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I've stared tackling Robertson's T3, and most recently the Oat Porridge bread. The porridge created a two-fold problem for me: 1) the hydration goes through the roof and so shaping and proofing has been a pain (I don't have much experience in super high hydration doughs, so I took this obstacle in stride), and 2) incorporating the oat porridge into the dough evenly. 

I first used conventional stone cut oats and those were the hardest to work into the dough. I would add them after the first or second S&F, and then spend the rest of the bulk period failing to spread them evenly into the dough.

Earlier this week and came across Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal. The oats are still stone ground but are much finer. In my latest attempt I cooked the porridge and then added it with my salt after a fake-autolyse (flour, water, and leavain.) I patiently let the dough bulk longer than usual at 4 hours ( I'm high altitude and hot house), and let the final proof overnight in the fridge. The results have been my best so far! The crumb was (Actually!) custardy without being gummy and the oats disintegrated and imparted a definite nutty flavor. Shaping super wet dough still needs practice and I think I will let the bulk go on a little longer next time. Regardless, this has been such a difficult bread to tackle and it's nice to see progress!

Also, this is my first post. I've been lurking for a while, and this online community looks so friendly and helpful!

-H

Hi all,

I've been browsing around the forums for a while and I really enjoy reading about everyone's bread baking adventures. Unfortunately, my own experiences with baking sourdough to date have been more frustrating than rewarding.

I've been baking sourdough seriously for longer than I care to admit (about 3 years), and I could probably count my successes on one hand. I've had the most success with Trevor's low hydration recipe, but every time increase the hydration of my loaf, I start to run into trouble. It seems that my dough is always an unworkable puddle and nothing like what I see on youtube. Even if I shape the dough very tightly, it still feels very slack and loses its shape.

On top of that, the weather here in the southern hemisphere has really cooled down, so I'm finding it even more difficult to manage proofing times. I'm using an insulated box with a heat mat as a makeshift proofing box, but maintaining a stable temperature is really hard. Last bake, I'm pretty convinced I underproofed the loaf (it had a fairly obvious fools crumb), and I just popped one into the fridge this evening that poured onto my bench into a pancake. It seemed to have no structure at all, so I'm guessing it might have been overproofed.

Granted this is quite generaly, but can anyone offer some advice on where I might be going wrong? Also, does everyone who turns out consistent loaves have some sort of temperature control? I feel like even after all of the years, I don't have a good feel for when a loaf is proofed to perfection. Strangely enough, I have that intuition with commercial yeast, but sourdough still eludes me!

For reference, here's my process:

* 100g wholegrain flour

* 400g baker's flour

* 350g water

* 100g levain (taken from 35g ripe starter, 7g wholegrain flour, 28g baker's flour, 35g water)

* 10g salt

Mix flours and water and autolyse for 1 hour.

Add levain and salt and pinch them in.

Slap and fold 400 times.

Bulk proof for 7 hours in a proofing box (temperature fluctuates between 18 and 26 °C, but is usually around the 20 mark).

Given the fluctuation in temperature, I've been trying to improve my ability to assess when the bread is proofed. I generally wait until it's got small bubbles on the surface, it's increased in volume and it feels a bit lighter.

I then preshape and leave it for 15 mins.

Final shape and into the fridge overnight.

The next morning I bake at 320°C, covered for 10 mins, open for 20+.

Here's my attempt at Ken Forkish's Walnut Levain Bread. I used his recipe, as found on the Tastecooking website, except for the addition of dried cherries and golden raisins. I'm totally satisfied with the incredibly moist and delicious results. I baked both loaves in a 5 qt dutch oven, and tried to make them as well done as Ken normally would. Not too shabby, eh?

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I’m feeling a bit embarrassed here, but I cannot say if this bread is under-proofed or over-proofed...Can somebody help me figure out what went wrong?

Here’s what I did, based on Trevor’s Champlain sourdough bread recipe:

http://www.breadwerx.com/champlain-sourdough-recipe-video/

3-hour autolyse (instead of overnight)

Bulk for 6 hours at 26-28°C until 80% rise (not intentionally) with 4 coil fold sessions

At the end of the bulk, the dough was really bubbly and stuck to the top of the container, so I struggled a bit to get it out of it (dough handling issues at this point I suppose...)

Then shaping (very poor due to the lack of strength of the dough / To be honest I just folded the dough over itself, that’s it...)

30mn rest at room t°

Fridge overnight (12h at 3°C), wrapped in a couche: The dough stuck to the couche and came out the following morning with dried areas on the top)

I cannot say precisely how proofed the dough was at the end of the retard as I forgot to place a lid on the aliquot jar so the top of the dough sample became really dry and kind of stuck to the sides, preventing the sample to fully expand....My guess is that it was nearly 100%

Struggle to place the dough into the Dutch oven

Cooked 25mn at 230° with lid + 10mn without lid

So I believe that the bulk was too long, but I’m not sure...Or is it the handling that was too clumsy? ... all of the above??

Anything else that I'm missing??

Thank you for giving me your insight,

Gaelle