I've watched tons of videos to learn the process and I think I'm doing it correctly but my last several loaves all have huge mouseholes at almost exactly the same spots. I try to make sure I don't have an excessive amount of flour on the sections that get folded to the interior of the loaf, I tighten the boule as much as I can without tearing the skin, and I even pinch the seams on the bottom of the loaf once I place it in my banneton to tighten it even further.
When it happened the first time I thought the loaf may have been underproofed. To test, I've used various recipes for proofing times. The pictured loaf was the first time I've done all proofing at room temperature. I did 6 s&fs over 3 hours, turned out onto the bench for a preshape and 30 minute bench rest, shaped, proofed at room temp (~70 degrees) for 3 hours (poke test seemed ok), baked in combo cooker for 25 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered. However, I've gotten the same results even when I retard the loaf in the fridge for 12-16 hours so that's what made me think it was shaping issue rather than proofing?
For this loaf I made a levain the night before with 50g rye starter (100%), 100g water and 100g AP Flour. Levain passed the float test in the morning (maybe 9 hours after I mixed it) so I added 500g AP flour and 350g water. Allowed to autolyse for 30 minutes then added 12g salt and 30g water. After that, began the S&fs I outlined above.
What am I missing??
You have 250g levain to 500g flour = 50% starter
3 hours at 70° for 50% starter might be too long.
Then you further final proof for 3 hours. Now it's far too long.
I think it's not the shaping but the timing.
P.s. about the retarding and same issues. 8-12 hours for 20% starter with a bulk ferment done properly will be fine. 50% starter and an overdone bulk ferment with upto 16 hours in the fridge will still over ferment.
Judging by the description of your process, it seems to be close to the Tartine country loaf. I regularly make loaves with that recipe, and I usually use 100g of levain per 500g of flour. With that ratio, my bulk fermentation usually takes around 3.5 hours (at the ambient temperature of around 77F), and the final proof is 8-10 hours in the fridge, or around 2 hours in the kitchen (depending on the temperature).
Hope this helps and happy baking :)
I just fed my starter this morning so I'll try another loaf tomorrow with less levain. Thanks!
Could be a gluten development issue. I had the same problem before and my loaves looked just like that. Although I did stick to to Tartine recipe and use less levain than you did. Found TrevorJWilson's videos on youtube and from there suspected I needed to develop stronger gluten to keep the air bubbles from melding together.
So, now~ I knead the dough after autolyse for 5 mins, ya know, for good measure. Then extended bulk fermentation to 5 hours. Still turning the dough at 30 min intervals.
Thanks Miwa. I'm getting ready to do my final stretch and fold in 10 minutes then will put into the fridge for a slightly extended bulk fermentation. Will bake tomorrow morning - we'll see how it goes!
I followed Chad's recipe for the Country Loaf to the letter (even made the full amount rather than halving it as I usually do) and the mouseholes were even bigger in both loaves, if that's possible! I just fed my starter again so it should be ready to go tomorrow evening. I have a new bag of AP flour to use and I will do the bulk fermentation in my oven with the light on (I keep my house at 70 degrees and maybe that's just not warm enough). So frustrating - I feel like I've completely lost my baking mojo!
and the door cracked open. Also reduce the amount of water. That's what I had to do to make his recipes work for me, at least the ones in Tartine 3.