Hey guys. Had some blowouts on my loaves today. The taste was very good.
25% whole wheat
25% starter
2% salt
67% hydration
1.5 - 2 hour bulk with 2 stretch and folds. Cold proof for approx. 17 hours.
Any ideas as to why this happened? Too much steam? Scoring not deep enough? Underproofed?
of the blow out.
My guess would be... hey, what's the temp in the fridge? Perhaps it is too low. Could be a little underproofed. Try bulking a little longer before shaping (as opposed to extending the time in the fridge) add a half hour next time then shape & chill those babies. If there is improvement add another half hour in the next next round. :)
How dry and thick is the skin on the loaves when scoring? If the banneton side is much dryer than the exposed (bottom) part of the loaf during the retardation, you might want to do something about that. The softer areas will expand more during the spring.
There is nice colour under the loaf so it's not an oven temp thing. Cool how the crumb shows the direction of the inside bubbles flowing toward the opening it made in the crust. The outside edge crumb is pretty much fine and equal looking, like it baked a bit and crust set before the burst of larger bubbled crumb. The discrepancy in the bubble size is what makes me think the bulking time was too short or the dough wasn't evenly degassed trapping large bubbles in the warmer part of the dough, the middle. Try just a little bit longer bulk first.
Did you bake them after 17 hours for convenience, because the recipe said so, or because it was perfectly proofed? It's very tricky to know when a loaf that's had a long proof in the fridge is actually ready. Cold dough does not respond to the finger poke test reliably. If it's the recipe that said 17 hours then you'd have to match fridge temperatures.
Instead, how about giving the dough a long bulk ferment overnight for flavour, then proofing the loaves at room temperature? Cold dough does take longer to prove, usually double the time it would take with warm dough (30'=1 hr / 45' = 1hr 30') but the upside is that the dough is so cold and relaxed you can skip pre-shaping and go to the final loaves once you've degassed and scaled them. I've found it's a much more reliable method because it removes (or, rather, decreases) the chances of under/over-proofing.
I guess the point I'm trying to make (and perhaps Mini is too) is that recipes are often very subjective, and rarely take into account the circumstances and conditions under which someone else might bake them. You have to keep on trying until you work out how to get the best results for a particular dough. For example, there are many reasons why you might get bursts and healed scores like these: under proofing, not enough steam, the skin drying out during cold retard, poor shaping, a very cold dough not springing before a hot oven sets the surface, and so on. This is why I'd suggest removing some of the variables to give you more control. Perhaps even bake the loaves without the cold retard so that you understand the dough's characteristics when it is warm: all the better when it comes to baking it cold.