I received my new 3rd Edition of Hamelman's Bread last week and have been perusing it since. I own editions 1 and 2 and have baked many recipes from them. I admit that I'm a devotee of Jeffrey Hamelman. A surprise was a change in the Vermont sourdough recipe that I bake a couple of times a week. The hydration has changed from 65% to 70% which in hindsight makes sense as usually adjust the hydration during the mix by adding more water. Today I mixed the dough starting at 70% and found that I didn't have to adjust as normal. The dough feels very light at the second fold of bulk fermentation, so I'm confident of a good bake.
I'm going to check the formula for each of the regular bread I bake in case there are more changes.
Hamelman's 3rd edition of Bread is outstanding with lots of new content. I'm very pleased with the purchase.
Cheers,
Gavin
The bake went well. The dough did not flatten when turned out from the banneton onto the peel. I think the increase in hydration helped to easily develop the dough structure. The oven spring was very good and produced a nice rich colour to the crust. When cut, the crust was crisp and the crumb was light and airy.
That is a really nice looking loaf and the slices look devine Well done Gav
Thanks, Derek. The dough felt different from the normal at every stage, so I was confident by the time I got to 2nd bulk folding.
Cheers,
Gavin
Your loaves are always incredibly tall!
I want to get the 3rd edition now, even though I haven't made all that many recipes from the 2nd.
I recommend it. The 3rd Edition has a lot more content and well worth it in my opinion. I"ll pass on my 2nd Edition as I did with the 1st to family.
Cheers.
Outstanding bake Gavin. Nice to see Hamelman adjusting his recipes, he’s obviously consulted with you on this one 😉
Benny
Ha Ha :) Thanks, Benny. Cheers
Very nice and love that crumb! I was debating on the 3rd edition (don’t have the 1st or 2nd). Sounds like you’re happy with it?
Thanks. Yes, I'm very happy with the 3rd Edition. I get absorbed in it as it is so rich with information.
Cheers,
Gavin
The first loaf of 70% hydration was given to my son’s family. The feedback from my daughter-in-law was that the bread was not as tasty (tangy) and it was considerably chewier but still delicious. I made another loaf today to taste and found that she was indeed correct. I prefer the 65% hydration loaf and will revert to that for future bakes. The result was totally unexpected and new learning for me in dough development.
Cheers,
Gavin
I'm curious, if you don't mind - did you notice any changes to the process, other than the hydration change? Since you own 2nd ed too. I'm thinking maybe the bulk duration, or number of folds, or bake duration / temp, etc., that might follow from a hydration change. Thanks!
The only change was the hydration. The process, flour and temperatures were all the same.
Cheers