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Tartine basic country loaf rising issues

macfadden's picture
macfadden

Tartine basic country loaf rising issues

Hello. I know it looks like a long question, but it's just because I want to give you all the diagnostic information you might need. The short version is: why didn't my loaf rise (much)? But that's not a very good question, so the long version is this. March 1, I started a sourdough culture according to the directions in Tartine Bread. It was a 50/50 mix of white flour and whole wheat flour and, for the first few days, tap water, until I read that I should use filtered water. I kept it at cool room temperature (about 65 most days) and was feeding it once a day. Everything went along swimmingly (bubbling and rising and falling), until about two and a half weeks in, it started smelling strongly of nail polish remover. I Googled "sourdough starter smells like nail polish remover" and was led to a thread on this site, which suggested that, I should discard a bit more than I had been, feed it whole wheat flour twice a day, and give it a little less water. It made a speedy recovery, and over the weekend (the starter was then almost 4 weeks old), I followed the instructions (to the best of my beginner's ability) for the basic country loaf in the book. My house was a little cooler than the instructions suggested, so I let the dough rise in a big glass measuring cup in the oven with a pan of hot water inside, which kept it nice and warm. During the bulk fermentation, it was supposed to rise 20-30%. The lines on my measuring cup are pretty close together and hard to read, but before the rise I thought it was at about the 6 cup line and after 4 hours of rising it was at about the 7 cup line at the edges of the bowl, but at the 8 cup line in the middle. It then occurred to me that if the middle was higher than the edges then, it might have been like that at the beginning, too, and maybe it had really been more like 7 cups at the beginning. In any case, it probably only rose about 15%, but it was at least as warm as the temperature at which the book said it would finish its bulk fermentation in 3-4 hours, and it was showing bubbles around the sides and had changed consistency, though it wasn't "billowy" as I was instructed to expect. In any case, I proceeded with the recipe (bench rest, shaping, and final rise in the bowl) preheated the Dutch oven, made four slashes on the loaf in a square shape with a razor blade, and put it in the oven. When I took the lid off after 20 minutes, it had risen a little, but was definitely not the almost half sphere the pictures suggested it should be, and the slashes were almost invisible and had just oozed back into the dough. I let it finish cooking, and the end result was tasty but rather lacking in the rise and texture department. There were big bubbles in a line through the middle, but below and above that it was dense and a bit gummy in parts, and it was probably only about three inches high, maybe a little more. Not pancake shaped, but nowhere near the pictures of what it was supposed to look like in the book, either. I suppose my entirely incompetent shaping might be a factor, too, but I let the second loaf do its final rise in the fridge overnight and baked it the next morning, and that one got a much more effective shaping and was just as flat if not flatter, at much gummier. Is it a starter issue? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

but found I needed to let my dough go another hour and a half past the 6 sets of folds to get to that billowy texture. I also put my dough in the oven with the light on and the door cracked to get the 80f temperature he wants for fermentation. 

Secondly, your lack of rise could be due to overproofing. I am told to put the loaf in the oven before it is fully doubled. That will help with the oven rise. For mostly white doughs, let it rise to 1.9 %, 50 percent whole grain- 1.85% and 100 percent whole grain- 1.80%. I am also still working on getting that proofing down so I get that huge oven spring. 

Thirdly, I wonder if you baked your loaf long enough. You need to bake it till 205-210 f internal temperature. Sometimes it helps to take the loaf out of the Dutch oven near the end of baking and let it sit on the rack to finish getting dark. My loaves usually need another 25 minutes after the lid comes off. 

I hope that some of this helps. 

Trevor J Wilson's picture
Trevor J Wilson

It sounds to me like your dough just never really got going. Your description of a flattish loaf with sunken cuts and a few holes surrounded by dense gummy parts is a classic sign of too young dough. 

If your starter is tripling in volume within 8-12 hours then it's not a starter issue.

Shaping will always be an issue for new bakers, especially when working with wet dough, so that could be contributing.

But in all likelihood, your dough probably just never became active enough. Listed proof times are always just a starting point -- a suggestion really. You'll learn to adapt them over time based on relative conditions.

Pictures could really help determine the actual problem.

But if it was because the dough was too young, the question becomes why was the dough young? It could be because of an inactive starter (it should at least triple in 8-12 hours after refreshing). It could be that the dough and/or proofing conditions were too cool. It could be a combo.

My suggestion would be to first make sure your starter is nice and active. Then next time you make the bread be sure that the dough is warm enough, preferably at least 72F (a thermometer helps here). If both are a go, then just give the dough however long it needs to achieve at least a 20% rise. Maybe err on the higher side -- 30-50%.

In time, you'll become a very good judge of proof times and fermentation activity.

Cheers!

Trevor

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Sounds like a classic case of the starter and levin not being up to the ask at hand

macfadden's picture
macfadden

Alright. Thanks, guys. I'll just keep feeding the starter until it rises more in its jar, and then try again, then.