For my first try at a 50% whole grain sourdough bread, I decided to follow Maurizio’s Spelt, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough bread recipe
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/spelt-rye-and-whole-wheat-sourdough-bread/
For once, I had the feeling that every single step went pretty well and yet here they are...No ear...No oven spring...Weirdly shaped alveoli...Two big flat pancakes....
Can anybody help me understand what went wrong??? Is it a shaping issue? Fermentation issues??? Too hydrated?? Anything else???
Flours I used:
50% Anita’s AP (approx. 12% protein, as recommended in the original recipe)
50% whole flours:
25% Bob’s Whole spelt
20% Mix of Speerville whole wheat and Red fife Anita’s for the whole wheat flour part
5% Speerville whole rye
Levain 100%: 50/50 Bread flour + whole wheat flour
I followed Maurizio’s recipe to the letter, except for a few minor changes:
Quick Levain / 4h at 26°C
Autolyse / 45mn at 24°C
Mix
Bulk Fermentation / 3h15 at 26-30°C / Until vol*40% in aliquot jar
3 sets of stretch and folds. 1st set 15 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation, then every 30 minutes thereafter.
Divided & Pre-shaped / 20mn rest, uncovered
Shaped into 2 batards
Proofed 20mn at 26°C (Vol*75% in the aliquot jar) then Fridge overnight at 4°C
Dough t° before bake = 4.7°C
Baked the next morning in a Dutch Oven: 20mn at 230°C with a lid then 30 mn without lid
Any insight would be greatly appreciated !! Thanks in advance for helping me understand the mysteries of bread baking:-)
The dough at the end of the 3h15 of bulk fermentation
Dough at the end of bulk fermentation
20mn after pre-shaping
Shaped / ready to go into the fridge
Out of the fridge - Ready to be baked
Gaelle, I think that the hydration is too high for your flours. I have found that Maurizio living in desert conditions uses much higher hydrations than I can living in Toronto Canada even in the winter when it is dry here. When I’ve made his recipes I always start by dropping the hydration at least 5%. Also, I don’t find that Anita’s organic AP flour is able to absorb the same amount of water as let’s say Robin Hood Bread Flour, I’m having to adjust hydration down 2-4% when going from Robin Hood to Anita’s. Finally the other thing is that spelt does tend to spread since it is such an extensible flour in dough, unless the hydration is kept on the lower side.
I’m guessing if you like the flavor of this bread and want to try it again, give it a go with 5% less hydration.
Oh given the high percentage of whole grains, you might want to lengthen the autolyse to 2 hours as well.
Benny
Benito, I don't know how to thank you for your invaluable help! that is so useful, thank you SO SO much, that's exactly the kind of information I needed to know!!!
I will definitely try this recipe with the few tweaks that you suggested as I really loved the flavors (unfortunately my baking schedule is too busy this WE! I'm going to have to wait until next WE ;-)...)
again, thank you very much Benito :-)
You’re welcome, I hope that helps. Fingers crossed.
Benny
I echo everything that Benny wrote and have one more suggestion, which pertains to shaping.
From the photo of the dough just at the end of the bulk fermentation, I can see that plenty of bubbles had formed, so the dough might have been getting closer to the point of breaking down (or at least losing some strength). Spelt is already a flour that will not produce strong gluten, so I tend to err on the shorter BF phase when using spelt. Lowering the hydration will help you in this respect the next time. From your photo of the pre-shaping I can see that you were able to form nice shapes, but from the photos of the dough in the bannetons it seems that you need to tighten the final shaping (and this is really my point).
Boules are much easier for me to shape than batards, but I really benefited from watching Maurizio's video on how he shapes batards. The key step that he does is pulling the sides into the center before making the last roll and sealing the seam. That creates a lot more surface tension and helps to give the batard a more stable shape and reduce the tendency to spread. That results in better oven spring. The video is on his site.
Keep us posted on your next bake of this bread. Happy baking.
Ted
From the photo of the dough just at the end of the bulk fermentation, I can see that plenty of bubbles had formed, so the dough might have been getting closer to the point of breaking down (or at least losing some strength)
Oh really?? I was only at 40% on the aliquot jar...That is so interesting! ok, next time I'll shorten the BF then...
As for the shaping, what you're suggesting totally makes sense: I should have stuck to boules, and leave the batard for stiffer doughs for the moment...I've watched Maurizio's video on how to shape batards, but obviously I need more practice...way more practice...
I really appreciate you taking the time to give me those suggestions Ted, and am now really looking forward to giving that recipe another try next WE as I feel I have now a better understanding of what to focus on.