Please analyze this loaf...
Hi All - New to the forum here and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. Here are two pictures from my bake today:
Recipe:
400 Type 85 (Central Milling)
25 Rye
44 Red Fife
301 Water
Autolyse 1 hr Water and Flour
10 g Salt
25g water
95 Levain
Levain - Starter fed 8:00 AM 1:1:1 and reached almost 3 times height.
Mix - 1:45
Bulk Start - 78 dough temp, 2:00PM
3 turns, bulk finish 7:00 PM (Slight bubbles, felt a little loose, ~25-30% rise)
Shape at 7:00 (Came together nicely, not overly tacky)
Overnight proof
Bake at 10:15am next day. 500 degree to start in a lodge cast iron dutch oven. Immediately reduced to 420, baked 20 mins lid on, 20 mins off.
The taste is very good, a little gummy in the middle. Crust is outstanding. Family couldn't wait til dinner and destroyed half at lunch.
While this was a first time recipe with this flour mix, I struggle with getting a nice domed loaf on a regular basis when using sourdough starters...
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated
Beautiful loaf! what's your concern? Looking at the number, it's 72% hydration. Oven spring is really good. nice open crumb. How long did you rest it before cutting it open? I would recommend minimum an hour. but better yet, 2 to 3 hours to let it completely cool. Also, I usually bake these for 30-35 mins uncovered instead of the 20 you did. dont be afraid to get more color on the crust. it also helps to take a bit more moisture out of the crumb. just monitor the color as you extend the time to be safe. it always looks lighter when i take it out of the oven than it does with the little oven lamp.
Thx! 2 hour rest before cutting and I went straight from fridge to oven. I got a reading of 210 on a thermometer after that last 20 mins so I pulled it. Next time I agree, I will push it to 30-35 for a little more color on that outside.
I guess my concern is that it just doesn't have that nice domed look like so many loaves... thx again for the comments
The oven spring is apparently great and the crumb is open.. i wouldn't worry too much about the shape. But if you want it taller, i think a little lower hydration, or a little stronger gluten development (or stronger flour) will do it.
also.. do you do a preshape and then rest then shape? that can help with some height too.
Yes, I did a pre-shape. Thx!!
there's some underfermentation going on, based on the tight crumb I see in some areas of the cross section. Your bulk fermentation appears to be 5 hours long at 78F, you could perhaps try to bulk for a further 30 mins? If your loaves are consistently at this height, as you have said they are, see if switching up this variable change anything.
I find it useful whenever attempting a new recipe to push the bulk and risk overproofing, and then working backwards from there.
In my experience, with a 25%-30% increase in volume at the end of the bulk, I try to make sure I am still monitoring the overall dough volume increase after the final proof, it should still hit 50-60%.
Do you recall the following variables?
1. Length of cold proof
2. Temperature of fridge
3. When the turns (I assume you refer to stretch and folds in the bulking container?) were done (i.e., how far along the bulk)
Thanks! Length of cold proof was 14 hours at 35-38F. Stretch and folds were done 30 mins apart during the first 2 hours.
I am trying this recipe again and will push the bulk, thanks!