Test driving my new Fibrament-D stone with my fave SD formula bread
I got a new stone last week and have made two batches of a sourdough formula I've developed. First the stone is a 15 x 20 Fibrament-D and I love that I can bake three longish loaves. However, my first bake was disappointing...I got pretty flat loaves. I suspected the error was mine and not the stones.
So I changed two things. I let the first proof happen at room temp--68 degrees--until doubled in bulk (about 6 hours), and then cold retarded for 8 hours (muy prior loaf was proofed at 80 degrees). I also tried to develop better surface tension when shaping (one loaf I shaped/scored better than the other and it's pretty obvious in the pic which one that is). I'm really happy I went back to a cooler proof.
Here's the formula:
The formula:
300 g firm starter
620 g water
750 g unbleached AP flour (530 g Morbread 12% protein, and 200 g Whole Food AP)
50 g coarse ground wheat berries
50 g coarse ground rye berries
23 g salt
Comments
Very nice looking bread. The crumb is nicely translucent.
Was it a bit salty? By my calculation the salt was 3 grams over at 2%. Some people like things a little salty.
Eric
Love the crumb shot too...very nice!
Sylvia
Tell us a bit about the flavors you got using the rye and wheat berries.
Larry
Thanks for the nice comments!
Let me see if I can describe the flavor. I don't think I would describe it as a salty loaf...but you're right, it is a fair amount. The last time I made bread my son-in-law, who is a chef, thought it needed a little more salt so I upped it a bit. I'm nibbling on the bread now, it's a day old, and I'm noticing the salt but I don't think it's too salty. That said, I may ratchet it down a bit next time.
I've been adding a bit of fresh ground wheat and rye berries (I used a coffee grinder reserved for the purpose) to my breads for awhile. Like the salt, they add depth/complexity to the flavor, but they're definitely in the background. I also like to leave some of the grains pretty coarse.
Eric, thanks for noticing the translucence--I really do get some nice gelatinization. I wonder if that has anything to do with the mixture of grains? I read that wheat and rye gelatinize at different temps in the oven--would that have an impact? Hmm...
Can I try some if I bring the butter??? :-)
I don't know exactly what your definition of a 'stiff' starter is; mine is one that's about 50% hydration. If that's yours as well, then your starter is 200g flour. And if you count the ground wheat and rye berries as flour (which I would), then the total flour weight is 1050g. At 2% salt, that's 21g. I'm not sure that another 2g of salt is out of bounds. I do like the way you've introduced not only interesting complexity in flavor, but in texture as well by leaving some of the berries coarser. Sounds like a bread I'd like to try!
Larry
I appreciate your 'calculating' eye on my formula Larry. I am neither a scientist nor mathmetician. I define "stiff" as about as stiff as I can get and still be able to stir it with my heavy wire whisk so that's probably a 50%. hydration? Given that, mind telling me what my hydration on the final dough is? (I trust my senses but not my math).
By my calculations your overall hydration is just shy of 69%. Excluding the starter, your final dough hydration is 620g water ÷ (750g flour + 100g wheat and rye berries) which comes to 73%.
BTW, a stiff 50% starter is a 2:1 ratio (by weight) of flour to water.
Larry
Appreciate it Larry. If you try the formula, do let me know how it turns out.