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In this video, Steve Gamelin shows how to use two matching bread pans and binder clips as an alternative to a dutch oven.

No preheating of the pans needed.  

Today, I've made my WORST LOAF EVER.

I'm a beginner. I've made 7 loaves so far. My loaves have been ok! Usually, I try to only tweak one variable at a time to keep track of the changes, but for my last two loaves I've tried a totally new method and I'm perplexed with these terribly ugly results.

Here's what I did:
- Fed my starter 60g: 60g: 60g (Fed it half bread flour and half whole wheat flour)
- The starter temperature was 80F. It grew to double the size and passed the float test after 4 hours.
- Autolyse for 4 hours - bread flour (320g) and water (200g). 

- Mixed Autolysed dough, 140 g starter, and 7g salt in a stand mixer on a low setting for 8 minutes and rested for 30 minutes
- Did 4 gentle stretch and folds at 45-minute intervals. 
- Bulk ferment time was a total of 4 hours. The dough was at about 78F-80F the whole time.
- Preshaped the dough into a ball, and noticed big bubbles under the skin. Rested 25 minutes
- Pushed down the dough trying to get those big bubbles out. Shaped the dough (folding bottom, sides, and top in). Final dough was only about 6" in diameter.

- Retarded the dough in the fridge and let it ferment for 16 hours. This is what it looked like after being in the fridge:

- Scored cold and baked straight from the fridge at 475F in a dutch oven. 20 minutes lid on, 15 minutes bread on rack (got burned on the bottom because it was too close to my baking steel).

I've never gotten this kind of crumb before, here's an example of one of my previous loaves.

This particular loaf:

100g floating starter mixed into water
300g 90F water
500g flour

- Waited 30 minutes to add 10g salt + another 25g water and mixed vigorously by hand until pretty smooth.
- Did 4 gentle turns over 3 hours 
- Let it proof overnight in a 76F microwave for 12 hours
- Baked at 500F with the lid on for 15 minutes
- Baked at 450F with the lid off for 20 minutes.

The interior was dense and a bit gummy. I thought maybe I wasn't creating enough gluten to get good oven spring. I thought perhaps I was over-proofing as well....?

Totally lost here. Help!

Hello!!!!

Am fairly new to the game, with my starter (Stiles) being about 9 months old 100% hydration, fed 90% bread and 10% rye. I've been getting quite decent crumb structures with my bakes but am on a quest to a more open/lacy crumb with little luck so i thought i'd turn to TFL for some help. 

I've been refreshing Stiles out of the fridge for about 2 days before i bake, twice daily. Usually fed at 1:3:3 and peaks at the 4-5 hour mark. The night before i bake, he's fed at 1:10:10 and peaks by the morning after a good 10 hours at 27C. He rises about x2-3 on average - very vigorous but small bubbly air pockets? 

All the loaves pictured are 20% inoculation, ~75% hydration and 2% salt, with ambient temp being at a steady 27C-30C (80-86F) with humidity ranging 70-80%. I'm doing a short 30 minute autolyse and about a 2-2.5 hour bulk (or until window pane test / sometimes i'd snip a small bit off and do a float test) because the dough seems to puff up quite significantly in this weather, then about an 18-hour retard @ 3-4C in the ref. Baked straight from the fridge in a preheated dutch oven at max temp (230C/450F) for 30 mins covered and ~20 mins uncovered/ until desired colour. 

I've tried maintaining bulk temp at 24C/75F and bulking for about 6-ish hours but it seems to yield a similar crumb.

At this point i'm not sure if i could extend the bulk longer bc the loaves were a little underproofed, or if i should have cut bulk/ reduce inoculation. 

Just a point to note, i personally don't think i've been manhandling the dough too excessively and neither am i being rough!! I've also tried shaping them with just enough tension to hold, but without messing with the crumb too much (but no no avail).. 

Any thoughts to help a girl out? 

(above 2 pics :  70% Bread flour (13.1% protein) + 20% AP (11% Protein) + 5% WW + 5% Rye ) 

(below : same formulation as above, one seeded with Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and quinoa - @ about 100g total including seeds on the crown) 

This is a Cranberry , ginger (candied ginger ) citrus sourdough from a bakery in Vancouver called the Mix.  Not sure if  there's also yeast in it.  Would anyone care to create or modify a recipe for this?  It looks like a tight crumb, so it might be a lower hydration dough?