Sunday’s bake

Another scissor-slashed loaf, this time reversed the rye (55g) to wheat (25g) ratio from the usual, and didn’t add gluten.

 

Got interrupted last night just after I put the flour and water and levain together, so the mixture autolyzed overnight (for about 10 hours) in the fridge. This morning, I added salt (no extra water) and worked it in after letting the dough warm up for an hour on the counter, then folded it every 30 minutes six times. It was very wet, and sticky and stretchy. Apparently the long autolyze time in the fridge activated the gluten, and it took lots of time after shaping it – three times, to get it tight enough – to put in the banneton, and about 2 hours proving on the counter afterward as the oven heated up. I used some rice flour in the banneton liner and didn’t flour as liberally as last bake.

I also used some cornmeal to sprinkle over the dough while it was still in the Banneton before flipping it. Scissor slashes were made on the loaf at a 30º or less angle to the dough before putting it in the dutch oven.

Baked at 450º F this time (there’s a story there for later) in the covered preheated dutch oven for 25 minutes then 15 minutes with lid off. Internal temp was near 210º F when removed. Got a very good oven spring and even split a little down the sides. Lots of voids just beneath the crust so I imagine this will be an interesting crumb… and I can tell this loaf is going to be soft. I will let it cool overnight, if I can stand the wait!

Will be interesting if all the variables make it a much different loaf to eat.

Update: Crumb is good. Not very open but full of small voids, with a few larger voids near the top of the loaf. Altogether a very regular crumb. Good but not too much sourdough tang and a soft but robust piece of bread, with definite rye flavor.  Excellent toast with a lovely crunchy crust.

So, a reliable loaf that worked… with half a loaf left, today’s morning toast was fantastic and the lesson for me is that sourdough baking is flexible – the autolyze turned into a bulk ferment and the extra time then only added to the texture and the complexity of the flavor. And it is true that as the days go by, the sourdough’s tang intensifies.

Next bake: This week I will make a full 2-loaf recipe and try a similar strategy. I think that I may increase the rye flour ratio maybe to double, at 220g, up the stoneground wheat to 52g, decrease the APF to 572g, keep the water at 680 (holding 10 back to use when salt (18g) is added), and do the extended autolyze-bulk ferment again to see how far I can push the whole grain to get the gluten working. Wednesday night I’ll refresh the starter and Thursday morning get a levain going (will need about 184g of levain), then put the flours, levain, and water together and set in fridge til Friday after work. I think that the extra stoneground rye and wheat may help compensate for the extra hydration. I have a theory about why the hydration stayed what was probably too high: The relative humidity where I am is typically quite a bit higher than Maurizio Leo’s Albuquerque location, so I may need to decrease the hydration when the relative humidity is super high and increase it when the relative humidity is low.