First post here y’all. Been a lurker for a while though.
Luckily I was able to get the Mockmill 100 before the pandemic so I started milling my own flours now for quite a few months and really enjoying it. I actually have started to make all of my bread using either 100% whole unsifted spelt or a mixture of spelt and rye (again, unsifted whole). I have been loving the bread completely!
I only have one thing I’d like to get better at and that’s the crumb structure and thought to post here. My guess is that because I’m using spelt and rye that my crumb is not very large, but I’m also thinking that it might also be my technique. Perhaps if any of y’all have any suggestions, I’d love to get some feedback.
Here’s my recipe:
%s Grams
Spelt flour 50.00% 300.0
Rye flour 50.00% 300.0
Total Flour 100.00% 600.0
Water 87.00% 522.0
Starter 14.28% 85.7
Molasses 8.16% 49.0
Fennel Seed 1.10% 6.6
Caraway Seed 0.61% 3.7
Salt 1.50% 9.0
212.65% 1275.9
I mill both the berries together and then mix the water, starter, molasses and seeds separately. Then add in about half the flour, mix using my dough whisk, then add in the rest. I let it sit for about 20 minutes and then add in the salt and mix once more. Then I do the coil fold method every 30 minutes for about 2 hours. Then I let it sit at room temp for about 12 hours until I when I poke the top it bounces back only a little bit.
Then I shape and put in my oval banneton and let the dough just about crest over the top edge of it(about an hour or so). I had preheated the oven with my Romertopf clay baker inside at 480 F. I put the dough inside, score the top, and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Then uncovered for the last 10, but I lower the temp to 450.
The bread always comes out so tasty, but the crumb is really tight. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Adam
