Hello all! It’s been over a month since I posted on TFL… but I’ve been busy!
I’ll bake my 21st batch tomorrow. I’ve been getting better (in fits and starts) and played with oven temps, hydrations, fermentation times, mixing times/speeds, and flours. I record the details of each batch with the hope of controlling the myriad variables.
Several of the batches were “not bad” as described by several French friends of mine, but one item I haven’t improved upon is the silkiness of the dough’s “skin”. The professional bakers I watch in videos always have a silky smooth dough that I would love to imitate. I figure if the professionals do it, I should do it to. My dough has a “rougher” texture and I don’t know why.
I have used KA AP, KA Bread, and French T65 Moulin Bourgeois flours, all with the same result. My normal hydration is 73% and always use a poolish.
Any advice?
Use their ingredients and methods - see what happens. Enjoy!
I don't know your methods for mixing and kneading. But my first inclination is to suggest 2 to 4 stretch and folds to further develop and strengthen the dough.
Ive been experimenting with different speeds/times during mixing. In general I mix at 177rpm (spd 3 on my KA standup mixer) for 10 min. Then perform two folds, one at 30 min and the other at 60 min.
Do you have pictures of this fault?
Is this SD or yeast?
Formula and Method?
73% hydration is on the high side. 65% hydration is the standard classic recipe in France with French flour.
I think it would be difficult to capture my texture concerns in a photo. But now I have bigger fish to fry!
This morning, for the first time, my bake failed completely. The dough was so sticky I couldn’t preshape! Thus was with a brand new-to-me T65 flour - Moulin d’August - from Normandy, France.
I’ll mix another poolish this morning and make dough tonight at a lower hydration. I’ll note how that affects the surface texture of the dough as well…
Lower the hydration. I bought an imported sack of Moulin d’August T80 a year ago. At 62% hydration the dough ended up a sticky mess, but at least it made a usable pan loaf. Over that, the dough became impossible. At 58% hydration the dough was pleasant and easy to work with and baked into a good loaf. At 57%, the dough didn't really develop enough gluten strength and the skin tore a little bit during proofing. There's some thought that local weather conditions or some other local influence affected the wheat for a harvest or two, possibly leading to this problem. So your flour may be very touchy about the hydration, maybe depending on when it was harvested..
I also got a good dough at 65% hydration from a bag of Moulin d’August T65 I bought at the same time.
Thanks tpassin! Yes, lowering hydration with tonight’s batch…