I have been making adjustments since my CY was dwindling, due to market supplies. I had become very comfortable spiking my dough, with easily available CY as well as all my other regular ingredients. That was the life! The time had come, however, to brush up on my old, rusty skill set, and rely solely on my starter. I played around with retarding bulk rise, and/or retarding final proof combinations. I played with zero retardation, whatsoever, at any stage. I played with taking cold, retarded bannetons, docking them & putting them straight in the oven. I think I finally landed on my preferred routine. For me, it’s a retarded bulk rise, dividing the retarded dough Into 500g chunks & giving each chunk a pre-shape. Letting it rest for an hour, then final shape, pan and proof for another hour. Dock (awkwardly) and put into a 500* oven, with steam, turning the oven temp down to 450* for 28 minutes. It was a journey, with results that I was less than happy with some days, but still considered it better than what’s available at my local markets. Today, I am feeling like I have all the different parameters under better control...except for docking (scoring/slashing) and I will always be awkward at that, high hydration doughs are just more challenging to handle. But, when you’re making a ciabatta & you get it right, you know the hassle is worth it! I didn’t make ciabatta today (I made a rustic white & rye bread) but you get what I mean. Ciabatta is just a good example of a high hydration beast of a challenge. Whew!
I totally understand how you feel once you develop a routine that works for you. It took me a long time to figure out mine. Now, you will be tempted every so often to change a thing or two and those changes may stick or not. It’s all about the bread and the creation of it. Enjoy that delicious loaf!
I do like a good experiment, every now & then. It’s so hard to just change one thing at a time...rather than two, or three. I’ve learned to take better notes about what I change, when I experiment. Not really copious notes, yet. But, it’s something. I used to just say to myself, “Oh, I’ll remember that, for sure.” Haha...famous last words! Now, at least, I’m jotting some cryptic shorthand-like notes.
I post all my recipes on a blog here so that helps keep me organized in terms of notes about each recipe. Comes in very handy when I want to revisit one or create a new one.
I’ll be thinking about that. It sounds way more organized than using the back of an envelope that’s sitting on my bread board, between my bin of flour & my digital scale.