TwoCats's blog

In trying to understand the mechanics of how to achieve certain types of crumbs, I pushed my bulk rise a bit in hopes of achieving the characteristic lacy crumb. I think I got it!

• Prepped 130g of levain (100% hydration, 70F in the microwave with the light on). At the same time, autolysed roughly 650g of flour (255g Central Milling ABC+, 70g hard white, 70g semolina) with 520g room-temp water.

• 5 hours later, added all the levain (rose about 2.3x) to the autolysed dough and mixed

• 45 mins later, added 16g Maldon salt

• 1 hour later, divided dough (at this point, 650g each)

• 1.5 hour later, coil fold

• 1 hour later, coil fold

I was not expecting this, but given how active my levain was and how strong the 85% (!!!) hydration dough seemed to be, I guess I'm not that surprised!

• 83% hydration
• 80% bread flour
• 15% whole wheat
• 5% semolina (cuz I ran out of whole wheat)
• Bulk proofed at about 77F for 6 hours.
• Fridge proof at 41F for about 12 hours
• Baked at 450F in DO for 20
• 450 on pizza stone for 20

After years of experimentation, I think I'm finally starting to understand how to get the results I'm looking for.

Both of these doughs were prepared similarly:

• 586g Central Milling ABC+
• 53g semolina (Bob's Red Mill)
• 53g whole wheat (Giusto)
• 53g khorasan (Central Milling)

Autolyse this mix with 582g water for about 3 hours.

Hand mix in 150g mature levain (dome not yet deflated) and then do French folds on countertop. Let hang out for 45 minutes.

Add 18g salt and do French folds. Let hang out for 30 minutes.

I fed my starter, and, at peak, instead of discarding it, I saved it in a jar to use as a "levain" the next day.

This was the resulting bake.

• 255g Central Milling Bread ABC+ flour
• 70g Central Milling khorasan flour
• 260g H20
• A sprinkle of poppy and sesame seeds (untoasted, although I realized I should've toasted these)

Let the oven heat up at 500F for about 1 hour before throwing the bread in.

Here were my weekend bakes. I took these to a picnic—one loaf sliced up, the other given to the host. I'm incredibly pleased with the way these came out. Everything from the crumb to the crust to the color was ace in my book.

Had a dinner party this weekend and wanted to make Forkish's Overnight Country Blonde to cut up for an appetizer. I didn't schedule accordingly—whoops!—and ended up making Forkish's 80% biga instead. (I threw in some olives during the folding process for good measure.) Since I already started the dough for Overnight Country Blonde, I proceeded to close it up on Sunday, after the fact, but it's OK; I'm now graced with a boule for dinner tonight.

It's about 95F this weekend in Southern California, so I had to adjust the schedule.

Just made Ken Forkish's 80% biga white last night. This was the best bread I've made yet. Really happy with the results. Great dome; great crumb; wonderful, crackly crust.

This was my schedule:

9 pm: Made biga

8 am: Retarded biga in the fridge, since I had to go to work

7 pm: Took biga out of the fridge to warm it up to room temperature (right now, room temperature is about 78F!)

8 pm: Added the 100 g flour and all the other stuff (made only half the recipe), folded, and let it sit out for about 2.5 hours.