Oooooopssss...
Oh boy, did I make a real booboo today...
I used a recipe I've developed for porridge bread that works really well (see here for method etc) and just thought I'd tweak as I'm used to going around the houses in terms of flavour etc.
So in the soaker, I swapped out the rye flour for ordinary white bread flour and instead of all oats, used a mix of oats, muesli and toasted oat bran. I didn't change anything in the levain, using my rye starter straight from the fridge as per usual, but in the final dough, instead of all white bread flour, I used half white, half light rye. In theory, these switches in ingredients shouldn't have made a big difference in the outcome...
The method and timings are as described in the link to my blog above - I've found this to work and produce consistent results. The only difference was that as it was a bit chilly yesterday morning, I put the mix for the levain on top of the storage heater rather than just leaving it in the dining room.
Soaker:
113g mix of porridge oats, muesli and oat bran
113g white bread flour
300g water just off the boil
Levain:
75g rye starter
135g water
135g white bread flour
Dough:
soaker + levain
16g salt
210 g white bread flour
210 g light rye flour
175g tepid water
The levain seemed rather sluggish to me, but I used it anyway. The dough worked as usual - it was a little sticky as I'd used less wholegrain flour, but nothing to be alarmed about. It more or less doubled in volume overnight in the fridge, but didn't perform very well during the proof. And as you can see, I got a pair of very fine frisbees.
The crumb is very dense - as you would expect - and is very gummy. It also doesn't taste that good.
There are some air bubbles which shows that the levain was active-ish. Now is the cause of my frisbees the change in ingredients (least likely), overproofing the dough, or did I screw up my levain by putting it on the storage heater?
The breads will get eaten - dunked in the sauce from tonight's chicken casserole, but this is the worst result I've had so far by some margin. Even my exploding Pain de Campagne was still passable if very amusing to look at...
Any thoughts?
P.S. Feel free to laugh... My mum did - until she cried... :-p
My bet would be on the starter using all of its energy up which is why you didn't get any rise. You can always play catch with the dogs and cats :)
Actually, they *were* inedible... Horrible texture and even worse flavour. I gave them to a friend for her chooks... But I should have sold them to the military to use as ammunition. Dropped from a height, I think they would have flattened several small towns LOL
by heavy brick Frisbees that could never fly? i Think you are being haunted by the TFL Gremlin? Time to make sure that the levian is in top notch shape with a good 3 stage build to test it (not followed by cooking on the heater) Then make sure the proofing is proper - if there is such a thing:-)
Happy baking
Haunted by the Gremlin, that is... LOL...
What you're suggesting is exactly what I'm planning to do. :-) Going to do the first build shortly, so that I can do the second before I head off to the Land of Nod tonight, and then tomorrow morning I'll use that to make bread. So fingers crossed...
I normally use my starter straight from the fridge - my method for maintaining and using it is sort of a cross between yours and Gordon's - and it normally works reliably, even if it hasn't been fed in a while. (Mine is at 100% which kinda makes the maths simpler) After I took some out to build my levain, I fed it. Normally I'd pop it straight back in the fridge, but instead I left it out on the worksurface and fed it again yesterday evening. By the time I went to bed, it had doubled in volume and smelled nice and fruity. So, if you pardon the pun, my starting point doesn't seem to be at fault. ;-)
However I did redeem myself last night by throwing together a lovely wholegrain sandwich loaf - seeing it rise was a lovely confidence booster. But it's mostly eaten, so...
Have had some time to think about what went wrong here, and I think I've narrowed it down to two things.
One: Putting the levain on the storage heater probably massacred my yeasty beasties. Don't think I'll be trying that in a hurry again.
Two: I normally throw my dough into a bowl and stick said bowl in a plastic bag before bunging it in the fridge overnight. The other day I bought a tupperware with lid to do the same job, as it fits in the fridge better. Am wondering whether the dough simply didn't like the environment in a tupperware with a sealed lid...