85% Whole Wheat Sourdough
These are a couple of the bakes from my ongoing attempt at combining methods from Whole Grain Breads and Tartine Bread into a simple, mostly whole wheat sourdough. The bread is turning out pretty well - crackled crust, soft, springy crumb, lovely flavor. It's amazing what even 15% white flour will do for the texture of a whole wheat bread. The hardest part is just making up my mind about the details!
I'm still tinkering with the hydration (the first photo is 79%, the second is 82%) and trying to hit the proofing time just right (first photo could have used a bit more, the second a bit less). I think I like the first loaf better. The loaf in the second photo is also a product of forgetting-to-turn-the-oven-down-when-you-take-out-the-steam-pan. It baked at 500º F for better than 30 minutes before I noticed. It was a very near miss... whew! I'm also thinking that reducing the size of the loaves would help lighten up the crumb a bit, I'll have to try that one of these days.
Trying to apply this to a 100% whole wheat bread is turning out to be another matter altogether, but that's for another post.
This is where the formula stands at the moment, but the tinkering is far from over.
-Marcus