Need some Sourdough Advice
Hi everyone,
Ive been sourdough baking for a year now and and love it. I grind my own red fife flour , and einkorn flour by hand to make my bread. my sourdough is also a pure red fife one. Im having trouble getting the super large holes im seeing some of you very talented folks get. I realize this is a lengthy topic and there is no short answer , and so i hope by sharing some info below i can help some of you experienced folk assist me :)
Please consider the following:
-using pure red fife sourdough, which is fed 1 part SD, 1 part water, 1 part flour .
the sourdough culture is left in the fridge and refreshed every 4 days, using the above ratios.
when baking ive tried several ratios but the one i like the best so far is:
100% Sourdough - 500g
100% flour - 500g
55% water - 275 ml
15 g salt - 3%
total flour 750 g, total water 525 g - 70% hydration loaf (correct me if im wrong)
initially i take out sourdough from the fridge, feed it with equal part spring water and flour and place it in the oven at proof temp (if its a bit cool in the house), and then within 3 hours the sourdough is bubbly and very active. i then proceed to the next step below.
i use 15% einkorn flour and the rest red fife, ground fresh as mentioned. i let the ingrediants sit in a blob for 20 mins to autolyse, then proceed to hand knead for 10 mins. the dough then rests for 30 mins, with a strectch and fold every 10 mins as it rests. then i placec it in a baking tray lined muslin and let it rest in the oven at the proofing setting covered in plastic. Within 1 hour the bread is almost double in size so i take it out heat the oven to 450 Centigrade.
I then flip the baking pan on my baking stone and peel the muslin cloth, maintaining the shape of the loaf and the gas inside it , mist the oven heavily with water and close up for 15 mins. then open up to let the steam out. then close it back up for 25-30 mins , then the bread is left to cool overnight on the racks. Ive recently skipped the muslin and just used breads baked in the pan themselves to see if i can get bigger bubbles but not much of a difference really.
Im curious if its perhaps the fact that i use whole grain flours? are white flours easier to pull this off with ? should i perhaps experiment with cold proofing ? i realize my proof times are kind of short but i find if i let it go very long it "poofs" and all the air escapes. it seems to have a point where it has maximum air in it and thats when i try to bake it.
Thank you for your time and i look forward to any tips of possible to assist me in the quest for larger holes !
Kind regards
sure of that oven temp? perhaps 450°F (450° Centigrade is 840° Fahrenheit)
I'm sure it's the whole flours reducing the bubble size in the crumb. Not to worry. Big bubbles are over rated for most breads. Bits of bran tend to cut down the size of bubbles. A cold ferment would soak/soften the bran longer as the dough rises. This might give you larger bubbles. What temperature is "cold" in your kitchen?
Hi mini oven,
sorry for the mistake i did indeed mean 450 F, i just think in centrigade hence the mixup.
in the winter the kitchen can be as cold as 15 centigrade depending on how freezing it is outside (canada).
I certainly appreciate your input with regards to bran, so those large holes are more for the refined flours i suppose? or easier to achieve ?
i might try a cold ferment see what happens .. i suppose but i feel it shouldnt be necessary.
relevant . Generally speaking, the higher the hydration and lower amount of whole grains the more open the crumb. This is why white flour ciabatta has such large holes and whole grain breads do not even at the same hydration..
I haven't used Red Fife since it is the oldest wheat grown in Canada and replaced in the early 1900's by other hybrid varieties for various reasons and don't know how well it absorbs water. But with the red wheat I grind at home here i AZ, I would be at 100% hydration for a 100% whole grain bread and at 72% hydration for one that had no whole grains in it. I also would sift out the hard bits of the milled whole grains and use that to feed the levain so that they are wettest the longest and the wee beasties and acid of the SD would have the longest time to soften and break down these hard bits into as soft a stuff as they can be.... so they don't cut the gluten strands as much in the dough.
You are at both ends of the extremes, very low hydration at 70% and 100% whole grain - a very dense crumb is the rule for that. I say get the hydration up to at least 85% and get those hard bits as soft as possible by feeding it to the levain but don't expect to have a crumb more open than this when you do.
100% whole wheat, half sprouted, at 100% hydration.
Happy baking
thank you all for your advice. i will certainly try to up the hydration level for sure.
its good to know that it is indeed due to using whole grain flours , or rather that it is a considerable factor
oh and dabrownman, the holes im getting are similar to your picture. i was trying to go for the really big uneven ones. Its good to know whole grain flours have their limits !
but your chances would be better if you were Empress Ying and living on Mordor:-)
Look up txfarmer's 36 hour baguettes - 100% hydration and 100% whole wheat! that crumb makes me drool ....and maybe want to give up baking whole grain breads entirely.
that crumb is amazing but are you sure its 100% whole wheat? looks white to me color wise?
what an amazing loaf though its that very post that made me sign up here , such skill
http://www.theperfectloaf.com/home/
thanks for that tip miini oven!
again this gentlemen uses 50% white flour not pure whole grain but its so nice i might give it a go just to experiment more !
thanks :D