Hey all!
I was wondering if you could diagnose this boule because I sure can’t. Specifically the problems that I see are the uneven crumb structure and lack of oven spring. This is baffling to me because they seem to be contradictory issues (one is supposedly caused by under proofing while the other is caused by over proofing). So here are some specifics:
1. 70% hydration, 12% protein all purpose flour, 2% salt, 20% inoculation.
2. Gluten was developed to windowpane.
3. 4 stretch and folds spaced 30 min apart.
4. 4 hours at 75 degrees and 1 hour in the fridge for bulk ferment.
5. Dough grew by approximately 20-25%, was jiggly, light, airy, and had air bubbles.
6. 75 degree proof for around one hour and forty five minutes.
7. Baked in combo cooker for 20 min at 450 covered, 30 min uncovered.
I still think this loaf looks delicious - the lack of oven spring is likely do to over proving, and the uneven crumb structure is likely more a factor of how you shape the Boule. I work with nearly very identical ratios as what you have here.
In reading your method, here are my thoughts/questions:
1) How much volume are you gaining during bulk proof? (the 4 hrs) - I have found that what really helps me is to take a small fist of the dough, drop it in a wide mouth small jar and rubber band it so I can follow exactly how much it has gained in volume. I look for about 30-50%, but sometimes my best loaves have been when I pushed this to double in size.
2) Where in your process are you shaping? When I bake, I shape after the bulk proof, by doing a pre-shape, and then allowing them to rest for 30 minutes, followed by final shaping, and then they go into the fridge.
3) I have noticed that you only cold ferment for 1 hour, maybe this is a typo? If you are only cold fermenting for 1 hour, that isn't going to be enough time to slow the inertia of the bulk proof, so I would suggest allowing your bread to cold ferment longer (12+ hrs) - plus, it helps build more flavor here.
4) Proving before baking - If you've only been in the fridge for an hour before this step, the dough will bulk again, because it has not fully slowed down its fermentation in the fridge. Add a cold ferment to your dough(12+ hrs) and bake directly from cold when you pull it out of the fridge.
5) When shaping after the bulk ferment, ensuring that you have enough surface tension - this really helps with oven spring and ensuring that you get even crumb consistency throughout.
Hopefully this helps :)
how long did you preheat the Dutch oven for? I recently bake a batch of similar formula where the first loaf came out with much less oven spring then the other batches. They were from the same dough. My guess was that the Dutch oven wasn’t preheated properly. I think the crumb on yours look fine.