The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sourdough crumb

OceanG's picture
OceanG

Sourdough crumb

A good sourdough crumb? I’m still very new to sourdough and am keen to learn from honest critique! Thanks

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Your crumb is fair, and on top of that you produced an ear. Great job!

You may want to try reducing the fermentation a little. Check out THIS LINK.

OceanG's picture
OceanG

Thanks! Your bread was most impressive!

one very impressive you tube baker places his dough in a ‘bulking container ‘ after he does his final set of stretch and folds and then preshapes when it has risen 25-50%. But that seemed arbitrary to me as it slowly always be placed into the bulking container at the same time (after the levain was added) each time he bakes. If that makes sense.

 

another you tuber places a small amount of dough in a small pot right after incorporating the levain into the autolysed mixture and deems the ferment to be done when *that* expands 25-50% - which is quite different to the method above.

and I’ve also read that the ‘bill ferment’ is when the dough doubles in volume. So I’m a bit confused how to tell when the ferment is done. Can you help?!

andykg's picture
andykg

Using a square bulking container will show you the volume increase easier as the dough can only rise straight up and its easy to see when the dough has hit 25 percent.

I dont think you have over fermented, the crumb looks ok to me, shaping and handling of the dough can have a major influence on the crumb structure too.

I think crumb is very subjective, some love the open crumb of a sourdough and push the hydration to get it, I prefer a lower hydration and tighter crumb using a spelt and white mix and being more aggressive with my shaping as I prefer what I spread on the bread to stay on it and not end up falling through. 

KeilidhC's picture
KeilidhC

Hey! Your crumb looks like mine! I'm also a sourdough newbie and still haven't figured out whether my crumb is good or not. I can't offer much critique because I just don't know enough yet - it's just good to see someone else making bread like mine. All that I can say is that Dan's right - I think I definitely over-ferment my dough. Going to try to cut down fermentation time next time I bake!