Uneven Oven Spring
So I have been making sourdough for a couple months now with a starter that I cultivated(had a lot of time on my hands during the government shutdown). I have made a dozen or so batches of sourdough and had had some issues with an uneven crumb that has huge holes in one area and small ones elsewhere. I will put my process below and some pictures so hopefully I can get some insight.
2000 gram batch of bread at 77% hydration with 20% whole wheat flour and 80% bread flour(bobs red mill organic)
kitchen ambient temp 67 F(I know)
Autolyse 2 hours(reserve 50 gram water and salt)
Add levain mix in, sit 20 min
add 50 grams water with salt and mix in
3 hours of stretch and folds at 30 minutes(added olives to this particular batch in the first stretch and fold)
2 hour bulk ferment
pre shape 20 minutes
shape and place in proofing basket(this batch one banneton and one loaf pan)
cold proof in fridge for 12 hours
preheat oven to 520 F for 1 hour
bake bread @ 500 F with steam for 20 minutes
bake until golden and internal temp at 195 F @ 475 F
rest and slice
The one I cooked in the loaf pan was slightly under, which was my mistake for not removing it from the pan for the last 10-15 minutes of cook time.
Your dough was under proofed. 67F is cool. Maybe you need to bulk ferment longer.
Any idea how much the dough rose during the BF?
Also, tell is about your starter.
Danny
Exactly. Once you find a way to achieve a range of temp control from 70-80 F, you will see a big difference. This is an instructive result, since if you wanted to slow fermentation, you now know one way to do so. To succeed here you simply needed more time.
As to controlling temp, I highly recommend the Brod & Taylor proofer.
https://www.amazon.com/Brod-Taylor-Folding-Proofer-Cooker/dp/B01MEEH0SE/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=153653572492&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9031946&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t...
first of all, how is the taste? Your bread doesn’t look terrible. How much levain did you add, and was it very active?
I also forgot to add it looks under proofed. And wondering about how strong your starter is and what hydration as well.
The starter strength seems like it could've played a part as its still fairly young. My starter takes probably 8-10 hours to fall after feeding. The levain was ~150 grams @100% hydration (50 gram water: 50 gram flour: 50 gram starter). The levain seemed pretty active and had doubled in size. The loaf in the banneton definitely felt more proofed when I pulled it out of the fridge, but I cant say I've experienced perfection in proofing so not sure exactly how close it was(+40% volume and good spring on finger test), I also baked the loafs cold from the fridge if that makes a large difference.
The bread tasted good so that's a definite plus, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I would say in the BF the dough only rose to 140-150% volume. I may need to turn the heater up to make this all work quicker the more I think about it.