, 72% hidration. Mostly white flower, with about 5% whole wheat. Baked for 10 minutes @ 450f , then 25 minutes at 375. The lid of the DO camp off at 25 min. 

I did blast the oven with steam during the first 5 minutes but not sure if enough or too much. This is my first steam function oven. 

As you can see in the pics, the Dutch oven loaf did naturally crack super nice, which helped it release that extra moisture from the inside, gave it size and just looks so sexy! The other loaf, baked on a cookie sheet at the same exact time didn’t split. Not sure what needs to happen in order to recreate the magic of the pot...

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

in the oven that creates additional steam? I know a few people who use lava rocks as well as rolled up towels to augment the steam. You might also want to experiment placing those T the top or st the bottom of your oven. 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

of steam is long enough. You removed the lid after 25 minutes and only gave the other loaf 5 so there is one discrepancy. Someone on here has said how long the steam is needed before the skin is set but I can’t remember what it was. 

LevaiNation's picture
LevaiNation

Yep. You were right Danni. I cranked up the quantity of steam and it totally helped. This is today’s bake. The top two are DO loaves but as you can see the bottom ones did burst pretty nice. Still not as luciously as the pot loaves but much better. 

Gettibg there getting there.... 

muchas gracias for the típ!

Bryan

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

They look fantastic! What’s is the plan for all of those loaves?

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I'd take a few of those :) 

LevaiNation's picture
LevaiNation

I have a small restaurant and we use this for salads, sandwiches and also sell to our costumers if they want a full loaf. ;-)

LevaiNation's picture
LevaiNation

Aaarghhh. Few thing dampen my day as a morning batch not splitting. No burst. Tight round loaves. 

Super steamed, perfect bulk and proof yet no cracks on boules. 

:-(