New starter
I wasn't happy with my pandemic starter, and I was gifted with a starter from Anita's bakery and flour mill. This was the resulting crumb. Lighter and dryer than my previous starter. This might have been slightly overfermented. It went more than double during bulk as I slept in again . I assume the big hole on the right is a shaping problem and the holes on the left near the crust is a result of over fermentation? This is interesting. I started throwing ice cubes into the DO again, a practice I gave up for a while. The bakes with the Anita starter yielded a thinner crispy crust instead of an overly thick crust I didn't like before. I guess the only way to find out why, is to omit the ice cubes with the Anita starter. I've also been feeding Anita with white flour , not whole wheat like i had been doing with the pandemic starter.
I think all the large holes are a sign of not enough degassing during shaping. If this loaf were actually over fermented there would be more signs of it. Except for the few large cavities or tunnels (and they could have been a lot worse), I think it looks pretty good.
TomP
It looks really good to me. What in life is perfect? I would eat it all.
Thanks Elle and Tom!