How to get large holes in bread
So I've read here and a bunch of books recently and get the whole idea about hydrated dough will stretch more, therefore rise better while giving you a more airy light bread. I have all the banetton baskets and flax linen proofing cloth to treat the fragile dough as careful as possible but any slight movement seems to deflate the little bastards batards just before I get them into the oven and they just never seem to recover. And to begin with, it's also very difficult to hold their shape with the moist dough. I don't like to cook in the dutch oven as much as like on a cast iron plate so I know that's part of my problem with the shape but I getter better crust that way. In any case, I usually go back to a stiffer less hydrated dough and have decent success with that but it's not my goal. My goal is bread with huge holes in it with a thin crispy crust and I just can't seem to get there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!!
fragile that a little anything deflates it, then you have over proofed the dough dramatically. You don't need a DO to get the crust you want but over proofing isn't the way to get there either. The hardest thing to learn is when the dough is ready for the oven. It comes with experience, Shoot for 85% proof and take 2% of the water out of the mix and see if that helps. You can always up the hydration later once you figure it out.
Happy baking
Ok thanks! I'll try that. It's Friday... Yay and I can start my dough this eve.
It's all in the eyes and hands. Correct fermentation and proofing times, gentle handling and good bake will get you there. Going wild with liquid might help, but not to the degree one might imagine and it brings about it's own set of complications.
Lower protein flour. The gluten structure it forms won't be very strong and will collapse in places, leaving large voids. A wetish dough helps, too.
Working with slack doughs is quite different from working with a stiff dough, though, so it'd be worth your while reading up on it if you've never done it before.
Thanks Jon! I'll try to find some! This is an idea I was looking for! I also appreciate the lower proofing time suggestion but I don't think that alone is gonna get me to my goal. I made bread this weekend using the flour water salt yeast book method but I retarded dough overnight in frig. Original recipe was 75% hydration and I reduced to 73% as suggested. Anyways, it was good but not much different in the crust or crumb than other lower hydrated bread I've made. In fact the crust was even softer which is going the wrong way for what I want. In any case, It will all get eaten today at work!!
Sorry, accidental double post.
Hey, try this recipe here, it works well for me
http://www.justlikebread.me/white-sourdough-bread/
Keys are to keep the temperature high throughout the bulk fermentation, bake with a lot of stream, to produce a wet-ish dough, don't go for too high protein flour and use a long second fermentation period.