First attempt at sourdough
Hi all
Thanks to those who have helped already in the Artisan Baking sub-forum.
I've had a first go at making sourdough using a biga (Jim Lahey's Pane Bianco from the Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook) and would be grateful if you'd have a look at the crumb
In terms of the recipe, it is a 75% hydration dough (400g flour, 300g water), with 8g salt and 30g biga (same hydration as the dough).
The ingredients get mixed together, rest for 20 mins after a few folds and then bulk fermentation is 8 to 18 hours. I went for 12 hours (based on room temperature being 18C), but unfortunately timed things badly and the 12 hours were up at 11pm at night, so I had to put the dough in the fridge overnight and let it come up to room temperature in the morning. I then shaped it and let it rise for 2 hours before baking in a dutch oven (230C, 30 mins with lid on, 10 mins with lid off).
The crumb looks a little gummy to me (most prominent on the right side) and there were a few bubbles on the surface of the dough during the final rise. The crumb is also a little tighter than I thought it might be given the hydration.
I'm wondering if I overproofed it during the bulk fermentation phase? What does everyone think?
Thanks again
Seb
how old is your starter?
Only young! Maybe 14 days? I made a new biga using a piece of the bulk fermented dough (which is what Jim recommends) and it's looking nice and lively after 24 hours
https://ibb.co/Z1SrL40
https://ibb.co/0YfL6Y1
Great even for a first attempt. Congratulations!
Did the original formula call for a 2 hour proof, or did you cut it short due to the time spent overnight in the fridge?
Thanks! I know it could be worse, but I really want to learn with each new loaf, so any constructive criticism is much appreciated!
Recipe said 1 - 3 hours, so again I ballparked 2 hours based on the slightly cooler room temperature
If anything, it was slightly under-fermented, possibly due to the young biga, and cool room temp. But only slightly, so don't go far in the other direction.
It didn't have much proof time after the folding/shaping, which tends to de-gas dough.
Gumminess is a hydration issue. So you either:
Hydration is a common thing to adjust because you're likely not using the exact same flour as the formula author. Flour also gains or loses moisture as it sits in your pantry/kitchen, so it's almost a constant and universal point of adjustment.
Interesting....
I've become terrified of overproving, for no real reason! Do you have any tips?
On the final proof, Jim Lahey says that the dough is ready if a finger indentation stays in place, which it did. So I wonder if my issue was with the bulk ferment? Thought maybe I'd overproved it which was why the dough wasn't responding when i did the poke test on the final proove