Sourdough pain de campagne - first post here of something I've baked
I've been making yeasted breads for years, but recently started exploring sourdough. Handling high (c.75%) hydration doughs has been a bit frustrating and at times it has felt like learning from scratch.
My 100% hydration levain is working fine. It's 50% wholemeal and 50% white bread flour, is stored in the fridge, and when using in a pre-ferment doubles nicely. I love the fact that I developed my levain from scratch… and it works.
Trying a loaf at 65% hydration (including the preferment) has been helpful in restoring some dented confidence, not to mention a bit less frustration with breaking skins and gluey messes during shaping - or getting to the point where shaping was just impossible. On occasions my loaves have been more like splats than boules(!)
Anyway, I've braved-up enough to post photos of my weekend bakes: two loaves of pain de campagne following the quantities and method from http://weekendloafer.com/2011/10/20/pain-de-campagne.
There's been a little variation from the recipe: I used Alinson strong bead flour (one of the main UK brands); the bannetons were dusted with wholemeal rice flour and cornmeal was scattered on the base of the loaves just before turning out. Then...
1. The loaf on the (viewer's) left was cooked at the end of proving on a preheated baking stone, without steam. I got a bit better oven spring than I've had on my last few attempts, even with steam and it was fantastic to be able to watch the dough rise in the first 10 minutes. Clearly the dough was still expanding, because there was a bit of a split in the finished loaf at the end of baking.
2. The loaf on the right was from the same dough batch, but retarding in a banneton at 4°C for 12 hours and baked in a preheated 'La Cloche'. This loaf was less rounded and slightly pointed on top. The crust crackled nicely, as it can out of the oven and was slightly crazed by the time it was cool.
My conclusions based on recent sourdough baking:
- I've been over-proving my loaves a bit too much until this bake;
- Trying 75% hydration loafs is a bit too much to start with;
- Watching YouTube videos on shaping doughs explains concepts that are nearly impossible to learn from a book.
Thoughts after this particular bake:
- Retarding shaped loaves is something I will do more often;
- My technique with a baker's grignette needs a lot more practice;
- I still need to work out how to produce more oven spring;
- I'm pleased with the open texture of the crumb.
Crumb-shot to follow.
Having had a bit of a dent in my confidence recently, I'd appreciate any thoughts from other readers, now that I seem to be heading in the right direction. How can I build on this?
Best wishes & thanks, Colin
As Hamelman says in his recipe for ciabatta, "... when we announce that we are going to bake this we need to lock the doors so the bakers cannot escape" or something like that. I just looked at the recipe you baked and it's a pretty common one found in lots of books. By my calculation it's 67% hydration though because you have slightly higher amounts of WW and Rye flour, as well as using bread flour which is more absorbent than all-purpose you end up with a dough that is a lot more manageable than the higher hydration variety you were first working with.
You might want to take a look at David Snyder's San Joaquin sour dough (do a search on this website) recipe that calls for a bulk retardation after the preliminary gluten development. Following the overnight retardation you just do some preliminary and final shaping and then the bake. I've never had any issues with over proofing and get great oven spring every time with a nice open texture. After a fair amount of practice I get pretty good ear formation after scoring (I bake small batards of about 500g that I proof on baker's linen rather than bannetons). There is a nice video that David did on scoring which you can also find here.
BTW, your bread looks great!
Alan
Hi AlanG,
Thanks so much for your kind and helpful comments. I loved the quite about ciabatta; thanks for sharing it.
Funnily enough, I had a complete disaster with David Snyder's San Joaquin sourdough last week - but that was exlusively my fault, not his - I was working late and fell asleep during the final 45 minutes of bulk fermentation... only to wake up at 4am! I'm going to do his recipe again, but start work earlier in the day.
I'm slightly puzzled by your calculation of the hydration. I make it 65%, based on the flour and water used to produce 310g of levain (some of the liquid levain in the recipe, as stated, is discarded). Would you be kind and explain what have I missed in my calculation? It would really help.
Thanks once again for your useful comments.
