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I have been baking sourdough bread for a while, and I'm happy with the crumb of my loaves, but slightly mystified at the variability of the crust. I'm hoping someone can pinpoint what makes a crispy crust, or a soft one, so that I can choose which way to go, depending on the kind of loaf I want.

The basic loaf I've been making is the one from Tartine: 75% hydration, 90% white bread flour, 10% whole wheat bread flour, 20% levain, 20% salt. I do the stretch & fold method, 3-4 hours bulk fermentation, bench rest, proof overnight in the fridge. I preheat a Dutch oven on the highest temp my oven will go to (440) for 30 minutes, then bake covered for 30 minutes, uncovered for 25 minutes. This seems to result in a very crisp crust, not too thick, the bottom crust stays crisp, but the top crust softens a little over time (but not too much).

Yesterday I tweaked the recipe (but not the method), and got an incredibly soft crust, almost like a soft English muffin! The changes I made were, I thought, minor: 75% hydration, 85% white bread flour, 10% whole wheat bread flour, 5% rye flour, 25% levain, 21% salt. Not a huge difference in recipe! But a big difference in crust. The crumb itself was much softer & moister, could the tiny amount of rye explain all of this?

As I say, I like the crispy crust, I like the softer crust; what I don't like is not knowing how to create either of those, so I'm hoping someone can enlighten me! I'm also wondering if I should try misting the loaves with water before putting them in the dutch oven - I don't get the clouds of steam come out when I remove the lid that the book says you will. 

Hello,

     I just baked a few loaves of olive bread which were just my sourdough with olives added. A slight correction for salt but otherwise no alteration of the recipe. 

   I baked the olive loaves right alongside regular S.D. breads. The olive did not seem to get as much lift and did not brown as much. 

   I wasn't sure when to add the olives so I took half my dough after a 1 hour bulk ferment and mixed the olives in which was in the mixer on slow speed till it was all well incorporated. This did add more water content but I never did a thing about that.

Cutting open a loaf later revealed a nice bread. I don't eat olives but consensus is that it's fine. 

Any clues on the color?

Thanks

Kim

Hello! Heavy lurker of TFL since January, first time posting!

A little background: I've wanted to take a stab at sourdough bread baking for a while and finally took the plunge in January, made my own starter, and began baking. I watched numerous videos on bread baking, read articles/blogs, and kind of started winging it. My first couple loaves were failures (too much starter, too long room temp proof). Following a different process (less starter, shorter room temp bulk, overnight fridge proof) my next few loaves were AWESOME! Loaf 5 I encountered what I'm dealing with now - huge cavern inside with dense crumb all around- fed my starter rye for the first time on the first refresh, thinking that's what happened there. Loaves 6-14 were great, even got a couple ears during the bake, tender consistent crumb, good flavor, good oven spring. I thought I was killing it! I've attached a couple photos of my best bakes.

Now, my past three bakes have been total failures, leading me to realize that I really have no idea what I'm doing. My successes thus far have manifested through pure luck, NOT my understanding of the process. I'm currently in an experimental phase where I'm baking everyday and changing one variable in each bake to see if it makes a difference. I'm currently in bread cavern hell, where the inside is a giant cave and the outer 1/2 - 1 inch is a dense chewy crumb. Pics attached. The flavor is nice, but overall epic fails. Is this indicative of over-bulk fermenting? Under proofing? Over proofing? I'm struggling with knowing when the bulk ferment is done. My good bakes bulk fermented for a shorter period of time (3-4 hours with S&Fs every 40 mins); these recent bakes for longer (5-7 hours), so I'm wondering if this is the culprit. I finger poke test for proof doneness (after about 12-16 hours in a cold fridge overnight) and the indentions fill in slowly to about half - sounds about right? 

My starter is an organic all purpose, 100% hydration, and doubles in 6-8 hours after refreshment.

Here's my most recent failure process:

1150 g organic all purpose

50 g dark rye (I've found just a little bit adds the flavor I want, without overpowering)

900 g purified water

223 g 100% hydration starter

38 g salt

1. Autolyse flour and water for 1 hour; 2. Add starter and mix, let sit 1 hour; 3. Add salt and mix, and perform first stretch and folds; 4. Perform stretch and folds once per hour, for 6 hours (which is what I'm doing differently than before after reading about other's methods); 5. Pour, cut, and pre-shape after a 6 hour room temp bulk; 6. Bench rest for 30 mins; 7. Shape and put in bannetons; 8. Into fridge for 17 hour overnight cold proof (fridge is quite cold); 9. Bake at 450, 25 mins with lid on, 25 mins with lid off. 

The main difference between my successful methods and failed methods is my bulk ferment time... but I've read so many methods that allow for a 6 hour bulk time. I'm in Northern California where the ambient temp is around 65F. Does this issue even look like a fermenting time problem? 

Over bulk-fermenting? Over-proofing? Under-proofing? What should I be looking for to indicate bulk ferment is done? Has my starter gone wacky? ANY advice is welcome!! I REALLY want to get this right, and bake consistently good loaves! 

**EDIT- I might also mention that i'm not getting much of a rise during bulk or in the banneton**

THANK YOU in advance!!!

Does anyone have a source for buying bulk hard winter red or white wheat berries in Michigan, near Ann Arbor or locally online.