[repost from another day... just trying to bump the question]
I'm just starting my sourdough journey, and I'm finding that I'm repeated experiencing tearing along/near the scores on my loaves...
The crumb comes out delicious:
I never really had this issue when I was doing regular yeasted breads, thrown straight onto a 250ºC pizza stone... (note: I have only done the following recipe with a combo cooker, never pizza stone)
My recipe:
• 30% whole wheat
• 70% T630 spelt
• 10% rapeseed oil
• 50% water
• 16% spelt levain (1:1 whole spelt:water, matured for around 4 hours)
• 2% salt
1. Mix together all ingredients until no more flour bits are visible and let it sit for 30 minutes (the rushed-man's version of an autolyse)
2. do 3 stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart
3. let it rest until 2-2.5x in volume (around 8 hours in my kitchen)
4. dump onto bench, shape into a batard, pop into seasoned banneton (seam side up) and let it rest for 20 minutes
5. cover with a tea towel, wrap in a plastic bag and place in fridge over-night (I let this loaf sit in the fridge for 11 hours).
6. preheat oven to 260ºC with combo-cooker inside (let the "lid" of the combo cooker get above 150ºC)
7. invert loaf onto peel, score and slide into combo cooker lid
8. throw 4 ice cubes into the lid, cover, and cook for 20 minutes @ 250ºC
9. remove lid and finish at 220ºC (another 10 minutes)
1. Sounds like a normal autolyse to me.
2. As long as it was enough then fine.
4. Just how cold is your kitchen? At 16% levain I'd think 8 hours can be too much unless it's quite cold.
5 - 9. All seem ok.
Other then that the oil is a bit on the high side. It will interfere with gluten and crumb but if you're happy with that. Water is very low indeed! Where did you get the recipe from? Perhaps a rethink?
and my kitchen is anywhere from 22-28ºC (depending on whether we're in a heat-wave or not). I proof my dough ball in a large plastic bowl and wait for it to "triple" but maybe my 3x-mark on the bowl is off and it's expanding too much? Is it possible to over proof during the bulk-ferment?
I came up with the recipe myself, after modifying a pretzel recipe I came up with (that uses a similarly high amount of oil).
Lovely looking loaf but I understand your annoyance with the tears. I've had this on my wholemeal loaves too.
When the skin on a loaf dries and hardens it restricts the oven spring. However, if a loaf still has a lot of vigorous spring it just keeps going and, if the grigne where you've scored has also hardened, the loaf rips apart at its weakest points hence the ugly tears.
I'd suggest you try various things until you have a solution. First, don't under-proof. Wait until the loaf is fully ripe then bake. You'll get less spring but few, if any, tears. And, if it's proofed accurately, you'll get as big a loaf (or even larger).
You cold retard the proofed loaves in the fridge but you might consider switching to doing so earlier: to after the bulk ferment (i.e. immediately after your third S+F). Then, next day, shape the cold dough (very easy to do) and let it rise at room temperature. This way you avoid the notorious difficulty of judging whether a cold retarded loaf is ready for the oven or not.
I find it hard to believe you're not getting enough steam but, just in case, you could also try misting the loaf with a water spray just before it goes in the oven. It might do the trick.
My solutions might not be yours. Always bear in mind that a new loaf and/or new method rarely works the first time, sometimes even the twelfth. Sticking at it is the key.
the scores themselves? I slash just before throwing the loaf into the combo cooker, so I don't think the edges should be dried out.
Regarding the under-proofing: do you think it's possible that the loaf isn't proofed enough before going into the fridge or during it's time in the fridge? How should one gauge the proof of a cold-retarded loaf?
I'm happy to try doing a cold shape and then letting it rest at RT for what? 1-2 hours? How long should I expect a cold loaf to take before it's finished its second proof?
Final question: has anyone done any comparative studies on steam? In particular, is there a good diagnostic for figuring out whether we're getting enough steam in our baking vessels/ovens? I'd love to know that if all this time, I should've been using 10 ice cubes (or something silly like that)...
Should you up your hydration? Not considering the oil, your hydration is just above 50% (53.7% considering 8% flour in the levain). I would up the hydration and reduce the oil, or even eliminate it from the recipe.
and that I'm kind of a newbie, it's hard for me really handle spelt flour at hydration levels typical for wheat (e.g. 70%+). I find that the dough really starts to become fussy/sticky above 60% hydration. I can try reducing the oil, but in my experience the oil just makes the crumb a bit more closed and "cakier", if that makes any sense?
When I make German pretzel sticks, I use 10-12% oil and don't typically experience tearing along the scores (they're scored like demi-baguettes)...
an older version recipe asked for butter instead of oil. Looking at the formula, Could this be?
A beautiful loaf.
Keep in mind that some tears tend to be beauty marks for certain types of flour, like rye and spelt. I would not worry too much about them.
I just figured I'd tinker with the classic flour-water-salt-yeast build, but add some oil in for preservation and flavor. Given this is spelt flour, maybe the tears are inevitable?