The Fresh Loaf

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(5-plan) Journey to perfect a 100% WW Sourdough Pullman Loaf

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

(5-plan) Journey to perfect a 100% WW Sourdough Pullman Loaf

Round #2 of experimenting with "Skipping the Bulk Ferment" step.

Recap:

The wife has tasked me to come up with a sandwich bread recipe our family can bake at least once a weak to completely replace our regularly purchased box store sandwich bread.

Requirements

  • Soft and light
  • 100% whole wheat
  • Recipe must be easily repeatable and easy to execute.
  • Recipe must be designed for a covered pullman loaf pan.
    (https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/pain-de-mie-pan-pullman-loaf-pan-13)
  • My 12 year old daughter must be able to bake the bread from start to finish
  • Sourdough leavening only.
  • From start to finish, the bread must be completable in 1 day.
  • Process must exist to enable the baker to know with reasonable certainty that the loaf is perfectly proofed.
  • Dough needs to contain a few softened chewy seeds, grain berries, etc. for texture and flavor.
  • Don't use bran flakes as a bread topping.
  • 1.5 out of 10 on the TexasBakerDad sourness scale, whatever the heck that means :-)

 Modification from Previous Bake

  • I am convinced that my previous bake was a brick for 2 reasons. (1) My dough didn't have enough strength because I skipped the stretch and folds, the preshape, and the shaping. (2) I let the dough proof too long relative to the wimpyness of the dough... It would have been underproofed had I s&f, and shaped. But it was overproofed and collapsed because of (1).
  • This time around, I am going to try and fix (1), by being more aggressive with my Ankarsum during the kneading step. I will knead (with the drum) until the dough stops showing fast improvement. Wait 10 minutes, repeat process, wait 10 minutes, repeat process, and basically see how strong I can get the dough... I assume after 2 or 3 sets of kneading, I won't see anymore improvement or I will think the dough shows enough good qualities to let it be.

Fifth Attempt

Ingredients

  • 60g (12%) sourdough starter (50:50 hard red)
  • 50g rolled outs
  • 30g (6%) honey
  • 10g (2%) non-iodized salt
  • 30g (6%) virgin olive oil
  • 475g (95% if you include rolled oats) well water
  • 450g hard white wheat (sifted to remove bran)
  • sifted bran to be used as topping

Process

  • 0:00: In large mixing bowl, add: 475g of boiling water, 50g rolled oats, 30g honey, 10g salt. Mix and let sit for 10 minutes.
  • 0:10: Mix in 30g olive oil
  • 0:11: Without kneading, mix the 450g of hard white wheat to combine into a shaggy mess. Let autolyze for 10 minutes
  • 0:21: Smear 60g starter over the top of the dough mess. Use drum on Ankarsum and knead until dough stops showing improvement (record time elapsed). Wait 10 minutes, try again, wait 10 minutes, try again, until satisfied.
  • 0:22: Prepare pullman pan, liberally butter all sides and apply flour.
  • 0:60: Transfer dough to pullman pan. Siphon off 20g of dough to aliquot jar.
  • 6:15: Preheat oven 375dF
  • Estimate a 6 hour rise time, but will move to next step when aliquot jar shows 2x rise.
  • 7:06: Brush top of loaf with melted butter and sprinkle bran on top of loaf, put lid on pullman and stick in oven for 1 hour 30 min.
  • 8:36: Pull from oven, transfer loaf to rack. Let rest until cool, probably 2.5 hours.
  • 11:06: Slice using slicer then put loaf in plastic bread bag to keep it soft.

Comments

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

TBD, my memory is not good. I don’t remember if I passed this on to you or not. 

This concept may interest you. It seems compatible with your goal(s).

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62981/pan-breads-simplified

Danny

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

Yes you shared it with me last week. You gave me the idea to try going straight from kneading into the pullman.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I remember vivid things 40 years or more back, but a week ago...

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

You help so many people on here, it is not surprising you have difficulty remembering what you advised to whom. Thanks for your help!

I have been wondering, when you skip the bulk ferment step for your bread loaf. Do you try to shape the dough right after mixing and then load it into the pullman? Or do you do your best to transfer the dough from the mixing/kneading bowl directly into the pullman and gently coax the dough into the shape of the pan? 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I do a complete shaping before it is loaded into the pullman. If the dough is very slack a light shaping is fine. I bet you could even pour ciabatta dough in and it would bake up nicely. The beautiful thing is that once the dough is placed into the pan it is never disturbed in anyway until it is baked. Your crumb should be nice and light.

You may need to experiment with dough weights until you dial it in, but once you have it figured out it will be “easy peasy”.

texasbakerdad's picture
texasbakerdad

I just pulled attempt #5 out of the oven. This is the second attempt to bake the recipe moving straight to the pullman and skipping bulk ferment. I was hoping I could skip shaping too, just to reduce complexity for my daughter, but after my results today, I don't think that will be possible.

My biggest concern with my daughter shaping the loaf is that a 14 inch loaf is a beast to shape and load into the pan. But, I saw some people shape 3 mini loaves, each 4 2/3" long. I think I will teach her how to do that. And besides, learning to shape dough is a good skill.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Shaping 3 mini rolls is a great idea and solution. She could just roll them up like a jelly roll and put the sides of the jelly roll facing the sides of the pullman.

Brilliant...

Benito's picture
Benito

That is a good idea, it would be like how one shapes for a Hokkaido milk bread with several rolled doughs with the ends facing the sides of the pan.