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I've been making pain au levain and baguettes for several years.

Great Crust, great flavor, nobody doesn't like it,,,,except me.  The crumb is too tight.

I'm not getting the open, loose, irregular crumb that I want.  

I use hydrations from 75% to 80%, with greater success in the higher hydrations.

This week, I've made two batches of baguettes by following the Craftsy videos by Jeffrey Hamelman at 

King Arthur..  He gets good crumb, I don't.

Got any suggestions?

Thanks,

Frustrated in Crumb

Made some waffles using [url=https://liegewaffle.wordpress.com/liege-waffle-recipe-liege-gaufre-recette/]this recipe.[/url]

I deviated from the recipe by using some starter instead of commercial yeast. I made a stiff preferment and after it doubled in bulk I scooped out a generous tablespoon full and went forward with the recipe. The bulk fermentation was about 8 hours in a very warm room, followed by the called-for retardation in the fridge.

Even if most of my yeast-related work is in waffles, I bake up a regular loaf or two, from time to time. Last weekend I did Ken Forkish's white bread with poolish. Good stuff and fairly easy to prepare.

A delightful little boule.

I love hummus and thought it was time to try my hand at pita.  Using the recipe from serious eats, I met with great success.  The formula called for more yeast than I like. I set the oven at a higher temperature (baked at 550 though I did not check the thermometer, I just baked shortly after it came up to temperature.

The pitas were very soft.  Made six of them. Ate two fresh out of the oven. Just cut them up and dipped them in homemade hummus.  It was a real treat.

Plus one little batard...

Used my own levain on these.  3x300g, 1x550g.

alan

    This is similar to a bake I did a little while ago but I changed things up a little.  I used a much higher % of freshly milled whole wheat flour and a little less whole rye.  I also used some pecan meal and cracked wheat and eliminated the onions.

I am not sure how much the pecan flavor really comes through but you can definitely taste some nuttiness for sure and it gave the crumb an interesting purple haze color similar to when adding walnuts.

Lately I've been making fairly simple breads and so got the urge to get a little more complex. While doing the weekly shopping both dates and sunflower seed caught my eye and there was a lady demonstrating some locally made maple syrup, unusual for Iowa, which of course I had to try.

2 years with a Nutramill.

I’m 74 and grew up eating toast for breakfast.    As I have aged it seems what passes for bread does not agree with me.    Specifically there were too any trips to the bathroom at night and i blamed these on too much folic acid.  

After the craziness of the festive season, it's good to get back into the bread baking saddle. Not that I was entirely out of the kitchen as the holidays are a wonderful time to cook great food. And it was a leftover from that cooking that provided the inspiration - a head and a half of roasted garlic...

Now, I adore garlic, so yes, I decided to make a loaf of bread with that much garlic in it... Not that the neighbours will be thanking me, I'm sure... I kept the bake simple in order to showcase the garlic.

Poolish:

100g bread flour

100g water