lame

I made my 2nd loaf today. I modified the recipe in lesson 2 a bit by adding whole wheat flour, AP (unfortunately bleached - all I had on hand), and KAF bread flour. I used one of my tissue blades for the scoring, and I'm very impressed how well it worked. It was like slicing through air, absolutely no drag at all. Granted, tissue blades were originally used in order to take very thin slices of tissues for sampling, so I shouldn't be surprised. They're also used in some crafts (like beading) which is why I had some on hand.

I also cut down on the sugar. I practically inhaled the first bread, and I decided I really didn't need to be having that much sugar in the next one.

While the loaf's not bad, I'm definitely going to try some new things next time. For one, I need to increase the hydration in the dough. The crust really dried out on me this time, partly due to not enough water in the dough and also I think partly because I baked it too long. I cut 15 minutes off of the baking time, but I should have cut 25 instead. Next time I'll know not to ignore my gut instinct. Additionally, I'm going to try misting the crust with water and putting an upside down roasting pan on top of the bread for the first 10-15 minutes so I can get the crust I want without it drying out. I also need to shape it a little more firmly if I want it to retain its shape. This one expanded a bit more laterally than I expected.

Eventually, I also want to try to get a larger crumb. I'm going to experiment a bit with moisture content and see if that helps. I kind of want to 'perfect' this version before I move on to fermenting dough overnight, but we'll see if I get impatient. 

The official changes to the recipe were:

1 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup white wheat
1 cup all purpose
1/16 cup sugar
about 1 1/2 tbs butter
1 scant teaspoon salt

After shaping, I put it in the slightly warm oven to rise for 40 min, baked a 75 minutes at 350 degrees.

Here's the first loaf I made, just for comparison. Also, any tips/comments are definitely welcome.