Today's planned experiment was adding vital wheat gluten (hoping for more rise and softer crumb). The unplanned one was baking the double batch of dough as one huge loaf. i don't know what I was thinking.
It was over 2kg of dough. The largest loaf I've attempted. Almost a miche? Ok, maybe it doesn't qualify cos it's oval and has too many ingredients. It had to be oval to fit in my oven. (Sigh. One day. Everyone has a Grail Loaf, right?)
Thankfully I had recently taken delivery of a stick-in thermometer... cos I also forgot what time it went into the oven. A hypothyroid moment. Note to self: write it down. Always.
800g water
1000g chakki atta flour (local Gingin Flour Mill)
0.5 tsp diastatic malt
2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1.5 tsp salt
200g starter (same flour 1:1)
2 tbsp olive oil
Autolyse flour, vwg, malt and water for 1 hour
Bulk ferment 10 hours @ 22°C then overnight in the fridge. (That was unplanned too, life got in the way.)
1.5 hour proof in an oval banneton.
Baked inside a pair of large Ikea roasting pans (about 40 x 32cm - it only just fits in my oven and this monster bread filled it!). One of them was used upside down as a lid. Spritzed with a garden sprayer. Took the lid off after 30 minutes.
Called it done when the internal temperature was 94°C because I didn't want it any darker and it sounded hollow.
Wonderfully tangy from the surprise extra long bulk fermentation. Crispy crust - grateful for that - I was afraid it would get tough from the added bake time. And soft crumb. Yeah, we cut it a bit early... couldn't wait.
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That loaf expanded like a son-of-a-gun, didn't it? Nice job. I think it's time to get another sack of atta myself.
TomP