50/50 Wholewheat SD and 2nd Hydration - any thoughts?
I am venturing into learning 50/50 Wholewheat loaf.....new territory as new flour and also have been experimenting with hydration..as nervous with anything close to or more than 80% I have tried to introduce the water at different stages looking at different vids from bakers such at Matt Ormsbee and another baker on IG called Daniel Larsson.
https://danlarn.com/how-i-bake-country-style-sourdough-bread/ [1] gives a great introduction in making a countrystyle white BTW and he also uses 2nd hydration and puts a % of water into the tub during bulk fermentation.
As far as I know this give a higher hydration dough but makes it easier to handle....
So, I do autolyse and then keep some water back to add with salt and leaven after autolyse.
Finally, I keep 1-2% of the water and put it into the bulk container for the dough to absorb during bulk and it also makes the tub less sticky during S & Fs.
I've found (maybe just my imagination) that it is easier to handle dough on the wetter side this way and build strengths....
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Kat
p.s. for 250g white strong bread flour and 250g Wholewheat I used approx. 395g water for this loaf...I am happy with the crumb and not super open but regular and pretty....many friends actually commented that they prefer a not so 'super' open crumb..when the set of with one of my loaves...