Hamelman Pain au Levain with WW: newish starter/bread flour
Hi All,
I am returning to baking sour-dough bread after a long hiatus (quarantine is the mother of invention). I created a new starter 1 week ago and have baked 2 loaves with it (day 5,6 on the starter timeline). The recipe calls for AP but I only have bread flour. While they both have flaws:
- not enough oven spring
- a bit dense
- fairly big holes,
the second loaf was better than the first.
I made a couple of adjustments to the 2nd loaf: increased hydration slightly to compensate for higher protein bread Flour, reduced mix/kneading time as i thought that the limited rise was a function of over-development.
The recipe has a 1 hour autolyse, a 2.5 hour bulk ferment with 2 folds, 2.5 hour proof. It has a 67% hydration, 14% pre-fermented flour and ~25% of flour is WW or rye.
My questions:
1. how much of my problems with oven spring/density are a funciton of a new starter that is still developing "power"?
2. is the hydration the issue? should i increase hydration more to compensate for protein. i increased to 75% for today's bake
3. are the big holes a problem with de-gassing? If so, at what point should i de-gass? during shaping or folding?
4. what is the effect of the kneading time on the outcome? does a lot of kneading constrain the rise of the bread?
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Thanks for any help provided.
Josh