October 13, 2013 - 12:56pm
Advice for tomorrow's bake: Reinhart's ABED 100% WW Sourdough Hearth Bread as a miche?
Howdy! I want to attempt this bread again, with some modifications. In the past I've halved the dough and baked the two loaves side by side. But I just bought a large round banneton, so I'd prefer to bake one large miche at a lower temperature, unless that's ridiculous. The dough weighs about 43 oz (1.2kg), and the banneton is a Kasskonnen 9" round.
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No reason why you can't bake this as a miche at all. I find that if you start at 500 F. and lower to 450 and then around 425 or 400 it works out best without burning the crust. Just watch the crust and lower the temperature if it starts to get too dark before the inside is baked properly.
Look forward to seeing how it comes out.
Ian
Well, I totally overproofed it. I was watching for it to rise 1.5x in the banneton - supposed to take 4 hrs out of the fridge - but after 4 hrs it hadn't risen much if at all (it was proofing in the oven with the light on until I needed to preheat my stone) and I finally poked it and my indentation stayed indented. My lame dragged through the dough instead of cutting it. Didn't spring much, and the crumb is thick and a bit mealy even. Crust is nice and brown, and it reached 195 F after an hour at 425. I didn't want to start at 500 since I knew I was dealing with an overproofed dough, and figured the higher temp would crust the bread more quickly and further prevent spring. The flavor is fine, for all that, but it's definitely a brick.
I guess that, in addition to overproofing, my starter wasn't active enough to leaven the dough. I've been feeding it the night before a bake, and then leaving it unfed for a week until the next bake. I guess maybe I should also be feeding it after scooping some out to bake with, and maybe feeding it twice before baking. It's still only a few months old, and I only keep 170g (115g after baking). Every other time I've baked from ABED I've used the mixed-method - using starter for the sponge but adding yeast for the final dough, maybe I should stick to that.
Sounds like you have a good idea of what you need to change to improve. We've all been there so give it another go and next time I'm sure it will work out better. Sounds to me that you need to trust your instincts and don't use the starter until your sure it's nice and lively. I've made the mistake of using a half dead starter and ended up with a brick like yours.
Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I'll try another one next week.