Mistakes mistakes mistakes....
I'm writing this well after making this loaf last week or thereabouts. Unlike so many of you, I'm boring in my bread tastes, I don't really want to make lots of different varieties, as long as I make this particular loaf and have it on hand for egg sandwiches, I'm reasonably happy. I do use sourdough in it, as it tastes better with mustard and egg, than when it's made only with sweet yeast.
I evidently made a weighing error early on, the first thing I noted was the dough sticking differently, more, to the bottom of the mixing bowl. I knew then something was wrong, but wasn't yet sure what. I suppose I could have thrown in a little more flour, but that's not my way, I want every last gram of everything weighed.
When I got to division, two loaves of about 4.5 lbs each, the weight was under 2000g each, instead of slightly over. Well, at least I knew then that I had made a weighing error, most likely too little flour. This dough was hydrated more than normal, and sure enough, the holes are, on a few slices, big enough for mayonnaise to slip through and smear all over the fingers. I'd rather that not happen.
Not only that, because the loaf was hydrated more, it took longer to bake, and never did reach the final temperature I usually use, I finally took it out after realizing the temperature wasn't rising and it was good enough. It ends up this bread is somewhat dry. Perhaps I should lower my final temperature slightly, this one was removed at 206°F, and normally I go to 208°F.
Maybe next time I'll pay a little more attention when weighing the ingredients. This particular bread is somewhat of a hassle to make, I wish I could make it simpler, but haven't yet figured that out. Another thing I'd like to figure out, how to flip the pan dough over during proof. It's always a little more dense on the bottom than the top.
I preslice it as I store it frozen.
Comments
For a mistake bread it still looks pretty damn good :) Nice job. Looks like mixed grain, are you using both rye and whole wheat in this?
I have the total formula for it here. The blend was inspired by the historical cut known as 'brown meal', but I cut the bran back from 15% to 7%. It's basically high germ bread with some bran added. Thanks for your interest!
For a mistake this doesn't look even a little bad. Also at 70% hydration there should be no need to do the classic ciabatta flip, I think your top heavy(or bottom heavy in this case) crumb could be the result of mild overproofing.
the bread was definitely more dense. This batch's weighing error could have been a beneficial mistake, as intentionally hydrating it more may allow airier results with a less proofed, lower gas/dough ratio at bake, a strategy I hadn't previously considered or tried. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on possible over-proofing Woodenspoon!
The mistake that bothered me most was the dryness of this particular bread, due to the unexpected issue with the final temperature, and you can't really perceive that in these photos. I thought it strange that even though it was hydrated more, it did not want to bake out of the gelatinized starch matrix. With all my prior loaves, 208°F, even had a few as high as 210°F while experimenting with baking temperatures and times, they never resulted in bread that tasted as dry as this batch, which was baked only to 206°F. Thus the possibility that as dough hydration increases, the final temperature needs to be lower by some smallish amount, or maybe it was another outlier. :shrug: