Baby steps - an experiment
bought some wheat berries, sprouted then dried them and decided to use them in Forkish's Country Blonde instead of whole wheat. I used whole wheat in the levain but ground the dried sprouted wheat berries in my coffee grinder :) and used them in the dough. 4x slap & fold followed by 4 x S&F and the overnight bulk ferment on the bench. Dough doubled but only just by morning (bench temperature this morning was 9°C) so I shaped proofed, slashed and baked in DO. very happy with the outcome. Made one 750 gm batard (top photo) and 2 smaller 500 gm ones.
I have noticed that when I do 1 slash down middle of batard, dough seems to spread more than I like so with the smaller ones I did 1 centre slash and one with 2 diagonal ones.
Interestingly the loaf with the diagonal slashes has bloomed more in height and less in width whereas the other has spread more. Is this normal? or do I need to get better gluten development?
A question too re sprouted grain flour. I only had a small amount in my dough admittedly, but if I increased the percentage would it bulk ferment faster? do I need to change hydration?
quite pleased with my bake though but as ever, there are always more questions.
Leslie
in-general, a very soft dough will spread out in a direction perpendicular to the slashes. So a single long slash will produce a somewhat squat wide loaf, and several short cross slashes will produce a longer loaf. Curves and diagonals will make for more interesting shapes.
-Gordon
Hi Gordon,
In general the spreading out from a single score may be somewhat "typical", but by no means always the case (as if there is ever something as "always"). And here is just one example. I generally do a singe score of my batards and this is my typical result, and I have a lot of other similar results documented on my TFL blog entries. As you can see, the loaf rises quite distinctly, but does not spread out.
This is a 70% hydration batard, but I can get similar results going up about another 10% hydration. All retarded on a couche.
So it can be done...
alan
The more sprouted grain you use the faster things will happen and you will want to decrease the water a bit as you suspect. But it is all relative. it is the taste that goes exponential.,
Happy baking
Hi Leslie,
Your results are gorgeous, so plenty to be happy about. Some time ago I came across a comment by Maverick that included a photo from one of Ciril Hitz' books. The photo shows the cross sections of under proofed, correctly proofed and over proofed baguettes. Based on that photo, I'll say that the batard in your lead photo may be over proofed. If so, that may also be a culprit in your batard spreading out rather than rising, as evidenced by his baguettes looking more oval than round.
Here it is...
I'd say that your two diagonal scores should also be overlapping, by maybe a third. I don't see that in the photo. Nevertheless, there's a lot to be proud of with these two batards!
alan
your bread recipe should be used for a baguette? The crumb looks wonderful and that glorious crust! I can't help but think I should see a baguette in front of me. :)
Hi Mini,
I've made baguettes out of batard recipes and batards out of baguette recipes. I find that, in my admittedly limited time as a home baker, it works just fine both ways. At least for me (so far!).
alan
so didn't even think of that, but will have to put that on my to do list for sure. I have been thinking I should try a baguette. :)
is so much harder to handle (as I am really still learning) but I find that I seem to always get more spreading and the bottom of the loaf is flatter. In my earlier attempts at bread making using a lower hydration, I could get the bottom of the loaf to sort of round upwards at edges and I felt that when I achieved this, I had got dough development right.
This time I felt I had worked dough well before bulk ferment but was concerned about how it would go over night on the bench. The dough had big surface bubbles before I shaped it. Interestingly, the big batard is much more holey than the two smaller ones. I proofed for 3 hours (I was out) and did the finger dent test when I got home. It filled in so I refrigerated the loaves while oven heated. I then slashed and baked straight from the fridge. I didn't think it was over proofed but maybe bulk ferment was too long?
thanks for the tip Gordon re slashing. I will try some different patterns.
Leslie