Thoughts on crumb and crust?
Hi, would like to get some views on the crumb, crumb colour, crust, and maybe smell of my recent bake.
Thoughts about the bread:
- Weight: Bread felt heavy. It was rather dense.
- Texture: It's like a harder version of white bread. When hot (or toasted) it's soft enough but not as soft as white bread.
- Crust:
- The sides were more crusty than the top and bottom. Can see the darker parts.
- Think the top wasn't as crusted because of the rice flour?
- The bottom did stick to the baking tray but I think it might have been the mozzarella cause it didn't tear when I dislodged it.
- Crumb:
- I honestly have no idea how to describe the colour of the crumb but is it a normal colour? I used unbleached bread flour and like 10g of semolina only.
- This would be described as a tight crumb right? What are your thoughts about the aeration? How can I achieve a much more open crumb?
- Rise:
- After shaping, rested for 45 mins and it expanded somewhat.
- It did not rise any further in the oven.
I was aiming for 80% hydration but I couldn't handle the dough so added a lot more flour in during kneading and folding. So I'm estimating it's a 75% hydration instead. Also, I did give up at the end because I didn't have time left and I didn't want the dough to be sitting in the fridge for a week.
Anyway, the recipe and steps are listed below:
Recipe: [ Yeast refers to Fleischmann's ActiveDry Yeast and I used 1 1/4 tsp in total; % isn't my strongest suit so I might have gotten the values wrong :') ]
Steps: [ All kneaded by hand. I live in SEA so the weather is hot and humid. ]
Notes about the preferment:
- It sat in the fridge for 14 hours and developed a stiff crust that I didn't cut off when adding to the main dough. Should I have cut it off?
- Took it out of the fridge and sat on the counter for a good 1 hour before starting the main dough. When I opened it, it had a sour and slight alcohol smell.
- Question: Should I not have used it after all? The baked bread tastes fine.
Notes about the main dough:
- I was going to leave it overnight on the counter to proof (room temp. approx. 29 degree Celsius). But after 3 hours, it had tripled in volume and had 2 large bubbles on the surface.
- Jiggled the bowl slightly and it started degassing itself. So opened the clingwrap to let the gas out and got hit by a strong sour, acidic? wave.
- Question: Usually my 3 hour rests on the counter for focaccia at 28-29 degree Celsius don't develop such smells. Was it because of the preferment?