The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

50% Whole-wheat sourdough

dreid's picture
dreid

50% Whole-wheat sourdough

It’s my first blog post here, I’ve asked a few questions before and lurked a lot but thought I’d post a loaf for the first time! Here’s a simple 50% whole-wheat from the weekend.

The wheat is an organic/biodynamic milling wheat from Four Leaf in South Australia and was milled at home on my Retsel Mil-Rite. The other 50% is an organic bakers flour. 

The levain was fed 1:3:3, with a blend of fresh milled rye and organic bakers flour and left to ferment for ~4hours.

The wheat (200g) was milled and autolysed with the BF (200g) for two hours at ~83% hydration. 80g levain was added and mixed. At this point the dough felt a little stiff still, so I added some more water, I’m not sure exactly how much though.

30 mins later, 8g salt was added and mixed through. I did two sets of coil folds, one 30mins after the salt was added and another one 30mins after that.

The dough was allowed to bulk for around 3hours more. I turned out the dough and pre rounded it on the bench. I let it rest uncovered for 30mins before shaping it into a batard. This was a very simple shaping, I just did a letter fold and then placed it in the proofing basket.

It was allowed to proof at room temp for 30mins before being placed in the fridge for 12hours.

Baked in a preheated combo cooked at ~240c (not sure how accurate my oven is). First 20mins of bake was covered and next 20mins uncovered. 

I'll post a picture of the crumb when I slice into it :)

Comments

Rhody_Rye's picture
Rhody_Rye

Gorgeous loaf, and excellent photography of your gorgeous loaf.

ifs201's picture
ifs201

Excited to see what the crumb is like.

RadioBox's picture
RadioBox

It looks amazing..!! Generally, I prefer black sesame seeds. Anyways, Thanks.

Blogger at Radio Box

dreid's picture
dreid

Thanks for the compliments! Pretty pleased with this crumb, though I think it could have been proofed for a little longer
DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Can’t be sure, but it is very possible that longer fermentation would have compromised that nice ear and gorgeous bloom. For a 50/50 it is extremely nice. In my opinion.

Please describe your letter fold shaping in more detail. The bloom and ear indicates a well structured dough with adequate tension.

Ears don’t come easy. This video shows what must happen to form the ear. Notice how the skin near the score fractures first. It takes a lot of internal pressure. If you over proof, even slightly, the pressure will be compromised. https://youtu.be/16fzltRjcQ4 Time Lapse has taught me a great deal... 

Dan

dreid's picture
dreid

Great video!! Thanks for sharing

I’ll try my best to describe the shaping. I flipped the dough over after it’s bench rest and did a letter or envelope fold as demonstrated in this video but I did not roll it. Instead took the two ends and folded them together and sealed the seam as I placed it into the banneton, see around the 15minute mark in this video.

To be honest, I was surprised to see such a nice shape, I thought it was to be a bit more slack from such gentle shaping

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

So you did a basic letter fold, then you folded that in half and placed in into the basket in the shape of a U. Then you sealed the seam.

Amazing how well the crumb came out, and the loaf held it’s shape. It is exiting how many things there are to learn!

I also plan to follow your lead when it comes to the 30 minute bench rest before shaping. But I think I’ll also rest the dough 30 minutes or so before preshaping. My doughs could use more extensibility at the time of shaping.

Thanks for sharing!

OH! A little something to think about. You said you added a little water after mixing in the levain. Since the addition of salt tightens the gluten quite a bit, it seems adding the water after the salt may make hydration evaluation a bite more accurate. 

That first video you linked of Kristen is my present go-to shaping method for batards. Guess what? Kristen of Full Proof Baking will be the featured baker in our next Community Bake that is scheduled for the end of October. Hope to see you there...

Danny

dreid's picture
dreid

Thanks for the tip about the salt, will definitely give that a go! 

Her shaping is my go to method as well at the moment, just thought I’d try something else out, shape extra gently to try and have a more open crumb. I’ll see you at the community bake ;)

Duncan

Benito's picture
Benito

That really is a gorgeous whole grain loaf.  Love the crumb structure.  Great job.

Benny