First bake with new starter...thoughts?
Hello bakers!
First time poster, long time lurker. I've gained so much from your wisdom here, so thank you. I am fairly new to sourdough baking. Oh, and I live above 5000ft, so bear that in mind.
This is my first bake with a new starter. It was around 2 weeks old when I used it for the first time. The starter is 100% hydration, fed with a mixture of rye and whole wheat flours. It doubles in about 6-8 hours after feeding 1:1:1. It's currently hibernating in the fridge, but when I am actively feeding it, it is kept in our home office at around 75F.
The crumb is not as airy as I would like, but at least it is sort of uniform. Oven spring pretty good. The curious thing is that my dough barely rises during bulk ferment, maybe 10-20%. Bulk ferment was around 7 hours at 75F (4 stretch and folds during this period). Then:
- pre-shape
- 30 min rest
- shape/place in banneton
- 60 min proof at room temp
- 14 hour retard in fridge at 36F (no evidence of rise was apparent after retard)
You may be wondering why I didn't bulk ferment longer, given the minimal rise. Well, the poke test seemed to indicate that the dough was ready, and I was worried about over-fermentation. On a previous occasion (using a different starter but with similar characteristics to this one), I had let my dough nearly double and it turned into a sticky, over-fermented mess.
Verdicts? Is it under-fermented? Or maybe fermentation OK, but my starter just needs maturing? Any thoughts on why my dough rise is so minimal?
FYI, here is my recipe, which is about 77% hydration. I make two small boules from this recipe:
- 650g bread flour (actually I use all-purpose flour supplemented with vital wheat gluten to yield about 12.5% protein content)
- 487g water
- 130g ripe starter
- 13g kosher salt
- Bake at 450F, 25 mins in covered cast iron dutch oven, plus 25 mins with cover off.
I appreciate any feedback!
Excellent first bake. Not many people get such a nice looking loaf on the first try. I think to further improve it you can be a bit more adventurous with the bulk ferment.
Thanks Abe, I will try extending the bulk ferment next time out.
First, I agree with Abe. The other thing I noticed is the lack of uniformity in the crust. The bottom is not very dark, which indicates less heat there than around the rest. Perhaps move the loaf a level down in the oven to be nearer a heat source. Did you pre-heat the Dutch oven too?
Happy baking.
Ted
Thanks for your thoughts, Ted. I did preheat the dutch oven. You are right, though: the bottom is not crusty like the top, and that is likely due to a small rack in the dutch oven that I set the loaf on to bake. In the past, I'd had problems with overdone bottoms, but I think I ought to try a bake without that rack to see what happens.
I baked a second time with this new starter, producing two small boules. Here are the results:
20230121_111916-COLLAGE.jpg
I let the dough BF for 8hrs (it had risen about 50% in volume). The top row is my first boule. I did not bake with the rack in the dutch oven like I had done previously. While I'm happy with the top view of the loaf, the bottom is a little overdone. The bottom row is my second boule. I moved the loaf to rack for the last 15 minutes of its bake. This produced a better bottom, I think. The middle shot is from the first boule. The uneven crumb may be an indicator that the BF could go longer. Overall, though, things are progressing and the journey continues!
DiDi
I've been putting a thin layer of cornmeal between the bottom of my dutch oven and the loaf, which also sits on a sheet of parchment paper. That seems to help with the doneness of the bottom for me.