November 3, 2016 - 5:45am
Trevor J Wilson on youtube
Wilson has some great videos on how to get a more open crumb, even from a stiff dough. These are photos of a 65% hydration dough.
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Wilson has some great videos on how to get a more open crumb, even from a stiff dough. These are photos of a 65% hydration dough.
What a crumb and crust and those blisters! Great bake. Which recipe, of Trevor's, did you follow? Love his videos.
Thanks so much! The taste was great, too. Complex with a bit of a tang. Wilson does some non-standard things with the "autolyse" -- which, the way he does it, really isn't a true autolyse -- but it seems to work. This is the process I followed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfbiGto4R8
I did try this one sometime ago and it is an interesting method. Yours came out so well that I'd like to try it again. Attach the first photo to the top of the page and not in the body. This way it'll show up on the front page and everyone can marvel at it.
I'm not exactly what anyone would call tech-savvy, but I'll work on it! Thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it.
Well done and happy baking
Thank you so much. It was a very rewarding bake!!
I really like some of Trevor's techniques as well, and have started making lower hydration bread with great success. However, I was recently in the UK and tried the overnight 'rest' of flour, water and salt. It did not work out at all, and I think it's because the flour is not as strong as North American flour (I normally use Canadian flour) and, even with the initial cooling in the fridge and the addition of the salt, the enzyme activity just reduced the flour to soup. It had very little strength and was almost impossible to do anything with the next day (very slack, weak and sticky).
I am confused as to what results you desired from this technique. I do an overnight 100% hydration poolish with flour, water and a sprinkling of yeast, which develops quite nicely over 10 to 12 hours. On occasion I prepare an autolyse with flour and water during my final mix - just before I incorporate my poolish, salt and additional yeast.
If you incorporate flour, water and salt you have two things working against you. No leavening agent has been introduced to start fermentation and the salt will inhibit any action from the yeast or bacteria that reside in the flour. I expect that after 8 to 12 hours of rest (at 100% hydration) you would have a pretty sloppy mixture with no fermentation growth. Additionally the gluten structures that might have formed would probably be past their prime.
Overnight levains and poolishes use bacterial and fungal leaveners to generate flavor and activity. Autolyses of flour and water only rest for a short period of time to incorporate the ingredients and begin the generation of gluten.
This is my understanding but I am always eager to be educated.
Jim
If you watch the video (and read the accompanying text) at the link here, you'll see why Trevor suggests using a 'pre-dough' to create soft, open texture in relatively low-hydration dough. I think you're generally correct in your description of both autolyse and poolishes, though I think there is more to the autolyse than just "... to incorporate the ingredients and begin the generation of gluten". Something to do with enzyme activity and more about the chemistry of flour and water.
This is simply a different technique. I was just saying that it didn't work very well with UK flour and I'm assuming that's because the UK flour was weaker than what I'm used to.
I have now read the directions from the Breadwerx site and at this point ask if you refrigerated the pre-dough before you did the overnight rest? Time and temperature is important too. Here in Vermont (US) my "overnight" kitchen temp is around 60 - 65 degrees F - a mere 20 degrees above the refrigerator temperature. This will slow things down.
As I mentioned in my last response, I am eager to learn any new technique.
Yes, there are always new things (and sometimes very old things) to learn about bread making! In spite of the fact that I bake 30 to 60 loaves a week (depending on the time of year) and have been doing this for a couple of years now, there are always new techniques and recipes to try. So many things; so little time!
I made the pre-dough with very cold water, and did manage to squeeze it into my daughter's tiny little fridge for a few hours before leaving it in her fairly cold kitchen overnight. At some point I will try this pre-dough method here on the West Coast with my good Canadian flour, and see how it works out.
I was impressed by this post and had already visited the Breadworx site. I think the type of flour is pivotal as you found out Lazyloafer! I had come across a new supermarket brand and felt the crumb in my bread was different to precious bakes. So today I have made this recipe in duplicate using the new flour and my previous brand. I am following Trevor's instructions as best I can so will bake this later today (might be late to bed! but hey...). I am enjoying the gentle approach to this bake :) and can't wait to see how it turns out.
Leslie
I did do an overnight proof in the fridge just because it usually works out better for me to do it that way, plus I like the tartness I get with a cool retard. But this is a long process compared to most, especially if you do the final proof in the fridge. I haven't yet tried doing this directly from the final proof to the oven.