September 1, 2021 - 7:00am
Quick question - to retard a 100% spelt loaf or not?
Quick because it is proofing away as I type this. My first go at all spelt, 50:50 wholemeal:white, 80% hydration, sourdough leavened and I am winging it a bit, but the dough feels nice but different and it is just starting to rise.
I have heard that the proteins in spelt are delicate souls so may not take kindly to a few hours in the fridge? What do peeps think?
I know, "watch the dough not the forum" ...
TIM
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Spelt is a "sugary" grain. It converts starch to simple sugars quickly. And with that amount of whole grain, it will be supercharged, and will still chug along in the fridge.
Spelt is not strong gluten either. But it can be worked with.
You might be able to pick up tips from this gorgeous spelt bake, it's one of my bookmarks:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64417/100-sourdough-spelt-bread
mwilson has one or more great spelt bakes too.
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Net: it's about more than bubbles of CO2 gas, the starch and protein is changing too, even more so than wheat flour.
Thanks @idaveindy. The decision was made for me when a nice DPD home delivery man turned up with a steel sheet I had ordered off ebay. It is going to get used asap!
Hmmm looks like 80% hydration is a lot, but I am using a three-stage process (because I have been experimenting with that for other loaves).
Photographic evidence to follow.
Considering autolyse increases extensibility and spelt makes the dough very extensible anyway, I wouldn't do an autolyse with spelt dough...
Interesting Ilya. The recipe @idaveindy linked to appears to use a multi-stage levain. I think the idea is to refresh early and often, at a lowish ratio, rather than once, in order to encourage the yeast population and discourage lactic acid bacteria. This is what I have been experimenting with to see how it changes the character of my loaves. I'll post my formula and brief comments below.
TIM
Well here is the graphic novel
IMG_20210901_161520sm.jpg
Splurged a bit on turning out of the banneton, lets disguise that with some oats
IMG_20210901_161637sm.jpg
Hmmm didn't score that well either
IMG_20210901_163351sm.jpg
Upturned Romertopf on my new steel sheet. 8mm thick, the thing weighs a ton. What's underneath?
IMG_20210901_163414sm.jpg
A loaf-shaped object! Back in the oven
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Looks browner than this in the flesh, could be worse
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Deffo a bit overproofed, but amazing aroma and taste. Have to be careful with the marmalade tomorrow morning though. Although it may be because it is spelt, the base of the loaf is both more baked and thinner than loaves are with my other set-up, using the synthetic stone sheet that came with my Oomi pizza oven. Interesting.
I'll definitely be baking more of these, yummy.
Rather than overproofed, I’d say that the crumb shows signs of underproofing with dense crumb and tunnels. I’d try to proof further, but perhaps with slightly lower hydration to help control the spread that spelt tends to have.
Benny
Interesting Benny. I see what you mean, but the raw dough behaved a bit over proofed, particularly the response to trying to score it. And my experience of going farther with the final proof with mostly-wheat doughs has been classic signs of over-proofing, that is a big slump on turning out, scoring doesn't go cleanly, the loaf expands all over rather than opening at the score, and large voids form at the top. But that is with mostly wheat doughs with some fridge-time, so I can't be sure in this case. I think the large voids may have got there partly as a result of shaping/not prodding down enough, but it was my normal approach to mostly-wheat doughs, where I don't get quite that effect.
Mostly my sourdough loaves end up on the dense side. In fact my original reason for the multi-stage levain approach was to increase the yeast/LAB ratio to see if I could achieve a lighter loaf. This has worked though is still in progress, but as I said, trying it with an all spelt loaf was a bit of a spur of the moment thing.
Well, it is tasty bread and makes great toast, so I will try a few variations based on your, Mini's and Ilya's comments and see what happens. Spelt is definitely a different beastie to deal with for sure.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
iI have to agree with Benny. If you deflate more during shaping, you may find it takes longer to get the same hight to look oven ready. That would give the loaf longer final proofing time. It's all connected. If I were to retard this dough, I might do it before the final shaping. That way I could pop the big gas pockets.
Formula for 450g flour weight loaf:
Wholemeal rye from starter 10g
White spelt 220g
Wholemeal spelt 220g
Water (inc. starter water) 360g (80%)
Salt 8.1g (1.8%) (actually it is Na/K low sodium salt)
Everything at 23C
Stage 0 ripe 100% wholemeal rye starter at 100% hydration from the fridge
Stage 1 20g of the above, 30g wholemeal spelt, 30g water, 1.2g salt (4% of water) - 25% pff
Stage 2 All of stage 1 when risen by ~20%, 120g wholemeal spelt, 120g water, 4.8g salt (4% of water) - 25% pff
Stage 3 (Final dough) all of stage 2 when risen by ~20% and the balance of stuff, ie 70g wholemeal spelt, 220g white spelt, 200g water, 2.1g salt - 35.5% pff
Final dough was lightly stretched and folded 3 times and shaped when ~20% risen (probably this was too far), shaped and left in the banneton for further ~40 mins while oven warmed up (that was probably a bit long as well).
Why the salty levain and multi-stage process? Possibly I will start another thread about my adventures with that. It is part of an attempt to make different bread and following up this thread by @TomM.: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/66462/salt-sourdough-cultures .
TIM
I would make would be to deflate well before shaping.
Yes the holiness surprised me a bit Mini. I think I will also try slightly less water and proofing a bit less to get a more perky loaf though - the photos probably don't quite do justice to the overall slug-like shape. But just had a slice with my lunch - still loving the taste.
But the loaf could use a little more crust color in my humble opinion.
I pick up slugs almost every morning and evening from my garden. If they looked anything like bread, I might find a culinary way to dispose of them.
True.
I think you treat them like you would snails. If you treat snails.