Because the whole grain component of this recipe is only 25%, you could get a good loaf of bread even with really roughly milled grain. It would maybe be comparable to a porridge loaf that is heavy on the porridge.
I’m going to guess that problem is with your sourdough starter. Maybe refresh it a few times before making your next bread.
Feed, let it come to peak (just barely starting to fall), discard a bit, refeed…etc until a feeding results in 2-3x growth in your jar.
When you feed, aim for 1:1:1 for simplicity sake. That’s to say, the same weight flour, water and old starter.
I have a question about baking.
I have a baking vessel, the Romertofp, it is a large one. My dough is ~80% hydration, it is much smaller than the vessel. if I put the dough in the vessel, will it rise or flatten due to lack of support?
Thank you for sharing,
a
It should be fine. I baked this recipe unsupported many times and it didn’t flatten. Of course, overproofing can flatten any loaf, so avoid that if possible : )
This was my first time working with sourdough and the dough was a lot softer than I had imagined. It was very slack so I had trouble shaping it correctly before putting it into my banneton. It would lose its shape even though I tried to build some tension against the counter when shaping it. Any suggestions? I tried following the recipe as closely as I could. I used 380g of bread flour and 20g of rye flour. The outcome wasn’t as pretty as yours but it tastes nice!
This is quite a high hydration dough. My advice would be to drop the hydration for now and slowly work your way up. It’ll become easier the more you bake. And it could also be the flour you’re using might not suit such a high hydration dough.
Try dropping the water to 246g - 268g for now which will make the dough 65% - 70% hydration.
Thanks Abe! I’ll try that. I’m still trying to get the hang of the visual indicators I should be looking for but I’ll keep playing around with the hydration levels and fermentation time
The crumb looks fantastic. I agree with @anon44372566 about playing with the hydration. Also possibly shaping tighter-- that’s hard to assess but maybe check out the videos at the end of this blog post.
This is my go-to recipe. At first I had a some trouble with the high hydration but after lots and lots of practice I could see how different brands of whole wheat flour absorb different amounts of water. I learned to hold back a little water each time to see how the dough behaves before adding more (and trust myself to add a little more if I need to:-)
Double checking on the starter amount. 1/4 cup can’t be 80 grams. 1/4 cup of water, which is heavier than starter, is about 62 grams. I’ve been using 80 g starter, but reducing the water I add to 300g.
Go with 80g of starter if you have a scale. Volume measurements for starter are quite inaccurate because if you scoop when it’s ripe, it will have a lot of air poofing out its volume.
That’s high, in general, for the amount of flour. But this is my go to recipe. However my best loaves are with unfed starter, process beginning early afternoon, dough left all night in a cool kitchen, shaped in the morning and popped in the freezer while the oven heats. Go figure.
I haven’t found that necessary, but I’d be curious to hear if you find it helps. I’ve made hot-water dough for dumplings and scallion pancakes, and also hokkaido milk bread with the similar tangzhong – I do appreciate how nice the gluten tightens.
These recent comments inspired me to revise the blog post – explain a little about how different flour types may require less water, why gluten development and not over-fermenting are so important with wetter dough, and I added a video of this dough at the second round of gluten development that I remembered I’d made last spring. (It’s a stretch and fold + lamination mixed technique for when you don’t want to leave the bowl.)
I just made this and it tastes delicious, but I need to work on my technique. It was too moist and dense even though a) it had some nice big pockets, b) I baked to 205 and, c) I left it for an hour before I cut it. I suspect I should start with the decreased amount of water at first and try to shape tighter to get a nice all over rise. I also think I may have only needed 2 of the final coil shaping after the laminating. Live and learn; it still tastes fantastic.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the flavor of the bread. This combination of wheats is quite tasty.
Based on your description, I think your dough might have needed a more extensive bulk fermentation. The big bubbles probably came from the lamination step, and a longer development of the dough would probably have made the rest of the crumb more lacy. It’s always hard to diagnose these things, but that’s my guess. : )
