I made a large, dense pagnotta foggiana over the weekend and the entire process went really well. Whole wheat flour for the biga with cornmeal mixed into the bread flour for the dough. Coarse, chewy, and crusty. Typical of Italian bread in general, maybe closely resembling a nice Pugliese loaf.
Because I worked all weekend I had to do all proving in the refrigerator and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. My scoring improved and my experiments with baking at higher temperatures have paid off.
I do have a general question though. We are experiencing unusually hot and humid weather currently in Michigan and I decided to gradually add bread flour during the mix until the dough was perfect, knowing that the absorption would be effected by the weather and following my usual ratios might not have worked.
So, no matter what method of bread making you use, is there a certain step in the process that you give leeway for due to environmental factors?
Grazie!
Michael Brock
- sayersbrock's Blog
- Log in or register to post comments
Michael, that looks like a great bake. Now that summer has arrived, adjustments because of weather seems to be a hot topic (pun intended). I tend to hold back water when I know that the temperature is especially high (kitchen 76F or above) or high humidity (feels clammy). For example, if a recipe calls for 500g of water, hold back 50g or so from the initial mix preceding an autolyse, and then include more water (based on feel of the dough and absorption) when the salt and any levain are added.
If the temperature is high, then I will use cooler water. (I use the target dough temperature formula and generally can get pretty close to the target.) The target gives me a good idea of what to expect during the bulk fermentation, so even though many others on TFL seem disinclined to check their dough temperature after the intial mixing, I find it helpful and very easy to do.
If there is instant dry yeast in the formula, I might reduce slightly the amount so that the commercial yeast is not too active, which means the levain has a better chance of working and adding flavor. That also probably impacts the final proofing, when the commercial yeast can still have an active role, especially when dough is retarded in a refrigerator, even a cold refrigerator. Warm dough takes awhile to cool in a refrigerator, and warm dough means more active yeast (natural and commercial).
After beginning my baking during the fall and into the winter, I suffered a few surprises during my first summer of baking. It is all part of the joy and challenge of baking. Being able to alter (a bit -- generally giant deviations are not required) from a given recipe based on experience and feel of the dough is neat.
Thanks for posting your question. Happy baking.