Best, Colin
Here's what I get from the recipe you cite:
Total Flour = 635g
Total Water = 425g
Hydration = 425/635 = 67% rounded up
Hi AlanG,
Thanks so much. I hadn't included the seed levain in my calculation of hydration. Really appreciate your time to point that out. Happy baking :-)
Best, Colin
Your loaves turned out very nice! I agree that working with high hydration is tricky. Takes a very light hand. I am perfectly happy working with a lower hydration myself. My family seems to prefer the texture of a lower hydration dough better anyways.
Hi Kathyf.nThanks so much for your kind comment. Light hands must be a necessity and you make a good point that working at lower hydrations is ok. I was surprised at the crumb structure achieved. The loaf got a thumbs-up over lunch today, when served with some home-made celeriac soup. Best, Colin.
inside and out. Pretty with holes not too big - a very versatile bread that has to be great for sandwiches and tasty too.
Handling high hydration dough takes practice but I do prefer the hydration of the 1.2.3. recipe that comes out to about 71.4 % with 15% whole grains in it but I don't bake that much whit bread.
Welcome and Happy SD baking
Thanks ever so much, Dabrownman. Very encouraging. I think dropping to a lower hydration has helped prove that things will improve with practice. A 1.2.3. loaf is on my list of things to try as my experience with sourdough increases, so thanks for the recommendation and your kind welcome. Best wishes, Colin
They look delicious and nice presentation.
I do all of my breads free standing as i can't fit a big Dutch Oven or La Cloche inside my oven. This makes introducing steam very difficult. I've tried a steam tray but doesn't help much. Free standing doughs at 75% hydration plus just won't get the height as a lower hydration bread without support. And if one doesn't get steam into the oven then they crust over too quickly preventing the full potential of oven spring. I think that's the difference between your two breads.
I've started to heat the oven up with both top and bottom elements plus the fan to the highest temperature. Then when the dough goes in I'll switch the fan and top element off and lower the bottom element a tad. This way the oven is really hot but the fan and top element won't crust the top over too quickly. Then towards the end, when maximum oven spring has been achieved, I'll switch the top element and fan back on to give it a nice finish. Like removing the lid from a Dutch oven.
Both the breads look really nice. And great crumb.
Bon Appetite.
Hi AbeNW11. Those sound like some good oven tips. I recently had to buy a new oven which has top and bottom elements and loads of settings, so I could follow your advice. The loaf on the left of the main photo was baked on the stone, but had top heat too, and I wondered if it would over-brown, so had the stone on a low shelf. Thanks for your kind comments on my loaves too. Best, Colin.
and I'm talking about the Atlantic here... I've seen it written that US flours can absorb a little more water than typical UK/European flours, so higher hydrations can mean much wetter and harder to handle doughs this (UK) side of the pond if you follow some US based recipes. I very rarely go above 65% hydration with the flours I use and get a very acceptable loaf, however I do not chase very big holes as they don't hold marmalade. (and I get complaints from my customers)
Those loaves look good though! Very similar to mine.
-Gordon
You really need to know your ingredients. Even within the US there is considerable variation between brands of flour. One's own confidence at feeling the right hydration in the dough is key and don't be afraid to experiment.
Hi again AlanG. Very good advice, which I intend to follow. Best, Colin.
Hi Gordon, that's really interesting. Most of what I've been reading is from the US, and so many recipes seem to be in the mid-70%s. I wonder if other UK bakers have found this to be the case too? Many thanks for this information. Best, Colin.
you really have to work at making your whole loaf photo shots look more puffy. You had me convinced of flat loaves until I saw the crumb shot! :) Sneaky, sneaky. Keep 'em coming!
Hi Mini Oven, Thanks so much. Obviously my photography lags behind my baking skills. These loaves still aren't anywhere close to some of the amazing work of the experienced sourdough bakers on here, but they were a step in the right direction for me.
I was beginning to wonder how much a more rounded boule at high hydration relies on support from a Dutch oven and how much is down to tension in the crust and very active starter? I bet you have a view on this from your extensive experience you can share with us relative newbies?
Many thanks for your kind comments. Best wishes, Colin.