The Fresh Loaf

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80% Hydration Pain au Levain

SteveB's picture
SteveB

80% Hydration Pain au Levain

For some time, I've been intrigued by a new (to me) technique for handling high hydration doughs, skillfully demonstrated by Mac McConnell of the San Francisco Baking Institute in his YouTube video: 

http://tinyurl.com/zuyksdd.


I finally decided to give the technique a try and it worked beautifully. Shown above is the result; an 80% hydration pain au levain with 10% pre-fermented flour and no commercial yeast added, The ingredients were hand-mixed just until incorporation and the resulting rough dough was given folds at 1, 2 and 3 hrs. into the bulk fermentation.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

I too found the video very useful. After watching it, I invested in the plasterer's scraper and have been using it ever since. Without the video I would have been clueless.

SteveB's picture
SteveB

I used KAF AP flour.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

That's some serious lift! I can tell that the crust is very crunchy and I like it very dark also. How is the taste? Mildly sour? I wish I could see the crumb. 

Do you still actively post at breadcetera? Your site is one of my first sources of knowledge about bread baking a few year ago aside from TFL.

SteveB's picture
SteveB

The loaf had a glossy, very open crumb.  The flavor was nutty and sweet with just a slight bit of acidity.  

While I have left Breadcetera up for anyone interested, I no longer actively post there.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com 

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Mac is one super skilled baker and a great teacher...tons to learn from that guy...

Great looking loaf...

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Steve,

That's lovely piece of handicraft.  Do you have a hard wood bench surface?  I have granite and it doesn't grip dough the same way that wood does.  Any issues with getting the dough to skate around while gaining surface tension as in the video?  Are you still steaming using the inverted hotel pan and steaming machine?

I have some drywall repairs to do, so one of those scrapers may be in my near future ;-) .  In the video he moves the dough around with such grace.

alan

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Alan,

I use a wooden tavolini board as a surface for dividing, pre-shaping and shaping dough.  The high hydration dough behaved exactly like that shown in the video.  And yes, I still use an inverted hotel pan and hand steamer to steam my breads.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

Maverick's picture
Maverick

It's been awhile since I saw this video. I was always amazed at the technique. I'm impressed with your ability to do that with 80% hydration and just KAF AP flour. How long was your total bulk fermentation? How about proofing?

I also noticed that you didn't line your banneton and it still did not stick. Surprisingly the bread isn't full of residual flour (like it is in the end product of the video), only along the rings of the banneton. How did you pull that one off?

Well done!

Edit: I remember visiting SFBI several years ago, and Michele Saus telling me about those baskets in the video and how they were for high hydration doughs. They were too big for my liking at the time, but after seeing the video again, it makes me want to make a large 2.5 lb batard. I guess I should have bought one while I was there. Maybe I will splurge on the shipping cost some day to get one. For now I will just use the smaller ones.

SteveB's picture
SteveB

The total bulk fermentation time was 4 hours.  Proofing was for 2 hours.  Temperature was kept at 76°F.  I used a 50/50 mixture of rice/wheat flour to dust my brotform to prevent the dough from sticking.  I just ordered some removable oval brotform liners from brotform.com and will try those out shortly.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Steve,

Nice to see one of your beautiful breads again. Good to know you're still baking  : )

Best,
dw

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Deb,

Thanks for the nice comments.  They are much appreciated.   

Best back atcha,

Steve

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Great job! I enjoyed the shaping video. Thanks for sharing.

Happy baking! Ski

Supreme33's picture
Supreme33

Great job Steve! That loaf looks gorgeous love the "ear" you got from you score keep em coming ! Happy baking --