February 8, 2021 - 6:51pm
Need help with oven spring... again
Ugh. I made a boule last night and, once again, it did not achieve the oven spring I had hoped for. Here are the specs:
- Levain fed at 1:1:1, made with a healthy starter that had also been fed at 1:1:1, 2x a day
- 450g of King Arthur bread flour; 50g of whole wheat flour
- 375g of ~80-90F water
- 10g of salt
- 40 minutes of autolyse with levain
- 3.25 hours of bulk at ~80F with stretch & fold / coils for first 2 hours; dough was bubbly and floated by the end of bulk
- 15 hour final rise in ~36F fridge
- 20 min initial bake in Lodge combo cooker that was preheated in a 500F oven; also sprayed loaf with water for more steam
- 40 min additional bake time after oven spring
See photos below. Perhaps I am not shaping my loaf correctly (my biggest weakness) or scoring my loaf properly.
Interestingly, I don't have as much of an issue with oven spring for batards. But I always struggle with boules.
To be clear, I'm happy with the taste of the loaf -- fluffy, chewy with a slight tang, and a crispy crust. I just envy those bulbous loaves I see!
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Now what was your concern? Just kidding. You did a wonderful job and I myself would be pleased to have baked a loaf that good.
Thank you, Dave! I don't know if I'm just being overly-critical... but I do think I could do better with the oven spring.
Hi, citygirlbaker!
Gee, from your recipe, it looks like everything should be fine. How long between the folds that you do for the first couple of hours? Like, how many folds do you get in? I would probably do more.
I'm glad you put up a picture of the score. That looks kind of deep and long to me.
I think you kind of have to be careful with the score. I imagine you would want to have that outer skin hold the dough together while it rises.
I'm trying to think of an analogy but I'm coming up empty. The skin of the dough is important. It's the network that holds the whole thing together.
I dunno... maybe like a sausage? A little tear won't kill the shape of the sausage but too deep or too long and everything falls out.
Oh, boy... I was stretching on that one! ?
Murph
Hi Murph: Thanks so much for your helpful feedback. Interesting re: deep score -- do you think I should try scoring less deep next time? I struggle between scoring too shallow and now too deep...
If you’re comparing your boule to others you see perhaps on Instagram, remember that the instagram loaves are often much smaller and smaller weight loafers will rise more. Your loaf is like the ones I make all around 900 g while IG loaves are often 600 g or so. I think your oven spring is quite good, the profile of your loaf is nice and vertical along the sides. Perhaps your shaping could generate more tension so that you get a bit more lift, but it is hard to criticize your loaf.
Benny
Thank you, Benny! Good to hear your perspective. Do you experience better oven spring with batard, or is it about the same as boule?
I shape far far more batards than boules, but I think my batards have better oven spring than my boules. Probably a lack of practice thing with boules, I think I degas too much with handling.
Benny
How much levain did you use?
Thank you! I used 100g of levain, i.e., 20%.