Test#2 Whole wheat poolish country loaf
Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post. I made the following changes:
1. Increased poolish weight
2. Increased overall hydration to 77% of total flour weight in the formula
3. Used 3g IDY for final dough
4. Fermented poolish 14hr at 74/75F
I enjoyed the flavor of this more than the previous loaf. The issue with this loaf is it lacked oven spring and it started spreading when I turned it out of the banneton, and even more when scored. Could it be lack of strength in the dough or overproofing? How can you tell which? The last loaf had great height and spring.
Formula:
WW Poolish
150g WW KA flour
150g water
0.25g IDY
Final Dough
350g KA bread flour
235g water
3g IDY
9g salt
Method:
Tested yeast before starting. Good to go.
Mixed poolish and let ferment 14hrs. First 8hrs at 79F. Last 6hr at 74F (found a cooler spot). I still don't think it was really active.
Mixed dry ingredients in a separate bowl. And mixed water with poolish. Then combined. Hand kneaded for 15min. It wasn't quite ready (here is where I think I messed up), so I put it in the bowl and did 3 stretch and folds every 30min for 90min.
Let it bulk ferment for 1hr and then put it in the banneton for 90min at 76F. Baked at 500F. 20min with steam; 20min without.
Poolish after 14hrs:
Why did you increase the hydration so much? This may be why you got spread. You can get open crumb at 70%.
And did you get a reasonable volume increase during your bulk ferment? I would expect an increase of 50-100% for a yeasted dough.
Lance
I forgot to take a photo of the bulk fermentation, but the dough doubled in size. Good rise.
I increased the hydration in hopes for a more open crumb than what I achieved the last time. I do think it was too wet though not too wet to handle.
Gonna keep trying maybe. I'll go back to 70% and keep the other changes. One variable at a time.
Lance did you notice the formula called for 30% WW. In light of that wouldn’t 70% hydration be a little dry?
What do you think?
I’d have to feel the dough to know how much water to add.
Danny
Maybe, but I guess I was responding to the spreading issue. Also to go from 70 to 77% hydration in one go seemed like a big jump. I guess D.W. could try somewhere inbetween eg 73/74%?
Lance