No burst?
The first bake of 2018 has seemed a long time coming due to a colossal bout of man flu. I was lucky enough to receive both Hamelman's Bread and Forkish's F.W.S.Y. for Christmas and the wait to get stuck in has been almost as tough as choosing which recipe to try first.
I settled on Forkish's Field Blend #1. What he classes as a hybrid loaf, meaning it has both a sourdough levain and a small inoculation of instant yeast. It's a majority of white flour with smaller amounts of wholewheat and rye - the recipe is available with a quick Google search as I'm away from the book as I type.
The recipe yields enough dough for two loaves and I baked one yesterday without the overnight refrigeration Forkish suggests just so I had bread for work today. I was impressed with the oven spring and it was the first time I have adopted the seam side up natural 'burst'. Sorry about the lack of pictures of that one. The other loaf sat in the fridge for approx 24hrs, and I think that it possible over proofed and that will no doubt explain the absolute lack of burst on this one.
The first one is tasty and the crispy crust and light bouncy crumb, I'm impressed that's for sure. This one though... Its not a good idea to skip the retard unless you have to.
Thanks for reading.
That's a damn fine looking loaf with a great crumb. Glad you're feeling better.
Thanks for both of those sentiments. It's another great tasting loaf, I'm embracing these hybrid loaves a bit more, kinda feels like cheating in a way but a bouncy crumb has its place.
Forkish's Double Fed Sweet Levain. Surprisingly goood!
Such great flavour.
I like natural bursts because they make bread so rustic. Danni and Caroline are the masters of natural bursts/scores.