Improving crumb: all whole-grain spelt bread, slow fermentation
Hi folks,
What a fantastic site :) Hope to get some tips!
I found this recipe online and have made it many, many times; and enjoy the taste a lot (basically 1100g spelt, 200g rye, 1 l water, 1 tsp dry yeast, 1tsp salt - stirred and left for up to 10 hours then a quick punchdown and bake for an hour at 225 degrees):
http://tebasileskitchen.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/almost-no-work-whole-grain-spelt-bread.html
However, the crumb looks different from the picture in the recipe - a bit more 'gluey' - and wonder what I could do to improve? Is there a particular factor that would improve it? More milling (I use a Thermomix - 60-90s on speed 9-10 in 220g lots), more yeast, more kneading, more heat, more time? They come out of my electric oven at 90+ degrees on my meat thermometer and I let them cool for hours.
Sometimes I use all spelt, as in this photo's case, but spelt and rye looks similar (click the link for a bigger version).
Cheerio!
B
Hi, bingggo and welcome to TFL!
Your crumb shows an underbaked loaf. It could be the yeast being damaged. You may want to avoid adding yeast and salt together at once, as salt inhibits yeast when in direct contact. Try adding yeast at the beginning , and salt later on with the flours.
It could also be the fermentation temperature. Long fermentation favors cooler temperatures, as heat tends to activate star h breaking enzymes, hence the gluey texture. Try aiming for an average of 21-24c dough temperature.
Best,
He has been wanting a TFL'er to take up his 100% spelt bread challenge. Michael does some wonderful things with spelt and you could compare you methods and formulas with his. Just type mwilson blog in the search box and hit search.
Welcome to TFl