Extensibility vs. Strength...
Hi all!
I'm brand new here, but am a chef and have been making bread of one sort or another for years.
I'm currently working on 'lightening' our restaurant sourdough, which (while delicious) is quite heavy when part of a 13 course tasting menu.
We use a local organic 85% extraction bread flour, which (again, while delicious) is extremely strong and doesn't make for light bread. For a long time we just used loads of starter in the mix, but I've recently found that 'young levain' helps with lightness and spring, so have already switched that.
I've done a few experiments using half plain or spelt flour, and then subbing in 5-10% rye and/or wholemeal for flavour, making the blend something like 40/40/10/10.
Does anyone have any good advice for the sort of thing I'm looking for?!
Thanks in advance
@Brownbeat86,
The young levain will produce a product with a lighter crumb. A bit of rye flour provides additional nutrients that improve sourdough fermentative activity. If you want larger bubbles you may want to try lowering the protein content by cutting in a percentage of pasty flour though this will have other downside effects. Altering the proofing temperature to 83.4 dF (or even higher) will favor the yeast side of the levain and bread. Stretching and folding the dough in forming can add some additional height spring to the bread but won't do that much for the crumb structure - that's mostly up to yeast activity and developed gluten to hold the CO2.
If it is a tasting menu I suggest switching to baguettes which turn out light and airy. One other possibility is to consider the use a water roux (Hokkaido milk bread - Tang Zhong) mix into the sourdough to impart a light and airy crumb without losing the sourdough taste profile.
I am using Central Millings "Organic Artisan Bakers Craft Plus" flour. I don't frown as much now - it has improved control over the range of sourdough "envelope" parametrics.
Bonne cuisson,
Wild-Yeast
How long are you mixing and how "strong" are your folds?
I think there are a lot of factors going into the texture/strenth of the bread but this could be one of them.
I really enjoy using rye in my mix but do think it's changes the texture and open structure of my bread if I go over 5%.
If you're aiming for an open structured bread using a good percentage of whole grain you may wish to increase the hydration a bit. I've had really good results with higher hydration whole grain breads. Most of the whole grain flours I've worked with really want that extra water.
hope that helps!
what did you end up going with?
Champlain formula? He combines a bit of rye with spelt to offset the two grains and then the rest strong white..
I find it gives a beautifully smooth dough and often make it a slightly higher hydration such as 78%...or go with the original hydration...You can add a bit more 'rye' taste by putting a but more rye in the starter..
Some people find it too 'mild' but it works really well with all sorts of add ons and we have it all the time in our house...as a 'country' bread go to... Kat