Questions on my first SD boule
Seeing how this was my first sourdough boule I couldn't be more proud. The taste was fantasic with a mellow sourness and a creamy crumb. My question lies in why it bloomed the way it did. I will explain how I proofed it and hopefully someone can give me some insight on why I had such monstrous bloom right in the middle.
Process:
After mixing, autolysing, mixing(salt), kneading, 4 periods of strech and fold and shape in my brotform I let the dough retard in the fridge for 15 hours. I let the dough warm up and rise for 5 hours and I didn't quite feel it was ready for the oven because the poke test wasn't really passing but I was pressed for time. So I scored and place in the oven with a cup of water for steam in my pan on the bottom, followed be a few squirts with the water bottle. 5 minutes later I gave it another few squirts of water. Then let bake from there.
I think maybe it's because I didn't allow for a mature proof or because I added too much steam. Any advice would be appreciated!
Not horrible crumb in my opinion.
Are there awards for sd midwifery? Good crumb, good color, maybe too early into the oven or too early into the brotform. Pretty good for a first sourdough loaf! Easy to rush a first loaf too, it just seems to take f o r e v e r !
Was the dough surface rather dry from fridge retard and then 5 hour basket rise? Maybe it set the crust to much. How was it covered? How was the room humidity? The idea of putting dough into a brotform is to dry and create an outer shell for memory sake but if the shell got too thick... ??? I wonder if it might make a difference to let the dough stand out a little while after shaping or shape after retarding. How long was the stretch & fold period of the bulk rise? Was there significant rise in the dough before retarding or was it rather flat? The crumb is fantastic!
The dough surface wasn't too dry I thought but then again I am a rookie. After 4 stretch and folds with 30min separtion I placed it into the brotform and then put the whole thing in a thick plastic bag and sealed it. When I removed the dough from the fridge I kept it in the plastic bag, only opening to do a poke test. I don't think room humidity played a roll since I kept it in the plastic bag but it was proly a bit high. I'm near Tampa, FL and its been raining. There wasn't significant rise during the stretch and fold but there was some. It definately wasn't flat. Thank you for the complement and for helping. I was blown away by how much it rised in the center like that.
very nice loaf of bread. just fantastic in all regards. Did you let it ferment on the counter after the S& F's and before shaping and placing in the brotform? I'm guessing you shaped it and put it in the brotform right after the S& F's. If not then your SD starter must still be pretty weak and too new to be at full strength. If I had a loaf in the fridge for 15 hours and it sat out for 5, it would be either soup or way over proofed by about 3 hours or more.
There might be such a thing as too much steam but I have never seen it and your bread didn't have too much either :-) It is jsut great bread all around.
Hey it worked, and you got it in the oven at exactly the right time for your situation. Very nice baking indeed.
I appreciate the kind words. Yeah, I let it rest on the counter between the S&F's, however I did place it immediately in the brotform after the final S&F. My starter is still a pup, only 12 days old, but its feeding like a beast! This loaf came out just in time for my 6th week of baking bread.