Country Sourdough attempt No. 1
I decided I’d try to apply some of what I’ve learned making baguettes to my hearth loaves. One thing that has been in the back of my mind for a while has been whether or not my use of high protein Canadian bread flours 13.3% protein could be preventing my heart loaves from having a more open crumb. I know that achieving an open crumb is multi factorial and for many not worth the trouble, but it is something I wanted to see if I could eventually achieve.
I threw together a formula with:
50% strong bread flour
30% low protein (10%) white flour
15% whole red fife
5% whole rye
9% prefermented flour
2% salt
0.05% diastatic malt
78% hydration
I did an overnight levain build 1:4:4 and a saltolyse dissolving the salt and diastatic malt in the water and then adding the flours. Mixed until a shaggy mass. Both the levain and dough were left on the counter at a cool room temperature overnight. The ripe levain was added to the dough and pinched in then a bowl scraper was used to stretch and fold until it was well combined. Structure was built with a strong bench letter fold followed by a lamination and then four sets of coil folds. A good windowpane was attained. Bulk was ended when the aliquot jar reached 60% rise.
In retrospect the hydration was a bit too high for my flour, I forgot that lower protein flour doesn’t absorb water as well as high. I should have taken my own advice and held back some of the water when mixing. The dough just felt wetter than usual. When I shaped the dough it didn’t keep “standing proud” very well, so I added stitching in the banneton hoping that it would help keep that surface tension.
The next day, about 20-30 mins prior to baking I put the dough into the freezer hoping that it might help keep its shape better when turned out of the banneton. Somehow things worked out alright, I didn’t get a pancake after all. It wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it wasn’t a disaster. I will try this again but with less water.
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