I felt like making my standard loaf yesterday but also felt like messing up processes that I have settled into for some time, just for the fun of it.
The standard loaf is usually made like this: I pre-ferment about 30-50% of the flour (usually whole grains in the PFF) for 12 to 16 hours depending on whether it's a 90% hydration levain or a 45% hydration biga, then mix in bread flour and water the next day, giving BF about 3-5 hours, add walnuts and cranberries then final proof about 1.5-2.5 hours, baking the loaf on the same day for lunch. The bread is flavourful with very subdued sourness, the crumb is soft but elastic, and the crust is crackly, not tough.
Yesterday, I decided to mess things up by swapping the pre-fermentation time and the final proof time. So I made a really quick levain consisting of rye, khorasan and spelt that took 2.5 hours to double (when it would usually take 12-16 hours with a very low inoculation), mixed it with bread flour and allowed the dough to BF till about 50% rise with a couple of SFs (about 4 hours - same as before), then left it in the fridge and baked it 16 hours later (when usually final proof would be just 1.5-2.5 hours). PFF was 30% and hydration was about 75%.
I did not notice many differences during the process, except that the loaf did grow substantially in the fridge, and was a little bigger than I would have allowed final proof to go on the counter if I were to bake it on the same day. I was worried that it wouldn't rise in the oven, but it did (albeit without producing a ear, but that's fine for me)! I think this is an indication to me that I can stretch my SOP proofing times a little more.
For the same start/end times and duration of dough handling, this loaf turned out quite different from my usual loaf:
Crumb - more open, more shreddable, generally lighter
Crust - darker and more golden, many more blisters (see below)
Flavour - better flavour, but way more sour!!!!
Another crumb shot:
I'm looking forward to messing up more loaves.
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I love the surface texture shot. That looks delicious.
better taste, softer, more extensible crumb, blistered crust. Sounds fantastic. I'd say flipping the script was a winner.
A few q's:
--was the crust still thin 'n' crispy?
--what's your usual inoculation %age and what was it with this version?
--to what do you think we can attribute the different characteristics (more flavor, more shreddable crumb, incredible blistering) -- in other words, what might we learn from this?
Thanks,
Rob
I love the way the blisters seem to rise up though a mist of flour. And the crumb with the cranberries poking through is just divine.
Actually, I made similar loaves over the weekend (not as pretty!), more for convenience sake - with a high inoculation levain and a long cold fridge retard. And I was eating my sandwich at lunch time today and thinking to myself that I'm not such a fan of the sour taste! My loaves are normally same day and with a low inoculation levain as I'm ambivalent about the sour - I love that sourdough breads don't taste like yeasted loaves, but I don't want them to get those extra flavour notes too. I'm not sure where all the sourness comes from, but I am thinking of not wrapping in the fridge.
I do like opening the fridge to discover a well risen loaf. It is almost like magic! But, we've got to love the loaf too!
-Jon