July 14, 2020 - 9:34pm
80% hydration loaf advice
Hi guys. I hope you’re well! So I just tried my hand at a high hydration (80%) batard, and would love some feedback in my loaf , and some guidance on how to improve it. Thank you guys for all your help and support!
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That is a gorgeous loaf!
My only suggestion, based on my personal preference for a less-open crumb, would be to degas more while shaping. But, hey, that’s just one person’s point of view.
Well done.
Paul
Thank you! I just posted a sub question below in the comments, if you could please help me out, I’d really appreciate that
You got great oven spring there, congratulations. I would agree with Paul, but of course it is to your taste. The larger holes are not fermentation related but gas trapped during folding in bulk fermentation. You can minimize these by popping the large bubbles you see when you are folding and then also gentling patting your dough during pre-shaping or final shaping. On the other hand, you might like the larger holes in which case keep doing what you're doing.
Benny
Thank you! I actually did pop all the bubbles I could see throughout the process, so I’m not sure what’s going on in there. Also, I have a starter related question. I usually keep my eye and whole meal starters in the fridge between bakes, and I usually use them once a week. Let’s say I need 100g of the whole meal starter. I take it out from the fridge and feed it 50g flour 50g water. The base starter is also around 50g so it’s a 1:1:1. It usually grows 2.3-3x within 3.5-4 hours. Should I just keep doing that because most people on here or more instagrammers usually do multiple feeds before a bake. I just don’t want to accumulate any discard, so should I keep doing what I’m doing or ?
I would still gently pat down your dough as you’re doing final shaping that will help minimize the large bubbles.
As long as you’re baking as often as you are and you find that your starter stays quite vigorous, you are fine doing what you’re doing.
This is exactly what I do, and I've been pretty happy with my breads but there's always a little nagging thing at the back of my mind that's like "I wonder what would happen if I really fed it in stages before I baked." So far, though, my dislike of discard has prevented me from doing it, lol. Maybe one of these days when flour is in easy supply again!
Other than that, no other suggestions. This loaf looks perfect to me!