My third loaf | The Fresh Loaf

Hi all,

Here is my third loaf.

66.2% bread dough hydration, 800g total weight, 50g levain (WW starter fed with BF and Rye flour) of 100% hydration; its orimerly white bread flour with some 45g WW and Rye flour together.

I am pleased with my improvememt and progress. But as always practice makes it perfect :-) so more and more to bake in future...

nice open crumb, soft, and tasty! Rise and open spring is to be worked on :-)

till my next bake :-)

I love the crumb, and I'm sure the taste is wonderful. Looks like your crust is nice and crisp as well!

Jamie

Jamie,

thank you, i am happy with the progress! but always thrive for perfection! :-) thank you for the advice and tips! Very helpful!

Allie

how to help you get your loaves off the wall and onto the counter top. I've never been able to turn a pic after downloading it to TFL so it probably has to do with turning it before hand. With what are you taking the pictures?

looks good now, I think, the reason to turn was the pic was to long for the formatting of the page; I cropped the image to make it look "landscape" rather then "portrait". And it did not turn after I uploaded it. Let me know how you see it :-) thank you!

hi Mini,

lol you know it's funny you mentioned it, but even more funny is I only see it turned this way, when I am creating the post, and when I look at the saved and posted comment on my iPhone, the picture appreas normal.

i take pics with my cell - iPhone, the picture being taken straight, so I would not think to turn it delibaretly the wrong way but will try doing it the next time...it appears it turns 90 dreees, so I'll make asjusents and try to repost...:-)

worries of it falling off and it looks much better! Thanks! You've got a good idea how to make holes and deal with gravity. Now a challenge, repeat the same dough and make small holes. :) What do you think will change?

My phone does that too. :) Only it's Dad that gets the sideways pics, Mom not. Funny huh?

Mini

Thank you, Mini

lol this is funny!

i like my bread to have these holes, but theoretically to mke them smaller - it's about change in technique - degas?

Talk soon

that crumb is open and glossy too. Has to be tasty. I'm guessing with that low hydration you are using European flour.

Well done and happy baking

thanks so much, yes, was tasty and nice soft texture. i used King Arthur flour (both bread and WW) and Arrowhead mills rye flour. I think these are our domestic flours. I find the dough to be on a sticky side but not as super sticky as with Gold medal bread flour I used with my first loaf. I like KA much more!

thank you!

SFSD bread baker at 60% hydration to get that old school crumb! Very nice with KA flour!

thank you so much, I am humbled by your nice words!

You're getting a very nice crumb. This being just your 3rd loaf, you are doing very well. I have no doubt that as you gain experience and your skills improve you will be turning out top notch bread in no time.

Trevor

sounds very encouraging to me! Greatly appreciate, Trevor!

Haven't had the chance to see your first 2 loaves but this is a great looking looking loaf both crust and crumb. I also always have the rotated pics issue because of my iphone.

I gradually improve from a bame to a bake. Glad you like this loaf!

i don't know if you still see the image turned but I thought I fixed it. If I did not, I used it the iPhone thing messing with formatting of this page.

hapup baking

Good bread, How do you mixed?

i do everything by hand. I followed Trevor Wilson method of making a pre-dough overnight, then incorporated the levain in the morning and completed bulk fermentation with 3 stemretch and fold method sets.

happy baking!

Then you're even more good :-)

nice of you to say this, but it still needs a lot of improvement! :-)

tell you knead by hand is not easy...but you are good.

thank you :-)

How are you steaming the oven? It looks to me like the lack of dome shape could be the crust setting too quickly before it can fully rise in the oven. It could also be from flopping the bread out too hard when turning out of the banneton.

Are you cooking this on a stone? In a pot? or what?

Looks delicious by the way.

A problem with steam can be rulled out because I used lodge combo cooker so the steam was well sealed. I preheated the oven with the cooker to 450 for 1 hour. And keep the lid on for the first 20 min, then took the lid of and baked the bread the next 25 min without it.

now, the second idea may be true, but of course I aim to be gentle...I'll describe how I do that. I put the dough in a banneton seam side up. When the proofing is done, I cover the banneton with a piece of parchment paper and a cookie sheet. I press them to the top of banneton and turn these up side down, and remove the banneton. I only use cookie sheet to keep the loaf before placing it in a cooker. The loaf was released from the banneton very easily. but I don't know what's going on when I turn it upside down, so maybe you are right. Let me know what you think :-)

thank you!

Sounds like you are doing things right. When using a Lodge combo cooker, it doesn't have to preheat in the oven that long. They come up to temperature pretty fast. Stones can need a full hour, but the pans need about 20-30 minutes. Not that it hurts to have them in for an hour, but it might save some energy and help with timing. Also, I would heat them to 500, then turn it down to 450 once you put it back in. But none of this will change the flatness.

That leaves either not enough tension as one possibility, and over proofing as another. Do you pre-shape the loaf, let it sit for about 20 minutes (really wet dough might need less time), then make your final shape before putting it in the banneton? Try proofing a little less and see what happens.

Another tip that some of us have discovered is that if you are using the Lodge combo cooker, you can heat up the deep pot part (which becomes the lid), and leave the shallow part cool (what will be the bas). This allows you to get the dough in the pan without worrying about burning yourself. You can put the parchment on the banneton and go directly to the pan this way too. I haven't notice any real difference using this technique vs heating the whole thing. If you ever make two loaves, you can cook one this way, then the second with the preheated way (since it will already be hot) to test this for yourself. Some people don't preheat either part since it will get hot fast enough anyway, but I find the technique above to be my preference.

thank you for the great tips!

my take on poor oven spring is not enough tension, but I believe that's what comes with practice shaping he loaves. Hopefully this will happen soon ;-)

happy baking!

Your loaf looks great :)

You're doing so well.

Not sure about the oven spring. You might not 've shaping the loaf tight enough.

In any case, I wouldn't worry. I think your loaves are great!

thank you for the nice words! Andi think you are right, I am working on my skills - handling thevdough and shaping the loafs. and hopefully with time, I'll see my loaves rise more. :-)

Allie