lately my favorite loaf recipe has seemed a little heavy/dense I think I need to adjust.
95 g (3/4 c) whole wheat flour
78 g (1/2 c) Rye flour
70 g (3/4 c) oats (not flour)
255 g (1 3/4 c) bread flour
30 g (1/4 c) khorasan
30 g (1/4 c) emmer
30 g (1/4 c) buckwheat flour
2 g (1 tsp) barley malt powder
9 g (1 Tbsp) gluten
9 g (1 Tbsp) Choc malt powder
9 g (1 Tbsp) Rye malt powder
1 g Vit C
60 g (2.5 Tbsp) malt syrup / honey /molasses
~360 g (2c ) 100% AP starter
300 g (1.25 c) <80° liquid
40 g (~3 tbsp) fine sea salt
Below Boiled in 1 1/3c water for 40 mins til chewy and most of water boiled off.
18 g (2 Tbsp) rye berries
18 g (2 Tbsp) wheat berries
9 g (1 Tbsp) farro
~662 g total flour, not including flour or water in the starter.
formula shows ~463g water for 70% and ~13 g salt.
Those would be huge changes based on the rest of it. But perhaps that is what is needed?
The dough feels right, and the bread tastes fine, but a bit heavier/denser than I'd like.
Any thoughts?
Of the crumb then it'll be easier to advise. At first glance of the recipe I wouldn't have thought it'd have a particularly open crumb. However until we see a photo we wouldn't be able to say if the results you are getting is what is to be expected or not.
What are the changes? I don't see any proposed changes. With those ingredients, I would expect a dense loaf. The one thing I'm doubtful about is that vitamin C. If it's unbuffered then it's a huge amount, considered as a would-be dough conditioner. Recommended amounts are much smaller. If it is buffered, then the buffering could be messing up the fermentation.
The usual things that might open up the crumb could help:
Score more aggressively.
TomP
It doesn't say buffered, so I assume it is not. It's Trader Joes 1000mg Vit C.
Guess I'll try increased hydration, as that what seems the best possibility to me. And I'll drop the Vit C.
Knead, doubtful.
Not interested adding any yeast.
15 mins of steam. And spray every 5m 3x.
The score is pretty aggressive.
Is the original hydration around 65%, accounting for the starter and honey too? If so, I think this could really be increased, especially with the amount of whole grain and oats. These tend to be rather thirsty.
think I'll try another 80g liquid, which is halfway between now and the formula calc for 70%, and see how that goes.
drop the Vit C completely and half the salt to ~20g, ~2.5%.