Crustiness, or lack thereof......
I have been baking sourdough bread for a while, and I'm happy with the crumb of my loaves, but slightly mystified at the variability of the crust. I'm hoping someone can pinpoint what makes a crispy crust, or a soft one, so that I can choose which way to go, depending on the kind of loaf I want.
The basic loaf I've been making is the one from Tartine: 75% hydration, 90% white bread flour, 10% whole wheat bread flour, 20% levain, 20% salt. I do the stretch & fold method, 3-4 hours bulk fermentation, bench rest, proof overnight in the fridge. I preheat a Dutch oven on the highest temp my oven will go to (440) for 30 minutes, then bake covered for 30 minutes, uncovered for 25 minutes. This seems to result in a very crisp crust, not too thick, the bottom crust stays crisp, but the top crust softens a little over time (but not too much).
Yesterday I tweaked the recipe (but not the method), and got an incredibly soft crust, almost like a soft English muffin! The changes I made were, I thought, minor: 75% hydration, 85% white bread flour, 10% whole wheat bread flour, 5% rye flour, 25% levain, 21% salt. Not a huge difference in recipe! But a big difference in crust. The crumb itself was much softer & moister, could the tiny amount of rye explain all of this?
As I say, I like the crispy crust, I like the softer crust; what I don't like is not knowing how to create either of those, so I'm hoping someone can enlighten me! I'm also wondering if I should try misting the loaves with water before putting them in the dutch oven - I don't get the clouds of steam come out when I remove the lid that the book says you will.