Help with hearth loaf crumb
Hi all. I'm a very new bread baker, and have been trying to get the hang of it with the Workhorse Loaf recipe on Serious Eats:
https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/08/bread-making-basics-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-baking-awesome-bread.html
I feel like it's been improving every time, but I have a question about the crumb I'm ending up with. On my most recent attempt, it seemed good from a taste and feel standpoint - it was springy and a little chewy, and not gummy like my first few tries. But visually, it doesn't look right to me - overall it looks too tight/dense with small holes, but then there were a couple of very large pockets in it (I'll try to attach pictures at the end).
I followed the recipe and procedure pretty closely. The main differences: I halved the recipe and had to use some approximate measurements (since my scale is only precise to 2g, which gave me:
500g all purpose flour
350g water
Slightly more than 1tsp active dry yeast
Slightly less than 2tsp salt
Process-wise, I autolysed the flour for about 40 minutes, mixed then kneaded everything for about 10 minutes. Bulk-rise for 30 min, folded, another 30 min rise, folded again, then left it alone for an hour. Shaped, then 15 min rest. Shaped again and into a wooden banneton for a 1 hour and 15 min final proof. At the end of that, the poke test seemed to indicate it was ready - my finger indentations sprang back about halfway, the slowly filled in a little more over the next few minutes.
If any one had any ideas why my crumb might end up looking like this, and what I should try different, I'd love some help. Again, it seemed to taste good - my family loved it! But the crumb doesn't look like I think it should look.
IMG_9379.jpg