What went wrong?
Hi,
I am new to sourdough baking and I love the challenge of it. I have made multiple loaves that usually turn out well, but this loaf that I baked this morning was completely crazy and went wrong in so many ways! I would appreciate any feedback on what problems you see and that I can fix for next time.
-I autolysed for about 45 min. to 1hr.
-Slap and fold technique for ten minutes
-Let rest and then did 3 stretch and folds after 20 min., 40 min., then 1 hr apart
-Shaped and put in my proofing basket, covered with a tea towel and let ferment overnight in the fridge
I woke up this morning and baked (I don't have a dutch oven but filled a pan with water to create steam). I first noticed when i removed the dough from my proofing basket that it was a bit stuck and came out lopsided (I just bought a new proofing basket). I tried to reshape the dough since it was flat and lopsided but as you can see in the picture i think this created a weak seam that burst in the oven...
Again, any help would be appreciated! My main fear is that I am either under proofing or over proofing the dough because I barely got any oven spring.
Thank you.
The steam was not sufficient, the crust formed too quickly and prevented oven spring. From the looks of things the heat source is too much from on top and not enough underneath.
Does your oven have coils on top and below that can be turned on or off independently? Has your oven got a fan which can be toggled on or off? Do you have any pot that can be used as a dutch oven substitute?
Without the recipe nor crumb shot it'll be difficult to diagnose further but I think the problem is in the baking as long as with the other steps your gave the dough enough time.
A picture paints a thousand words. So from the outside it appears all in the baking. The inside however points to an issue in the ferment. Either the starter itself or watching the clock and not the dough!
Interesting, do you have any ideas to what the issues with the ferment would be?
How you made it, how long it's been "viable" for and maintenance schedule.
I feed it once every 24 hours, its about 3 weeks old, and I do 1/4 cup flour and a 1/4 water at a time. Feeding times are inconsistent because of my class schedule. I used the starter before I fed it yesterday and it floated. Should I have fed first and waited a few hours for it to rise before using?
are you keeping back each time when you feed it 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water?
I take out a few spoonfuls to discard but I probably keep more than half of my original amount in before I feed
Your starter is young and will benefit from bigger feeds for better health. This will build up the yeast population. Also if it peaks by morning after feeding it the night before, and you don't have time to feed it at 12 hourly intervals, then refrigerate till the next feed.
So for the next few days try the alternate feeding schedule.
Keep back 1/4 cup starter and feed 1/4 cup water + 1/2 cup flour. This will slowly turn your starter into 100% hydration (or close enough). Equal volumes water and flour is very hydrated. 100% hydration is equal amounts of flour and water by weight! So if you can do this every time it has peaked. Twice a day at 12 hourly intervals is good. If you can't and only wish to feed it once a day then simply refrigerate once it's peaked until you can feed it again. So let's say you feed it before bed and come the next morning it has peaked and you don't wish to feed it again till the following evening then put it in the fridge for the day. Or vice versa.
Keep up the feeding schedule for a few days and see if you can build up it's strength. Then start to think about another recipe.
EDIT: You also wish to look at the dough. It could be your starter was good to leaven bread but you didn't give it enough time. So while the above feeding is better practice then what you've been doing so far perhaps the issue was also not giving the dough enough time. Did you bulk ferment for long enough? How did the dough look and feel before you went onto shaping and final proofing?
Take a look at this recipe and let me know what you think? It's a nice recipe very well explained. You will be building a levain (actually wrong named a poolish in the recipe) with a little starter. Once the levain is very active then you proceed onto the main dough. It's god a high percentage of levain and if the problem was under estimating the ferment time this should help.
Thank you for all of your help, I will definitely try this recipe.
This loaf turned out much better. Thank you!
Let's reserve full judgement till the crumb shot and taste report but that is a huge difference. I'm beginning to think it was all down to timing!
Had to wait a day to cut into it but the taste was mildly sour (in a good way) and I was pretty happy with the way it looked compared to the doomsday disaster loaf that I originally posted :)
I think what went wrong was all in the timing. This recipe used a high amount of levain which helped correct that problem. To further improve it will all come down to getting a feel for each stage of the process. With this bake I think it could have done with a longer bulk ferment still. It's probably quite cool at the moment where you are so the dough took longer. But a huge step in the right direction.
Enjoy!
My oven has a fan setting that I can try. I don't have any sort of dutch oven substitute, I have attempted putting two deeper square glass dishes on top of each other to kind of recreate the effect but I have been getting soggy bottom crusts when I do that so I thought I'd give it a try without anything. Would you suggest moving the rack to a lower point in the oven when I bake? Thank you for your feedback!
Has two coils, on top and below, and a fan. All of which can be toggled on or off separately.
I'll preheat the oven with fan and coils on. With the drip tray on the bottom shelf. When the dough goes in i'll pour water into the drip tray, load the dough onto the middle shelf, turn the fan and top coil off. So all the coils below are heating up the drip tray causing steam. And the top coils and fan are not baking the crust too quickly to prevent oven spring. For the last ten minutes i'll remove the drip tray and turn both the top coil and fan back on for a nice crust.
But I think we need to take a step back and have a look at the starter and dough.
Your crumb shows sings of underfermentation. You mentioned a total of 20+40+60=120 minutes in room temperature and then fridge. I let mine ferment for around 5h at (Brazilian) room temperature. That means I have to watch my dough so it does not go beyond 28C (82F). You did not mention the temperature, but I imagine that it is not as high as 28C (dough temperature, room temperature is higher). I would let it stand after the last fold for some time. Try a total of 5 hours and see how that goes.
Yes, I am in Denmark now and I have heard that colder climates need longer proofing so I will remember that in the future. Thank you!
What's different about this time, compared to the times that worked? In a brave hope that the world is not completely random, I suggest that this time is different because you changed something. ☺️
Did you use a different recipe? A new baking technique? Have you made any recent improvements in how you do bread? It's possible you did something differently this time because you heard about a better way; that can cause an accidental failure, if you did the right thing in the wrong way.