The Fresh Loaf

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flour particle size, crumb openness

tilt's picture
tilt

flour particle size, crumb openness

I currently use two types of flour for my standard Loaf, one is from a local bakery where they mill the flour themselves, it is milled quite coarsely and is sifted to 70%( link ), the second is from Gilchesters ( link ). together they give me a great loaf with loads of flavour, and great texture. however I still want to open the crumb out a bit more, (they are all UK grown wheat so i am not expecting anything too wild).

I have become convinced that to do this i need to use a more refined flour, Gilchesters sell a blend of their white flour and a double milled semolina that is aimed at italian style breads ( link) that to me suggests that it is a more refined flour and will give me lighter loaf. so if I use this in conjuncture with the E5 flour that i have been using will I see a change in the crumb structure? or will the less refined flour weigh it down too much?

 

many thanks

Arthur

drogon's picture
drogon

... assuming you're after the big glossy holes when you mean an open crumb... a little more water in the mix (but we don't know how much you're already using) and a gentler technique (again, what's your technique/recipe?) - mix - autolyze, then add your starter, mix then stretch and folds at intervals before a bulk ferment, then gentle shaping, proof and bake.

This is the outline of the Tartine method and I've done that with 12% protein flour (Shipton Mill's No. 4 which is a mix of UK and continental organic flours)

Great to have a bakery like that close to you though. Of-course you could always ask them how they make their bread - if they make one that's similar to what you're after...

Cheers,

-Gordon (in Devon)

tilt's picture
tilt

my recipe and technique are as follows

 

66% E5 strong white flour ( there is no protein content given, I can ask)

33% gilchesters strong white (12% protein)

75% water

this is left to autolyse overnight, approximately 8 hours

2% salt 

5% water 

12% starter ( 60% hydration refreshed twice a day using approximately 5-10% the previous batch of starter. flour is Gilchester strong white)

this is all incorporated by hand and left to rest for 1 hour, then the dough is tipped out onto a lightly oiled work surface and given 1 fold, followed by four more folds every 45 mins, doing this on a work surface rather than in a container i find helps gluten development. the dough is then transferred to a high sided container for bulk fermentation. this happens at room temprature (18-23c) bulk fermentation is over when the dough has gained 50% in volume (approx 3hours)

the dough is then divided and preshaped, the when reshaping i do not touch the dough with my hands, only using the dough scrapper to shape the boule, but ensuring i get enough surface tension. after a 30min bench rest I very lightly flour the work surface and shape the dough. this is done by flipping the preshaped boules over then folding in the top and two sides of the circle, then folding that over the bottom flap, i then tighten up the boule with the bench knife.

The final proof is done in a cloth lined bannetone in the fridge, this takes 18-20 hours. the loaf if bakes straight from the fridge in a La Cloche at 250C, once the loaf is scored and in the oven the temperature is turned down to 220C. the loaf is given 30mins with the lid on and then another 25mins with the lid off.

tilt's picture
tilt

I have used Shippton Mills in the past but have stopped using them as I want to focus of UK grown wheat, although that does bring with it a number of difficulties, that i am trying to work through.

my technique did start off with the Tartine method, but over the past 2 years as my recipe has changed so has my method.

I think 80% hydration as about as high as i want to go, the E5 flour can take a lot of water, i have got unto 94% using just that flour, but the Gilchester is not so absorbent. looking back at photos of those loaves, they are a lot more open, but i have to shape them as battards, which brings its own set of problems, and the flavour suffers.

I think that in order to progress further i need to invest in a mill, but at the moment that is not financially viable, and i am unsure if i will be able to use it as i want to.

drogon's picture
drogon

It's a loaf of bread ;-)

Personally I'm not a fan of high hydration loaves though. I stop my daily loaves at 63% and don't use the techniques to develop big holes. However I sell my bread (doing the microbakery thing) and my customer base is more hippy than hipster and I get complaints when the holes are too big... (and the butter & honey falls through)

You might want to look at some of Trevor Wilsons pages and videos though. They may give you some more ideas. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/user/trevor-j-wilson and http://www.breadwerx.com/

-Gordon