What am I doing wrong?
So here's the thing, I'm no expert, but I can definitely bake a tasty loaf of bread. Most times, my bread comes out as I expect it to, or at least pretty darn close to it. I have always baked with *gasp* volume measurements, but since reading so much about how weight is better, I have tried following some formulas using weights. Without exception, they have failed. My recent attempt was not a total failure, but was not what I expected. I used the formula for Susan's loaf that David Snyder blogged about a few days ago. The bread hardly rose at all, had
practically no oven spring (I used a cloche), and is slightly rubbery and damp inside. The crust was not at all crisp by the time it cooled. The taste itself is quite good. Slightly tangy and sweet. Fragrant too.
I have to admit, I could not use those exact ingredients, so I substituted WWW for rye and added a gram or so of vital wheat gluten since I didn't have the high protein flour. That might be what caused the problem. Does anyone know?
Also would too few or too many french folds be a problem. The kids kept distracting me from keeping count. This was the first time I have used french folds ( I've been watching the videos posted on the site) and loved watching the dough develop. It's really a fun technique.
My last thought is that maybe I relied too much on weighing and didn't try to correct the dough at all. It was a pretty firm dough and usually
my sourdoughs are wetter and softer.
Thanks for any insights.
Marni
Flat loaves
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Flat Loaf Crumb