experimental tri levain dough and ferment
I've been experimenting using a combination of tartaine, no knead and forkish ideas.
it starts with 3 levains from white, ww, and rye. OK, not the best idea to make jazz bread.
but in any case. It's about 1/2c ap levain, 1/4 ww, and a little less of rye.
for the dough I add, 3c ap and 1.5c water. mix, autolyse, add salt/tsp yeast, mix.
fold perhaps 4 times over a few hours. overnight ferment in the fridge.
the dough goes in looking fabulous.
After about 12 hours in the fridge, I counter it for an hour or so while waiting for the oven to temp.
Make an attempt to shape and then bake in a covered DO at 475F for 30 mins. Then uncover to brown.
But the dough goes into the DO pretty wet and shapeless.
I did this once without the WW and rye levains and it turned out nicely.
The last 2 have been rather flat wet breads, even after a total of an hour of bake time.
Is the ferment killing it? Perhaps my ww levain is too old and has some funk?
Or are the 3 levains too much for the idea?
Is the rye starter given time to become good and acidic? If not, the amylase might not have been neutralised.
This is worth a read (as it the rest of her site): http://www.azeliaskitchen.net/bread-flour-rye-flour-and-rye-dough/
But, apart from that, the AP isn't going to provide much gluten, the whole wheat will reduce the overall level of gluten and the rye will add virtually nothing to the gluten content, serving, most likely, just to drag the gluten structure down. Without the whole wheat and the rye you're getting away with it; with them you're into serious artisan skills territory.
Try replacing the AP with some strong bread flour.
thanks Joe.
plus 1/4 cup WW levain plus a bit less rye Levain . You dontl say but lets assume these are all at 100% hydration.
Assuming that your flour weighs an average of 130 g per Cup for the dough flour AP that would be 390 g of flour and 1 1/2 C of water weighs 357 g. So you hydration for the dough flour is 91% and your levains are even higher. What you are making is Ciabatta and no wonder is is so slack and shapeless
It is just too wet. Use 1 1/8 cup of water for the dough flour will give you 68% hydration for the autolyse and the overall hydration will be in the low 70's. I would drop the yeast entirely too since it isn't need with the with 3 levains, just speeds things up and can turn things to goo with a long bulk retard.
If you are in Europe use bread flour rather than AP but, if in Canada or the US use a good quality AP (like Pillsbury or Gold Medal) - the crumb will be much better in both cases.
I just think it too wet and the yeast is messing up the works too.
Now for method Do 4 S& F s sets on 30 minute intervals and 2 on 45 minutes. Bulk ferment on the counter for a 3/4 of an hour then int eh fridge for the bulk retard.. When you take the bread out of the fridge the next day,do a quick pre-shape on it immediately then put it back in the bowl, covered, to warm up for an hour and then shape it and start the oven. Once the dough has risen 50% ( not 100%) about 30 to 45 minutes later (but don't watch the clock - watch the dough) then bake it at 450 F for 15 minutes using Mega Steam and then finish the baking at 425 F convection - about 15 minutes more but don't watch the clock either test it for 210 F with an instant read thermometer or thump it on the bottom to see if it sounds hollow 0 my favorite method to test for being finished
Happy baking
the levain are all 100% hydration. I was thinking that it totaled more than I wanted.
I'll give your methodology a shot. Thanks very,