Hi everyone - this is my first post on the fresh loaf (and if it's in the wrong forum, please let me know!). I've been baking sourdough bread for about a year now, on weekends and whenever I have free time. I've seen gradual improvement over time, but one area that has been a bit frustrating has been the lack of my open crumb. I always see pictures of incredibly beautiful open crumbs and I've yet to achieve it.
I've tried higher hydration, working the dough more, working it less. I tried letting the bulk rise happen in an oven where I put a pan of boiling water underneath and shut the door...but my crumb has stayed relatively the same. Here is info on the loaf pictured:
50/50 white /ww bread flour
81% hydration.
Autolyse for an hour before adding the salt and then I gave it 5 stretch and folds every half hour, then leaving it for another 90 minutes before preshape / bench rest and shape. Left them in the fridge overnight and baked in the morning.
Any tips / pointers / help would be greatly appreciated from this novice home baker!
I love your crumb. If you are going for big ol' holes that a whole different ball game. But for me what you have is perfection.
Thats very kind, thank you! I guess I've just seen so many instagram-y giant holes in a lot of professional bakers crumb and hope to achieve it one day.
I first posted here in hopes of trying to get that elusive open crumb and pop-out ear too. Much of the time I'm still going for that, though many bakers here have helped me realize there's much more to a good loaf.
You might have to elaborate a little more on your technique for people to give you effective feedback. How active was your starter look like when you used it? How are you steaming your loaf? Are you putting boiling water into a hot pan that's been preheating in the oven, that really helped me, in addition to placing a foil tent or a pot over the bread to trap steam. I don't know as much as everyone else here, but your bubbles look lovely and even, the walls of the cells are shiny, so I suspect your gluten development is good.
Thank you! I feed my starter twice a day (when I wake up and again after dinner) with 50g white flour 50g rye and 90g water, so it is pretty active. Made a levain with a spoonful of the starter that I let ferment a little over six hours before mixing it with the dough.
I've never actually turned the oven on, I just have a pan in there that I fill with boiling water before putting the dough in and shutting the door. I just recently started using boiling water and the oven because my kitchen gets quite cold in the winter (old rent stabilized apartment in New York don't have the best heat :)
I'm also new to SD baking, so take my advice with 2g salt.
Firstly, define "active" for your starter and levain. My starter is a very excitable 100% rye starter and it just hits it's peak around 5-6 hours in a 24°C/75°F kitchen. I'm wondering how much fermentation is going on in your levain if it's only getting six hours in a cold environment. Measure your kitchen temp, let's see how cold!
Secondly, for the bulk ferment I understand you do five S&F every 30 mins = 2hrs, plus 1.5hrs before the shape for a total BF of 3.5hrs. That sounds a bit short to me for a cold kitchen. Are you seeing 50-70% rise during that time? If not I would BF for longer before shaping. I would need at least five if not six hours at 75°F to get a decent rise.
Thirdly, do you bring the dough to room temp after proving in the fridge overnight? Some people get better oven spring results going straight form fridge to oven without bringing to room temp. If your kitchen is really that cold, maybe just leave it out on the counter overnight for the second prove?
Fourthly, the rise and shape you are achieving would suggest, to me at least, good technique with shaping.
Fifthly, heavier flours are the enemy of big bubble rises in my experience. I'd be tempted to make your loaf again but using 9 parts bread flour to 1 part WW and see if the results are different. It could just be that simple. Even using a very small proportion of rye flour for depth, flavour and colour instead of all that WW. If you see the community bake for The Approachable Loaf, you will see that all those high-% ww loaves have smaller and more evenly distributed holes. It's the nature of ww.
Sixthly, I love your crumb! For eating, those big instagram bubbles are useless as the mayo/butter/whatever drips through. Your crumb is much more practical. it's open, consistent and airy. I would eat that in a heartbeat.
...I didn't explicitly mention it, but cold kitchens are not really an enemy except of speed. A longer bf/prove in a colder kitchen will develop more flavour. So don't worry about the temp as much as the time. Forget what recipes say about time and use judgement based on size rather than hours.
oh Instagram... There is some lovely bread p0rn out there. Best for looking at than for eating to me.
Freddie, the very best advice I can give you is to follow this link to a Community Bake we did not long ago.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/61572/community-bake-featuring-kristen-fullproofbaking
Everyone had stellar results. By the way the bread above uses mostly white flour. 50% whole wheat will make extreme open crumb much more difficult to achieve.
If you choose to try the bake linked above, post images and document your experience on that thread and others will join in and comment and assist you.
By the way, I know you are smitten with the big holes, but I agree with others, your crumb is open and nice, IMO.
Danny
Thank you! This looks like a great recipe and will give it a shot and post results in that thread. Much appreciated Danny!
The large open crumb is useless for sandwiches unless you like condiments on your fingers! Your bread looks very good!